The small size of the fields on Monmouth's biggest day is certainly disappointing. There are two horses in the Molly Pitcher who were cross entered in tomorrow's Shuvee at the Spa; fortunately, both of them are running today; otherwise the Molly Pitcher would have been completely shattered.
For today's 9 contest races we have a total of only 60 entries. Worse yet, the 5 graded stakes races only have a total of 29 runners, despite the fact that they are running for a total of $1,650,000 in purse money plus another $150,000 in breeding fees for the top three finishers in the Matchmaker.
RQ, I don't think that this is just an indictment of New Jersey racing. In yesterday's feature race at Saratoga, there were only 3 runners after scratches, and all of them were trained by Chad Brown. This for a race that was NOT taken off of the turf.
|