November 23 Venue proposals
 

1. Woodbine with two stakes: the Coronation Futurity 9F 2YO with a big purse and the GIII Kennedy Road 6f. I know it's AW, which I personally don't care for but?

or

2. Aqueduct with the 3YO & up Red Smith 200k GIII 11f turf.

or

3. Woodbine with the added Aqueduct Red Smith.

Thoughts?

The actual fields for each venue will be available later today or this evening. You might be able to avoid the short fields by waiting until then to make your decision. Del Mar actually has a graded stake also, but I imagine some of the fields would be short again like last Saturday. Delta Downs also has a stakes race, but might be a very challenging venue considering it is a
"bull ring" track. Used to like to play their Delta Jackpot race. Don't know what happened to that. Maybe too rich for a place more intent on being a casino than a racino?

I agree that waiting until the fields are announced is a better option
To make an educated decision

Although I do like option #3

The weather forecast is another consideration
considering that all the turf races were scratched today at Aqueduct

Fields don't look all that bad at either Aqueduct or Woodbine. Both have a 6 horse field in their first race, but as we saw last Saturday, Del Mar didn't look so bad until there was a flurry of scratches. Drf entries indicated that Woodbine may have rain or snow and Aqueduct may have rain. Churchill might be an alternative. Drf indicates 4% chance of precipitation there. Churchill does have 3 seven horse fields.

Entries are now available for both the Aqueduct and Woodbine cards for Saturday. Aqueduct offers a 10 race card that starts at 12:00, while Woodbine has an 11 race card that starts at 1:05, which suggests that they will be finishing under the lights. Both have generally full fields and in some cases overflow fields.

All of the Woodbine races will be on the all weather surface, as their magnificent turf course has closed for the season. Like you, Don, I'm not a big fan of a race card that uses the AW surface exclusively. 6 of the 10 AQ races, including the Red Smith, are scheduled for the turf and have drawn very full fields as it is close to the end of turf racing in the Northeast and this is one last chance for turf runners before shipping South.

Ruffian had cautioned us about her concern of adverse weather. That's always a valid concern, and AQ did take their races off of the turf today, but the forecast between Thursday and Saturday looks promising with generally milder temps. Weather Channel lists following forecast for NYC: Thursday - mostly sunny, high of 51; Friday - cloudy with a slight chance of a shower, high of 55; Saturday - partly to mostly cloudy, high of 46.

Yes I see rain possible at CD for Saturday on my weather reports not NYC. I'm leaning towards Aqueduct right now.

For Jamaica New York on Saturday
It does look clear :)
but it shows the temperature of 9° :eek:

It looks like the chance for moisture is greater in Canada :(

I was just going by those little blurbs on weather in drf and I'm not sure you can trust those. Sounds like Aqueduct might be the best choice.

That might be 9 degree's Celsius. It is supposed to be 46 on Saturday here in the east.

Don Guido, that was a very interesting audible that you called at the line of scrimmage, getting us discussing the relative merits of Woodbine and Aqueduct and then surprising us at the last moment with a quick switch to Churchill Downs. Very neatly done, sir.:)

As I looked over the CD entries, the thought very briefly crossed my mind that you might have been motivated ever so slightly by the desire to wager on a 2 year old colt (one of the many that we will see) in the 9th race named Don Bourbon. But that thought vanished just as quickly as it emerged.

While on the subject of names, I was watching the 1st at AQ a little while ago and noticed a Gary Sciacca trained first time starter named Lady Cat. Ruffian, will you be seeking royalties from this runners winnings?

{“While on the subject of names, I was watching the 1st at AQ a little while ago

and noticed a Gary Sciacca trained first time starter named Lady Cat.

Ruffian, will you be seeking royalties from this runners winnings?”}
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

SINCE MY LADY CAT NAME IS LEGAL ~
PURRRRHAPS I SHOULD! :$:

Let me know if she wins :tro: :{>: :$:

Don Bourbon, a very good possibility and if he comes in, I'll just have to drink to that!!!:)