More Saratoga dates!

[fasteddie]

I see that NYRA has just announced it will add 4 days to the front of the meet....not crazy about this, as it cheats me out of my traditional Weds. opening that I have attended for the last 25 years. I go up for the opening week (Weds.to Mon.) My understanding is that they are taking the CCA Oaks away from Belmont and placing it on the new opening weekend.

[covelj70]

Saratoga is the only thing that NYRA has going for it (which we were painfully reminded of last weekend) so adding dates and big races up there I think is generally a good idea.

Look at Keenland\'s races/field sizes this weekend (overnights are out for Sat) compared to the pathetic field sizes that Belmont had last weekend.  So sad given that I live in New York and want to go to these races on the big days.

[Niall]

Cant see how I wont need AA and GA and whatever else the additional days will bring ... Still havent recovered ... Oh well ... BRING IT ON !!! Maybe one of the vets has a little something something ... I\'ll be wearing bandages all around by Travers and milkshaking it till Labor Day ...

[covelj70]

This is tremendous

[richiebee]

Covel:

You know you are my main man and my NY homeboy, but that post brought me the kind
of mirth I can only experience when witnessing great hypocrisy.

Before you take offense, let me reiterate that the perpetrator of hypocritical
words or deeds is almost never aware of his or her behavior. To me the person who
is occasionally hypocritical is merely a source of entertainment.

Covel-- you say you are dismayed by short field racing in NY. I will take it a
step further and say that it is a travesty that NYRA\'s answer is to write more and
more cheap/NYB turf sprints.

Covel you would like to probably see larger fields and more variety in the
distance of races. A good mix of sprint/route, dirt/turf, maiden/
claimer/allowance/stake, maybe with a little less NYB racing or maybe the
elimination of NYB racing to a great degree.

Covel as a NY racing fan that is what you want.

What kind of horses do you buy?

Think of how much better off Racing would be if only a small portion of the
monies spent at auctions of unraced (sometimes both at auction and at the end of
their career) equines would be spent on bringing in runners of racing age? From
Europe? From SA? From SAf? From Can? Feasible? Tied to the rates of currency
exchange?

Think of the trainers you employ. How many horses do trainers like Tricky and KMac
and the TAPper and William Ichabod Mott have stabled at NYRA tracks? How many
West Point horses are stabled at tracks across the country? How many of the
aforementioned runners are within 30 days of a race?

I\'m starting to bore myself. Regulate pinhooking, or surcharge it severely. Limit
NYS bred racing to Maiden races and Stakes races, all other times NYBs must race
against the general prison population. Put horses on the backside that are ready
to run and write a condition book that promotes variety. Take advantage of
Belmont\'s configurations where dirt races up to 10 furlongs are run at one turn.
Start writing longer turf races 9f+ for claimers, and run those races even
if \"only\" seven or eight enter.

This a\'int effin rocket surgery boys and girls.

I am tired of being the master of the obvious.

Next stop BC. If the California commitment to clean racing is what JB says it is,
game set match first time Lasix Euros, no?

To level the playing field, take pre-entries 4 weeks prior to BC, and sequester
the horses and their handlers at central locations, including one in Europe,
where they would be subject to continual surveillance for three weeks prior to
the BC no matter what their location.

[covelj70]

Richiebee,

I am most definitely not smart enough to figure out what alot of this means but it was a hell of an entertaining post so works for me

Gonna be a great weekend of racing all over the place.