Saturday's Saratoga card

[jbelfior]

Disappointing, IMO. Only 6 to contest the 4Stardave; not much opposition to LOST IN THE FOG (unless one stretches their imagination with SANTANA STRINGS).

I\'m going with the hopes of a faster than :47 pace and use AH in the Travers, hedging with him in the 2 hole. Will save lots of ground on the fence and pattern suggests big performance is coming. Hopefully Jimbo is right, BR gets bet like crazy and AH goes 10-1.



Good Luck,
Joe B.

[richiebee]

Joe B.

  Big time disappointing. 25 runners in 4 graded stakes before scratches. There should be odds on favorites in the 3 races other than the Travers, not that all or any of them have to win.

  Forget about Pletcher and Frankel\'s horses running poorly, they don\'t seem to be running at all. Pletcher and Frankel each have one entrant in the 4 race stakes sequence. Especially hard to believe that Pletcher doesn\'t have a 2YO for the Hopeful(Baffert has a runner in each of the 4 races).

  When was the last time an owner won the Alabama and the Travers the same year?

  If BR wins, does he go to BC Classic off a 60 day layoff?

[Silver Charm]

We are in the beginnings of the Post Dope Era. Certain high profile Trainers will soon be candidates for a lead role in Bruckheimers, \"Gone Without a Trace\".

These guys can\'t pull the trigger knowing they are leading a horse over there who isn\'t full-of-dope. Pletcher, Frankel and now Dutrow have seen their barns filled up with owners saying \"I want in on their gig\".

This is also the Horsemens way of saying we make the rules not the Tracks or Betting Public. No testing, no detention or we will not run. There is a subtle power play going on here. We as Players will have to deal with it for a while and Track Mgmts will too.

Some owners will buy those excuses for a while. It will be tough for a trainer to try and explain to owners why he has a barn full of about 135 horses of the best bred and most expensive horses in the world and he CAN\'T FIND ONE fit enough to run on a Big Day Stakes Card. Owners will then begin to notice the Trainers who show on big days, run clean horses and win. Owners will move their horses over to those trainers barns and say \"I want in on their gig\".

I guess you missed Carninooch\'s huge new top against much better today.

[jimbo66]

You are on the money Joe B.  The stakes on the card absolutely suck.  25 runners in 4 races.  I don\'t remember a less interesting Travers stakes undercard.

The Travers, which is only marginally bettable, unless you think the top 3 are vulnerable, is the only race of the three that looks worth a wager.

Lost in the Fog looks like a lock.

Ditto for Leroidesanimaux.

Likey for Henny Huges, unless you think Bailey\'s horse has a shot, in which case you 5-2 instead of 3-5.

\"Likey for Henny Huges, unless you think Bailey\'s horse has a shot, in which case you 5-2 instead of 3-5.\"

I think a reasonable case can be made that the allowance field that Bailey\'s horse beat was tougher than the field Henny Hughs beat despite the speed figure difference. I might get crazy and take that 5-2.  

[richiebee]

CH:

No, I didn\'t miss Carminooch, whose placing today was much closer than it appeared because Samyn looked like an amateur on the winner.

Pletcher\'s 2 other runners today:

2nd Race: Grand Consequence, 2.95/1, last place finish 6th beaten 10 lengths.
9th Race: Honey Gold, 7.90/1, 8th of 10, beaten 14 lengths.

[Silver Charm]

CH,

Read what I said over again. About this being the \"BEGINNING\". Not the end, there is still quite a bit of work left to do on these issues. However as long as the Players and Track Mgmt remain persistent this issue will become somewhat resolved.

A lot of what Steve Crist said in his Sunday(?) DRF article was true, but a lot of what these guys are saying by not showing up at the entry box is also true.

Level the Playing Field, take away some of my race day day medications, increase security and scrutiny, and I am not good enough to lead one over there and run one for Black Type and Big Money.

Owners will catch on and move on.