Cards at Saratoga
 

Is it me or has the daily cards at Toga stunk? I'm playing everday and except for the first week on a couple days the overall cards have been small fields, bad races, and a quality level far below years gone by. You use to find races with 3-4 close contenders that made for great capping. Now ou look at a race and there's one or two standouts only to be won by some horse that really didn't figure. Judging by the meet contest, others are doing no better.

I made a post about so few horses returning with records of wins on the course. Where did they all go?

It's really a shame. Toga is my favorite meet, track, racing city, but the level of racing has dropped considerably.

Its not you. Its the reality of racing. Did you look at tomorrow's card at Saratoga? LOL, has to be the worst Saturday card ever. Are you as excited as I am to see Magna Graduate and Fairbanks going at it in the "Feature"?
How about today's card? The Waya Stakes, 6 horse field going 1.5 miles on the turf. Can we build a time machine and go back to the late, great 90's at Saratoga when we saw real horses run?

Timmy too many cheap ny state bred races have to be filled by the sec.

and why do we need 11 races on the big days (sat) isn't 9 or 10 eneough?

I think 9 races is plenty for any day Gales. I'd like to see less time between races and just 9 races, even on the weekends where the last race would go off no later than 5pm.

i agree with you on that gander

I thought so too....you have a few horses prepping for closing weekend as well so it will be interesting to see how they do.

Full fields are a great thing. I think people (like myself) equate Saratoga Saturdays with "star power" and have been spoiled by seeing talents like Skip Away, Ghostzapper, Formal Gold, SilverBulletDay, Bernardini, Point Given, etc. Its nice to have somebody great to see like the above, and at Saratoga its usually a "Given", no pun intended.

But I can see how as a gambler, tomorrow's card may look enticing from a betting standpoint. I just wish I found a race to be all over, but I cant.

Jeez, guess you can't please everyone. The first two weeks were terrific, and now, because there are a few days with subpar cards, "the level of racing has dropped considerably." When you run 10-11 races a day for 36 days, not every race and not every card is going to be fantastic. It's still hands down the best race meet in the country, and things will pick back up very soon. Take it easy.

I think people have the tendency to denigrate an entire meet/track/circuit because they personally aren't doing well at it.

And I still don't understand the point about there not being many horses who have won at Saratoga in the past. What difference does that make?

Enjoy it now. It'll only get worse through the years.

Are they running the Yaddo? I cant remmeber the last time (if ever) a stakes race had to be cancelled at Saratoga because they couldnt find horses.
Have they tried the Harness Track or downtown? The Police force here have a wonderful stable of horses that would probably be free to run.

I could be mistaken but I think the John Morrissey(sp?) was moved back a day or two last year because of the exact reason the Yaddo was moved back a day.

:mad:

It's starting to rain in Brooklyn. I'd play it safe if I were NYRA and take the 2 remaining TURF races OFF. We wouldn't want to ruin the turf courses for all those horses that'll need to work on them when the meet is over.

Its absolutely pouring here in Toga. Streets are flooding, rain coming from all angles, heavy winds.
The weather is at this point comical! You have to laugh.

I don't know why they moved the stakes races so that the Sword Dancer and Alabama would be on the same day, thus leaving this Saturday with, well, nothing much. I cannot remember a Saturday at Saratoga without a graded stakes race.

My guess is for TV. Either that or they're banking on getting some one-week turnarounds from the Million.

Its a blessing in disguise and the move turned out to be a smart one. It rained off and on (quite heavily) all afternoon. The turf course has to be a mess and with the rather cool temps here now, I dont see it getting any better for tomorrow's race. The Sword Dancer would have been run on a bog.
They should take off all of tomorrow's turf races if they havent already.

But wait, I hear the dirt course is actually in worse shape than the turf!
Maybe they'll cancel the entire card tomorrow and let things get back to normal in time for Sunday. Its not like there are any good races tomorrow anyways.

Next Saturday, hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll have 2 Grade
1's on Saturday. Take tomorrow off. Spend time with the family, go to a movie or get outside for some fresh air. The meet begins next weekend.

Might as well. With the exception of the 7th, where some nice fillies are SLUMMING it for $100k (they could run for that much just about anywhere), the turf card SUCKS. I can get a claimer and 2 maiden races just about at any track.

With all the turf races already taken off this meet, this is the best they can do?
This is what remains of what was once the best turf racing in the country?

if you want full fields, the money is green at mountaineer racetrack. don't look fractional or final times, names of horses or jockeys, and you can't tell if it's a stakes race or 5,000 nw2

A stakes race on a Sat might be nice...

At least you get to see horses who have competed in some really nice Graded Stakes in Magna Graduate, Sam P and Fairbanks.

And race 4 isnt bad. Callmetony is a nice one as are Noonmark and Most Distinguished.

Trying to see the glass as half full :)

goodness knows no one would tell the difference between 'toga and mountaineer. :rolleyes:

Don't mind the 2YO races but where is the super star that wins by 10 lengths we usually see? Most of the standouts coming in with buzz have standed down when it came to racing.

At the risk of seeming argumentative, which honestly, I am not...

It's SATURDAY and a graded race seems appropriate. Most Distinguished and Noonmark, Callmetony and Fairbanks are nice horses but if they were truly "graded stakes horses" right now, they'd have been in the Vanderbilt or the Whitney or pointing for the Forego or Woodward.

Accepting the fact theat they are G3 not G1 then an overnight race is fine at the Spa, but why a Saturday? Any of the "stakes" today would be fine additions to a weekday card or as supporting races for a Saturday.

Why move the Sword Dancer (which should be made a G1 MILE) anyhow? It's not like running it a week after the Arlington Million is going to alter is complexion.

Just like the daily overnight races, Saratoga is dumbing down it's stakes program. Once, if you had $16k claimers you sent them to Monmouth or rested them for the duration of the Saratoga meet. Now you bring them and their races fill. Similarly, you used to look at the very tough stakes schedule at SAR and find allowances or out of town (lesser) stakes. Now you bring them and they write races for you and call the $100k stakes.

I think it worked out great having 2 Grade 1's on the same Saturday. It will be a nice way to kick off the real meet. These first 3 weeks have been an utter mess. I dont think the Sword Dancer would have saved this past Saturday. Think of how green the grass will be and it should be firm by then as Friday and Saturday look great weatherwise.

If Music Note runs in the Alabama, she'll be 2/5, so we'll need a race like the Sword Dancer to provide a competitive betting puzzle.

Is Proud Spell going to run also?

Sword Dancer looks to be a rematch of the Man O War with Red Rock, Better Talk Now and Grand Courterier.

Keep hope alive. Saturday is an eternity away in meteorology land.

I think the rest of the meet has the potential to be great with some good weather. There's so many horses that want to get in one or two races it should be full as well as quality.

Anyone here Steve say they may run the last Tuesday (26th) to make up races? Bonus Day!

Spyder

That would be a colossal mistake. The horse population is already going to be beat up by running 10-11 race cards as NYRA has been doing to artificially prevent the numbers from being not as dismal. Running 13 straight days would probably result in several brutal cards from a quality perspective, and God knows what it would do to the early part of the Belmont fall meet.

Absolutely BRUTALLY MISMANAGED meet --- at just about every level. And this has nothing to do with the weather.

I'm ahead here, and I was ahead at GP last winter. But I'd never focus on GP again and the same applies to SAR. There are much better OFF track options than SAR.

Last I heard, she was. Which would make Music Note much higher than 2/5.

What has been done wrong other than the horrifically bad weather?

If they both run, maybe 4/5 and 7/5?

If one runs, that horse will be 2/5.

We need a good match race right about now. Would be a great thing to see to perk up moods around here. Combine that with a sunny day (no humidity) and a wide open Sword Dancer, and this could be the start of something really good leading us to the Personal Ensign, Travers and Ballerina weekend, then ending with the Woodward and Forego, salvaging what would be a good meet.

Seems like they added more time between races, in addition to adding a race a day. I get the reason why (to buy more food & beer) but I dont think its really right. Its more annoying than anything else, especially with the fluff that has been added to the cards. You may like something in the 4th, and the 5th through 7th will be garbage, so you are sitting around for 2 hours.

Anyone try "Restaurants Row"? I havent but have heard pretty good reviews.

I could think of worse things to do than stick it out on a Saturday afternoon through 11 races.

The restaurant row I think was a good addition this year, it's nice to have options. I usually pack snacks myself, but it was nice to be able to grab a warm turkey sandwich with melted brie. It was pretty good.

Won't they couple Little Belle and Music Note despite having different owners and trainers? Won't be 2/5 but that will lower the odds further and make the race even more unplayable especially if you don't like Little Belle.