Saratoga or DelMar...which is the better meet?

[1st time lasix]

In the East they love the tradition and the quality of the Spa....in the west they love the pagentry and style where the surf meets the turf.

[Salute the General]

If you are talking about the overall Quality of racing IMO hands down Saratoga is Better heck there will be days that Delmar will card 7 of the 9 races for Claimers.

[jbelfior]

Besides the \"pagentry and style,\" I guess they also love their 5 horse fields. Less time for handicapping and more time to work on their tan.



Good Luck,
Joe B.

[marcus]

in years where both meets are at their very best , saratoga wins becouse of the larger fields and value\'s easier to find on a daily basis .

[Saddlecloth]

i vote for saratoga, i clearly am at my best in picking winners on the majority of days that are rained off the turf!!!!

[Saddlecloth]

yawn, this debate goes on every summer

different stroks for different folks.  no doubt that saratoga has a deeper pool of horses with several states shipping horses in and thus has a better product, but you have to deal with many many days of rain were the turf racing turns to 4 and 5 horse dirt races after hourse of planning.  You also have to deal with pletcher the first two weeks (probably runs at 80% tops that period).  

It will be interesting to see if the trends continue from belmont summer where the straight alw races and high level claiming races could hardly fill unless they run optional claiming.

[marcus]

good point . though with all the rain we\'ve gotton here in the past month or so , hopefully the rainy season came early this year . plus they need the rain out west more than we do in ny ...  

[ezgoer89]

1st time lasix Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the East they love the tradition and the
> quality of the Spa....in the west they love the
> pagentry and style where the surf meets the turf.


If you are going to sit on your butt and bet TVG then SAR is your gig.  

If you are going for the setting, the weather, the ambiance, then DMR wins hands down. There is never a worry about rain, heat, humidity, etc.... knowing it will be 75 - 80 degrees and sunny without ridiculous crowds, overpriced hotels and food, and overwhelming traffic, then DMR is king.

I\'ve been to both... and for the on-track experience, DMR wins...easily.

[MO]

Saratoga has the same crowd as Aqueduct, just a different place. I was grateful in my years at  NYRA NOT to have to go there.

So if you really want to have a good time, go to Del Mar. The racing ain\'t as good, but the cost is the same with far fewer assholes and many more novices which might help your bankroll.

[richiebee]

There are two threads currently on this board and I don\'t really understand why they continue.

Saratoga and Del Mar can BOTH be great places to spend a day at the races. What makes them great is that in each place an entire community is dedicated to the enjoyment of thoroughbred racing for 6 weeks. Why does one venue have to be better than the other? How could one ever prove that one is better than the other?

Likewise the great TG v Rags debate. Why does one need to be better than the other, and how could it ever be proved? Certainly not by the six week, two (one?) track showdown which is scheduled for this summer.

As I have said before, if I really had the desire to decide for myself which product was better, I might want to investigate the paid \"circulation\" of the respective products, or possibly the earnings of the respective companies. Since neither company is publicly traded, I do not expect this information to be forthcoming.

The posters on the respective boards who instigated this great showdown, and TGJB, are looking for instances where the two products differ wildly in their assessment of an animal\'s performance. As a horseplayer I may be more interested to see where both products AGREED on a particular animal\'s abilities, and to see if there is any value on these horses.

MO: I have been going to the races at Aqueduct and Saratoga for more than 25 years and your comment that the same people are attending the races at these two places is not very accurate.

[RICH]

MO

Saratoga has the same crowd as the Big A? You should expand your circle of friends, nothing could be farther from the truth. I speak form experience, I have been to all NYRA tracks hundreds of times over the last 30 yrs.

[MO]

I worked for NYRA for 5 years and have been to the spa a few times. You see what you want, I call em\' like I see \'em. I have also been to Del Mar a dozen times. (I was the only one in the press box with a winning ticket on Dare and Go when he beat Cigar).

Peace.

[Delmar Deb]

Then Lee Rousso and Jim Quinn must not have been in there, because their winning tickets - and mine - on Dare and Go were for the Pick 3!  And Lee Rousso even gave out Dare and Go as a single in the Pick 6 at the National Turf seminar put on by Jeff Siegel and Bob Selvin that morning across the street. Neither of them however, used the horse, as they both fell victim to the hype about Cigar.

Mott handled the horse beautifully, even better than what Woody Stephens did with Smarten.  He managed to avoid the Santa Anita Handicap and the Hollywood Gold Cup thinking that by the time the Pacific Classic came around all the good horses would be used up or out of commission.  

But you can\'t fool Dick Mandella!  First off, Jerry rode another horse in the Hollywood Gold Cup and saw only saw the heels of Mandella\'s Siphon, which even Jerry admits caused him to chase that one in the Pacific Classic. Then Corey Nakatani wanted to get into the act, and his move on Dramatic Gold not only lost him any chance of friendship with Bailey, but also got him barred from Paulson\'s Del Mar Country Club and taken off all of David Hoffman\'s horses.  Yet even without that kind of help, Dare and Go was the first Grade 1 horse (other than what Holy Bull would have done had he not been injured) to come between Cigar and the finish line.  Alphabet Soup and Skip Away would also beat Cigar and further prove the brilliance of Mott\'s campaign over the skill of Cigar.  

[MO]

Richiebee wrote:

MO: I have been going to the races at Aqueduct and Saratoga for more than 25 years and your comment that the same people are attending the races at these two places is not very accurate.



You are the same guy who insulted me and my deceased Aunt Margaret on this board. You go to Aqueduct and Saratoga. I rest my case.

[richiebee]

I also apologized to you on the board, but that makes your post less fun.

Say whatever you want about me, pal, from this point on I open \"no mo\" MO posts.