sports
Another Triple Crown threat headlines the Belmont Stakes
106 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 7, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
He’s only run fi ve races in his life, but
Justify has already made plenty of history
— most notably in becoming the fi rst
Kentucky Derby winner in 136 years to
never have raced as a two-year-old.
Th e question now is whether Justify
can — well, justify — his place among
thoroughbred racing immortals such as
War Admiral, Secretariat and American
Pharoah as a Triple Crown winner.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances,
we’ll fi nd out at about 6:46 p.m. on
Saturday, June 9, when Justify and as
many as nine other rivals spring from
the starting gate of the 150th Belmont
Stakes at Belmont Park.
Trained by Bob Baff ert (who guided
American Pharoah in 2015 to the
fi rst Triple Crown sweep in 37 years)
and ridden by Mike Smith, Justify took
the fi rst two legs of the Triple Crown in
less than ideal conditions. He won the
Kentucky Derby over a rain-drenched
Churchill Downs track on the fi rst
Saturday in May, then survived a rainy,
foggy Preakness Stakes in Baltimore two
weeks later.
Th is Saturday’s forecast, according to
Weather.com, calls for cloudy skies with
a chance of showers during the aft ernoon.
Th at might seem like good news
for Justify, but he still has to win the race
— and there’s nine other horses looking
to spoil his historic bid.
Th ey include Bravazo, who fi nished
second to Justify in the Preakness;
Gronkowski, a European invader named
for and partly owned by New England
Patriots star Rob Gronkowski; Hofb urg,
who fi nished seventh in the Kentucky
Derby; Louisiana Derby winner Noble
Indy; and Wood Memorial winner Vino
Rosso.
Th e Belmont Stakes caps off the
Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, the New
York Racing Association’s three-day
spring championships featuring lucrative
stakes races and a wide variety of entertainment
for tens of thousands of fans
to enjoy.
Th ursday’s (June 7) card includes three
stakes races, while Friday’s card (June 8)
features fi ve championship races including
the $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup
Invitational, a 2 mile marathon on the
grass. Call to Mind, one of the entrants in
the race, will wear the royal colors of his
owner, Queen Elizabeth II.
Th e June 8 card also includes the Taste
NY & Craft Fair; an autograph session
with jockey Julie Krone, the fi rst female
jockey to win a Triple Crown race, riding
Colonial Aff air to victory in the 1993
Belmont Stakes; and a post-race concert
by Mike DelGuidice and Big Shot, featuring
members of Billy Joel’s touring band.
Th e Belmont Stakes Day card on June 9
includes the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes,
the $1.25 million Metropolitan Mile, the
$1 million Manhattan Handicap and
seven other stakes races. Th e cast of the
Broadway musical “A Bronx Tale” will
perform during the races along with
Th ird Eye Blind, which will also hold a
post-race concert.
You can still get tickets to the Belmont
Stakes and the Belmont Stakes Racing
Festival by visiting belmontstakes.com.
If you’re heading to the Belmont Stakes
this Saturday, leave the car at home and
use the Long Island Rail Road instead.
Visit mta.info/lirr for further details.
Howard Beach native brings home the bronze in world massage competition
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
In a contest truly fi lled with tension and
pressure, a Howard Beach native took on
massage therapists from across the globe
and brought home the bronze medal in
an international competition in Denmark.
Jonathan Grassi, a board-certifi ed massage
therapist, came in third place in the
freestyle massage category of the World
Massage Championship in Copenhagen.
Organized by the International Massage
Association, over 120 massage therapists
from around the world came to participate
in the two-day event.
“My clients are the inspiration for my
work,” Grassi said. “I wanted to compete
in the World Massage Championship so
that I could give them the best bodywork
possible in the world.”
Competitors are judged based on technique,
ergonomics, fl ow, innovation and
client contact. Th e massage recipients
give their own evaluations for consideration.
Grassi reportedly demonstrated
techniques that were new to many of
the judges.
“Jonathan is technically excellent. He’s
impeccable, actually,” said Joe Lavin, western
freestyle category head judge at the
event. “I believe what separated him from
the rest was the connection he established
with his client, as well as his focused and
caring attention specifi cally on the client,
seemingly ambivalent to the chaos of the
competition around him.”
“Everyone was outstanding and it was
an honor to be among them,” Grassi said.
A graduate of Flushing’s Townsend
Harris High School in 2002, Grassi went
on to study at the Finger Lakes School of
Massage in upstate New York. He later
went on to complete advanced training at
the Massage Th erapy Institute of Colorado,
the Institute for Phenomenal Touch and
the Colorado School of Somatic Studies.
With over 2,500 hours of body-centered
training under his belt, Grassi currently
runs Bodywork for Liberation in Lafayette,
Colorado, where he is a Phenomenal
Touch Master Instructor and mentors
massage therapists
“Whether people have physical pain,
the need for relaxation, or desire somatic
awakening, massage has so much to off er,”
Grassi said. “How people receive massage
can actually make a diff erence in their
therapeutic experience.”
For more information on Grassi and
his practice, visit BodyworkForLiberation.
com.
Photo: Facebook/International Massage Association
Travis Knuth, (Gold), Tracey Windmill, (Silver) and Jonathan Grassi, (Bronze) with judge Joe Lavin
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