Empire State of Mind Replaces New York, New York at Belmont Stakes

Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind will become the unofficial theme song for the Belmont Stakes today as the horses hit the track and prepare to run what will once again not be the final leg of the Triple Crown. It will replace Frank Sinatra's anthem New York, New York which has been played for years.

Empire State of Mind, with Jay-Z rapping and Alicia Keyes soaring vocals, became the unofficial anthem of New York City last year, and of the New York Yankees as they made their World Championship run and is the type of song that is likely to remain a durable classic for years.

The Belmont is struggling to garner much interest this year as there is no one compelling story. No horse is going for the Triple Crown and there is no homegrown favorite that has captured the imagination of the locals.

As with horse racing itself as a sport, the Belmont is fading from the public's consciousness as a major sporting event. While the switch of songs from New York, New York to Empire State of Mind is hardly going to bring the sport back to relevance, it is a small step in the right direction of updating what was once referred to as 'the sport of Kings'.

I would assume that the version of Empire State of Mind that will be played at Belmont today will be the radio friendly one. The lyrics in the original song, which include references to selling drugs, gangs and the 'n-word', would 'most definitely' not fit with horse racing tradition; or at least the tradition that horse racing would most like to project.

Empire State of Mind does pays homage to other New York City sports institutions as the lyrics include references to the Yankees, the Knicks and the soon to be Brooklyn Nets (which Jay-Z owns a small piece of).

While playing Empire State of Mind before the Belmont will raise the profile of the song a little bit, it won't have anywhere near the effect, in all likelihood, that Jay-Z's and Alicia Keyes' performance did before Game 2 of last year's World Series when they played and sang it live on the field at Yankee Stadium.

But, the playing of Empire State of Mind before an 'old time' sporting event such as the Belmont is a sign of how far mainstream acceptance of rap and R&B has come and how much a fading sport such as horse racing would like to do whatever it can to reclaim some lost relevance.

Source: Andy Hutchins, "Belmont Stakes Replacing Sinatra With Jay-Z, Making Last Lunge at Relevance", sportingews.com