A Saratoga wrap up, best and worst

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by moodwalker

Anyone who could get Purge to do that is an angel in my eyes.

That horse was just listless up until Gomez got after that ass and brought him on home. I could actually hear the stallion fee going up when I saw Gomez getting after him through the lane.

The guy just has a gift. He does such a great job and getting horses to relax and to settle into the place that will maximize their effort. Every horse has an ideal pace that they want to run at. It's an extreme example, but you wouldn't want to drop back to dead last by 12 lengths with Henny Hughes. If you did, he wouldn't run as well. By the same token, you woudn't want to gun Circular Quay. He wouldn't run as well if you did. Those are extreme examples. No jockey is going to drop back to dead-last with Henny Hughes and no jockey is going to gun Circular Quay. It's going to be more subtle than that. With Circular Quay, Gomez dropped about 14 lengths back. Any jock would have taken the horse back, but some jocks may have only been 9-10 lengths back. In this case, it wouldn't have mattered. The horse would have still won. He wouldn't have won as easily. He would have probably won by 2-3 lengths instead of 4 1/4 lengths. But if the field was a little tougher, being in the perfect spot could make the difference of winning instead of losing. There will be a lot of races where the top few horses are pretty equally matched and being in the perfect position can make the difference between winning and losing.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Seattleallstar

not winning a god damn cent saratoga was all the worst for me, ****in pure incentive costing me a few thousand dollars

And Appealing Zophie cost me an $80K pick 6...

But Saratoga this year was better than ever. Anybody that can say there's a better place to race with a straight face better pass the joint. Driving back to the city on Monday was downright depressing- Belmont fall is a great meet but nothing compared to the mystique, energy, and quality of the Spa. I'm a firm believer they should expand the meet to the Wednesday after July 4th until Labor Day (so approximately 9 weeks.) How amazing would that be??

I love the place enough that I'd move there, and put up with upstate (where I grew up and vowed I'd never come back) for 46 weeks a year, just to take in the whole 6 weeks instead of just the weekends...

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by philcski

And Appealing Zophie cost me an $80K pick 6...

But Saratoga this year was better than ever. Anybody that can say there's a better place to race with a straight face better pass the joint. Driving back to the city on Monday was downright depressing- Belmont fall is a great meet but nothing compared to the mystique, energy, and quality of the Spa. I'm a firm believer they should expand the meet to the Wednesday after July 4th until Labor Day (so approximately 9 weeks.) How amazing would that be??

I love the place enough that I'd move there, and put up with upstate (where I grew up and vowed I'd never come back) for 46 weeks a year, just to take in the whole 6 weeks instead of just the weekends...

Not amazing at all. You have any idea how terrible those cards would become?

[Gander]

I have mixed feelings on extending the meet. But I will say this. The majority of people that attend the races at Saratoga could give a rat's ass about the quality of the cards. Most people are just there to hang out and I doubt it would hurt NYRA or the sport if they moved those 3 weeks of racing to Saratoga instead of keeping them at Belmont.

Adding Labor Day weekend was the best thing that ever happened to Saratoga racing.

Originally Posted by Gander

I have mixed feelings on extending the meet. But I will say this. The majority of people that attend the races at Saratoga could give a rat's ass about the quality of the cards. Most people are just there to hang out and I doubt it would hurt NYRA or the sport if they moved those 3 weeks of racing to Saratoga instead of keeping them at Belmont.

Adding Labor Day weekend was the best thing that ever happened to Saratoga racing.

As if they could be any worse than the last two weeks at Belmont? Are you kidding me?
The last two weeks at Belmont aren't any good at all
The next change at the Spa should be 8 weeks, 5 racing days a week.

[Gander]

Yes I agree Oracle. 6 days is too much. Add a couple extra weeks and chop off Monday racing, although if it wasnt for one particular monday this meet, I would have had the worst meet ever. Instead I finished around even.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by Gander

Yes I agree Oracle. 6 days is too much. Add a couple extra weeks and chop off Monday racing, although if it wasnt for one particular monday this meet, I would have had the worst meet ever. Instead I finished around even.

Hall of Fame day is always Monday.

[Revolution]

i heard them talking about extending the meet on the radio when i was up there this summer. it will never happen. i do not think it should either. the meet will just be watered down. trainers and their workers also have lives outside of racing and most live somewhere other than saratoga. most would not like to see the meet extended.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Not amazing at all. You have any idea how terrible those cards would become?

The cards at the end of the Belmont meet were awful this year. They CAN'T be worse than that.

I'd take 90% of Saratoga over anywhere in the world, and from NYRA's perspective the handle increase would be very much in their favor.

My proposal:
Run the Friday after July 4th until Labor Day, 5 days a week except Travers Monday, Hall of Fame Monday, and Labor Day.
That would be 46 racing days (vs. the typical 36.)

[Gander]

Who cares about Hall of Fame day? Break tradition and put it on a Wed. Who would really care? The race itself is no great shakes, thats for sure.

I like the Labor Day thing, that could be the only Monday. Start on a Thursday after July 4th, run 5 days a week Wed-Sun, with the exception of Labor Day being the one Monday and missing the first Wednesday of the meet, starting on that Thursday instead.

[Gander]

18K people attended the races the Hall of Fame Day. Big whoop. It can be changed to a different day of the week to fit into my proposed 5 day a week schedule.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by Gander

Who cares about Hall of Fame day? Break tradition and put it on a Wed. Who would really care? The race itself is no great shakes, thats for sure.

I like the Labor Day thing, that could be the only Monday. Start on a Thursday after July 4th, run 5 days a week Wed-Sun, with the exception of Labor Day being the one Monday and missing the first Wednesday of the meet, starting on that Thursday instead.

Personally I had a delightful time and the yearling sales are at that time as well.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by oracle80

You know Bill,
The reasons they say they won't run the BC at the Spa are absolutely ridiculous. WIth the Oklahoma training track and its barns, and the cool weather that would make the Euros feel at home, and the fact that they would sell out to an incredible capacity crowd, it simply makes no sense not to have it here. I will never understand it. Airport is in close proximity for shippers, and obviously big days up here each year are the norm. A Wednesday- Saturday meet which ended in the BC would be a smashing success like none ever seen.
The reason I hear most often is tha lack of heat within the plant. I'm not quite sure that anyone would care. It gets cold in other places where they have the BC as well. I won't ever understand why they can't hold it here. I guess the juvenile races would have to lengthened like they did at Arlington, but other than that it would be a smooth fit.

The real reson is NYRA does not want to do it. As you all probably know Belmont and Saratoga share the same equipment and "guts" The move to each meet is a royal pain in the arse. NYRA doesn't want to do it just for one day and distrupt the Belmont Meet.. All that other nonsense about hotel rooms cold weather etc. is all BS Hopefully that will change to have it there just for one time.