Saturday Saratoga Race Card
 

This is the Saturday card - 11 races


4 - $20,000 Claiming Races
2 - MSW Races
1 - MSW NYB Race
1 - $20,000 Maiden Claiming NYB Race
1 - $20,000 Maiden Claiming Open Race
1 - Allowance
1 - Stake race - Fourstardave

Pretty bad for a Saturday at Saratoga!!

I knew it was a matter of time before someone complained. Predictable. Take a look at the previous weekends at the meet. You write the races for the horses you have and can fill - they may have pushed a bit hard the first few weeks, but given that this is the only weekend without a G1, maybe it's a bit of a sacrifice. Surely we can make it through...

I'll take a "bad" Saturday, which I contend it actually isn't, over a good day just about anywhere else.

:D - Predictable as well. Thanks.

at least there's ONLY 11 races......... ;) I long for 24 days & 9 race cards......during SARATOGA

It's not a good card, but you run into these kinds of situations mid-meet when it's too soon for horses to run back.

Let's complain equally about Del Mar then. 10 races

2 MSW
2 MCL
1 Statebred Optional Claimer
1 Optional Claimer
1 32,000 Claimer
1 16,000 Claimer
1 8,000 Claimer
1 G2 Stakes race

Doesn't look a whole lot different does it? I guess unless all the races are oversubscribed G1s no one can make any money.....

:tro:

Last Saturday, Mountaineer carded NINE different OPEN stakes races, all worth at least 100K a piece. They handled just over $2.7 million.

By comparison, Monmouth Park did over $4.9 million and Del Mar did over $7.9 million on the same day -- and both of them put on wildly inferior cards to the one at Mountaineer.

The quality of racing on the card doesn't make as big a deal as the prestige of the racetrack said card is held on.

maybe they should run the card at night and out of the tradition summer showcase meets then?

I dont understand the defense of the card?

Regardless of the excuses given for a Saturday at Saratoga it is a terrible card.

Its too soon for the 5 trainers who have all the good horses to run back...

What about today's card? Blechh! Had the day off and ripped into the form last night. Very disappointing. We need to promote more horse sex so we can get more and better players!

Guess it's time then to shutter the place and bring in the wrecking ball. Then we can all go play Hoosier and bitch about it. Rule #5: no matter how good something is at least one horseplayer will complain about it.

:tro: Ding, Ding, Ding!

But the card isnt good, it is abnormally bad for a Saturday at Saratoga. More than 1/2 of the races are for a $20000 tag which happens to be the bottom price there. On a Monday or Wed? Whatever, they are filling 6 cards a week. But for a Saturday card why shouldn't people complain about it?

Is there some rule that you can't complain about a card that isn't up to the usual standards?

Of course people can complain and for Saratoga standards, the quality is subpar.

This is horse racing in 2012. There aren't enough good horses to fill cards like we did 10 years ago.

finally
 

the voice of reason. sharp post.

People love to use the previous years corresponding day as a measuring stick so we will do that here.

Last year's 4th Saturday of the meet had
Race 1 25000 long on turf
Race 2 MSW (NYB)
Race 3 Allowance
Race 4 Mdn 20000
Race 5 MSW turf
Race 6 MSW
Race 7 MSW
Race 8 Allowance/opt 50000
Race 9 Allowance
Race 10 Sword Dancer
Race 11 Mdn 20000

Saturday
Race 1 20000 nw2
Race 2 MSW turf
Race 3 20000 nw2
Race 4 MSW (NYB)
Race 5 Mdn 20000 (NYB)
Race 6 MSW
Race 7 20000 nw2 turf
Race 8 Mdn 20000
Race 9 20000 nw3
Race 10 Alw turf
Race 11 4stardave

I dont know this is entirely true. Just seems that so many are trained by so few. A majority of NY trainers dont have any what would be considered good horses and fill their stalls with NY breds and cheaper horses.

This is a huge problem.

You can't do anything about the fact that the same five trainers get all the good stock, with one getting most of it.

I'd like to see more open cheap claiming races at Saratoga and a lot less of these stakes races with five and six horse fields.

I'd like to see more baby races with 10 and 12 horse fields where you can make a lot of money if you're right -- than a whole bunch with small fields.

From a betting standpoint, I would take a card loaded with competitive cheap class races and big field baby races ... over a card with a bunch of soft stakes races and 6 horse field baby races.

Well you could stop giving them 150 free stalls.

The initial problem is that no one in a leadership position in racing seems to understand this is an issue. Funny that they always like to toss other sports analogies in regards to racing (usually in the wrong context but whatever) but seem to miss that competitive balance has been a war fought in every major sport since the begining of the free agency era. Salary caps, player drafts, luxury taxes, etc are all staples of other sports that work to attempt to achieve some sort of balance. Yet in this sport it is absolutely ignored and many of the moves made actually further the cause of the supertrainer and large barns to the detriment of just about everyone else. Unlimited stalls, the proliferation of overnight stakes races, the field size limit in 2 yo maiden races are all things that are absolute boons to the barns with all the talent providing more easy spots for their huge arsenal of horses, often creating poor betting races as well.

Open claiming races have been killed off by conditioned claimers at most tracks

There are five of them to kick off the Delmar card today. The racinos elsewhere have siphoned off all the claiming horses.

Their time will come.

It's a mixture of things and a few having so many doesn't help.

I get the complaint about the quality of the card. I just don't get the shock when it happens. As if this is the first year this is happening.

The usual standards? Let me ask you this. If all the same horses were running but they called all four 20000 claimers AOCs instead, would there be such an outcry? Or what if instead they replaced them all with five and six horse NW2X and 3X races or some made up overnight stake, the Karakorum Crapbag, shall we call it? Would it be better then? Look at the full calendar. This is the "off" weekend caused by repositioning the major races for TV, which was supposed to be a good thing.

Yeah, it's not as strong as all the other weekends. I just don't get the crying. If you don't lke the card there's a lot of other tracks going that day. Frankly on first glance I didn't see too many I liked either and I'm going to be up there. Maybe I'll play one or two and then go drink beers and watch the ball game instead, but I'm not going to whine about it. So give us a list then of all the tracks that have a better card going that day. Already seen Del Mar doesn't, so I'm thinking that list is pretty short. Give it a couple days, it will be better, whatever that means.

That is strictly opinion, right? I'll take the Delmar card on Saturday. What is so terrible about mentioning a card stinks? Nobody complains when it is posted that cards are great. I found it very, very disappointing for a Saturday in the middle of the meet. That is just my opinion.

When's the last time someone posted that a card was great on a non major event day? You know it's nothing special as well as I but I'm not going to act like someone just shot my dog. It's the worst Saturday card there this year. One of them had to be. And on the criteria that started the thread, the Del Mar card has one more allowance race and the rest is pretty much all the same, so it really isnt all that different.

I wasn't whining or crying, I stated a fact. I live in Saratoga and have been going to the track for 35 years, this is not the type of card that should be run on a Saturday. I understand on a Mon, Wed or Thur. but not Saturday. They have been running 10 and 11 race cards with full fields every day, so they obviously have enough horses on the grounds. I agree about the great betting opportunity's and I'll bet the card anyway, not my point.

The point is that this is supposed to be the premier meet in the country. They only run 40 days, the SATURDAY card should not consist of 6 $20,000 claiming/md claiming races. Stop carding 10 and 11 races on Mon, Wed, Thu, might not have this problem.

If we can't complain on horse racing boards what will there be to talk about?

I actually thought Del Mar's saturday card is solid, heck I am more than impressed with them so far (low expectations), I have no clue where all these horses are coming from.

The the open claiming races though are pretty good betting events, just because its a claimer does not make it something a bad race. I actually would prefer a good claimer to a state bred mdn.

Who is acting like there dog was shot? I don't see a single post like that in the thread. I guess you feel Saratoga was being slighted. Maybe the guy was planning a trip to Saratoga and not Delmar, I don't know. Should we talk about the Thistledown and Presque Isle cards in a thread about a Saratoga card too?

I defend NYRA more than 99% of the people that post on the internet, but I can call a stinker a stinker if I want to do so.

Thank you.

Nope. Just sometimes the complaining gets tiring. We seem to be in an era where every event has to be the best ever or every athlete must be or they suck. The card isnt great. I just say "so what" and go on. Besides, what type of race have we all made or biggest hits on? For me it's maidens, so the card has some of that. Others love claimers. Those that like allowances and stakes are out of luck unfortunately. So it goes.

The 1896 Brooklyn Handicap.

More unlikely 4 race winning streak ...

I'll Have Another (Bob Lewis at 43/1, SA Derby at 4/1, Derby at 15/1, and Preakness at 3/1)

Or...






Pico Central --- ( Alw win at 37/1, San Carlos win at 43/1, Carter win at 4/1, Met Mile win at 3/1 plus every nickle of the breakage) in his first four starts after arriving from Gavea.

Pico Central in a romp.