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[TGJB]

First of all, thanks for all the kind words from those who posted and emailed.

Mall-- Farish definitely did not get his pocket picked. The deal was so favorable to him that I gagged and almost told Ro not to do it on general principles. Let\'s just say Farish had a serious rooting interest in the race, and will end up netting 5-10 times what he would have had he kept him and kept managing him the way they had.

But the exposure for Ro was not extreme, and the upside very good. SC\'s worth a fair amount as a stallion right now-- he has the pedigree, which Even The Score and Super Frolic did not.

On the poly debate-- I\'m not going to say I love it, but I had a very good weekend betting. Del Mar has always been my best track, and while the surface adds variables, they are manageable. On Sunday I was live on a $512 pick six play with two horses in the last for 193k and 1.2 million, but had to settle for two consos.

[Frank]

\"On the poly debate-- I\'m not going to say I love it\"

If you don\'t love it you probably should given I don\'t think I saw you bet a loser in 4 days.

It was good to see you out here. Perhaps a little longer stay next year?

Frank

[Silver Charm]

Congrats Jerry.

You have some well-earned great success in your career. The Belmont with Victory Gallop, the BC Mile with DaHoss, HUGE scores at the windows, etc.

But this might be the best one ever.

As I said congrats and welcome back.

[Perfect Drift]

Honestly, I have abandoned approx. 90% of my handle from the east coast and placed it on the west coast.  I cannot handle the NY-bred Denny\'s buffet dealt up by NYRA and the Pletcher/Dutrow(s) combo meal through the northeast gives me ogida.

So, I shift my cash to HOL/DMR/SA and it\'s been nirvana.  No bullcrap cheap front runners, no sketchy trainer garbage. Honestly, I cannot remember being more confident and relaxed placing a wager.  i even hit a place bet on a 40-1 Paco Gonzalez maiden this past weekend... that would never happen in NY.

I realize poly has slowed the games, but aren\'t those who complain being a bit hypocrtyical?  Isn\'t racing about the health of the horse, or so I thought?  DMR is safe as could be and folks like Baffert can basically go to heck. Since he now can\'t train a horse if 45.3 for 4f and throw him on the track... now he must think, and actually train a horse to RACE.  Amazing thought, huh?

Congrats, Jerry.  I\'ve never felt better about racing than Poly/Cushion on the left coast.

[miff]

\"Honestly, I have abandoned approx. 90% of my handle from the east coast and placed it on the west coast. I cannot handle the NY-bred Denny\'s buffet dealt up by NYRA and the Pletcher/Dutrow(s) combo meal through the northeast gives\"

\"I realize poly has slowed the games, but aren\'t those who complain being a bit hypocrtyical? Isn\'t racing about the health of the horse, or so I thought?\"



Perfect Drift,

Not even close. If racing was about the health of the horse, they would not allow them to legally race on pain killing drugs, pull their teeth, take their water away pre race, nerve them, and subject them to many other unnatural/uncomfortable situations. You too have drunk too much Kool Aide spewed by poly loons and the disingenuous race track operators who care first about handle/revenue, not the horses. If handle were to decline at poly venues, it would be torn up in a minute.

As far as Baffert goes, you can\'t be serious about his ability to train and add a host of NY \"big time\" trainers who do NOT want to race on poly but would love to train on it.

Incidentally, you must be kidding regarding the overall quality of racing at Del Mar( except for a couple of weekends) vs what the SPA cards have been, surfaces aside.


Mike

[richiebee]

Miff:

Spa and Del Mar have one thing in common: Neither are offering anywhere near
the quality of Racing which they featured ten years ago.

The Spa never had cheap claimers running on the turf, nor did they have maidens
running for less than 75K. There have probably been more races run at 5-1/2
furlongs (both surfaces) than there have been at 1-1/8 miles (both surfaces).
Horses making less starts per year at shorter distances-- what does that say
about where American Racing is headed?

Not to mention that Street Sense, a very nice colt in the scheme of things, will
almost certainly not race as a 4YO. But what the hell,these 5-1/2 furlong
maiden turf sprints are drawing full fields.

I blame it on the New York Greeders. Between today (Wednesday) and tomorrow
(Thursday) there are 8(!) NEW YORK STATE BRED RACES.

I hope whoever inherits New York Racing will commit themselves to restoring
Saratoga racing to its rightful place in the scheme of things. If the condition
book continues to favor NYB runners, I envision fewer and fewer non NY barns
coming to Saratoga.

Crist calls Saratoga \"Belmont North\". What is unfortunate about that is that
racing at Belmont is nowhere near what it used to be 10 years ago.

That being said, I plan on betting like a wild animal on Thursday and Saturday
on Saratoga racing. I will not be offering a SROTW (Steeplechase Race of the
Week) this week. Any opinions out there?? I need a winner, or maybe a shylock
with a bad memory or a crapped out hard drive.

[PapaChach]

I thought the first two weeks of the Spa meet offered excellent cards for the most part, but it\'s been mostly downhill since. The Sunday and Monday cards were the definition of putrid.

Quote from Mark Hennig in this morning\'s Albany Times Union:

\"These sprint races on the turf are great. There are a lot of horses that fit the condition, and they are very exciting races.\"

So I guess I can like these three turf sprints a day cards, or lump \'em.

Amazing that in the time it took me to go from graduate school to married w/three kids (fifteen years, basically), the Spa turf schedule went from featuring loads of 11, 12, and even 13 furlong races (was it really in my lifetime that J. Sheppard got a first timer, Pillow Mint I believe, to win 1st out at 1 5/8ths???) to sprint-mania. Anybody remember the Seneca, a graded turf race at 1 5/8ths? Long-gone...will they have to resort to state-bred 25k maiden claiming quarter mile turf dashes to fill cards fifteen years from now?

[fkach]

>If the condition book continues to favor NYB runners, I envision fewer and fewer non NY barns coming to Saratoga. <

First, let me qualify this by saying I don\'t know much, if anything, about the NY Bred program. All I know is that the horses get very inflated purses and the stock is slowly improving over time.

Why should anyone provide financial incentives to grow a breeding and racing program in their own state?  

Why shouldn\'t the NY breeding program be subject to the same free market forces as any other business or industry?

When you subsidize something, you typically get more of it (and we seem to be). Other than the people that are directly involved with NY Breds, it seems everyone else is being hurt by this.

1. NY gamblers get more cheap NY Bred races to watch and wager on.    

2. All the money that\'s going for those very inflated NY Bred purses is coming from somewhere. That probably means that people working with non-NY Breds are getting less than they should based on a free market distribution of purse money. That it turn is probably putting some marginal owners out of business.

Is it any wonder that NY can\'t fill solid Open ALW and Claiming races anymore and that we have to watch an unending parade cheap NY Bred races?

[Lost Cause]

The first race today (steeplechase) looks pretty cold boxing the 5 and 6, real chalky though...I don\'t like playing Steeplechases heavily because of all the problems that can happen during the race.

[magicnight]

Lost -

Too bad about lunch, but nice one anyway.

Agree that 5/6 or 6/5 are the likeliest results in the \'chase today, but if there is any value in the race I think it\'s the 2, who made a nice debut over the fences a month ago and gets 8 or 9 pounds from the other six. Small field, probably not too big a price, but if they hammer the 5 & 6 you may get 10-1 on the 2 who - so far - has not done anything wrong over the fences.

Bob

[Lost Cause]

The 2 does look like an upsetter in the field because of the weight...But he looked like he was getting a little leg weary at 2 1/16th in last and today they will be going a lot farther.. In his flat dirt races he lost ground in the stretch in a lot of his longer races, the lone exception was when they set a fast pace in front of him in his maiden win.., could be an indicator that he is not a strong finisher...That won\'t work out well in this field..

[magicnight]

Another good call, Lost. The 2 was done halfway through.

[Lost Cause]

Unfortunately so was the 6...

[bobphilo]

And both horses were vanned off. These steeplechases are horse cripplers with injury and fatality rates much higher than flat racing. That\'s why I no longer bet or support them, aside from issues of unpredictability.

Bob

[Silver Charm]

Saratoga needs a Polytrack Steeplechase Course.

Polytrack solves all problems in racing.

And it give handicappers another reason to not bet on Steeplechase races.