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Originally Posted by parsixfarms
My guess is that the racing office in NY is going to keep tabs on who is shipping out of town and use Saratoga stalls as an inducement to have guys stay at home during (so as to protect) the Belmont spring meet. For example, the guy who had 18 stalls at Saratoga in 2009 might only get 10 stalls if he frequents the Jersey shore during the spring. My experience is that owners want to see their horses while they are in Saratoga, and trainers often have to juggle various competing interests given the limited stalls they have here.
If we were talking stalls in NY now, you are correct, it would be meaningless. But let's not forget that for the last few years, there haven't been enough stalls at Belmont from April - November (once the grass season begins), and that situation will be exacerbated if NYRA closes Aqueduct for training. There will be more horses heading to the Oklahoma for off-season training as it is.
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I suppose they could do that but the thing is more guys may choose to split the stable between Saratoga and Belmont during july/Aug and ship the ones stabled at Belmont to Mth to run during the Saratoga meet. Hell guys have already been doing that without huge purses ay Mth. The truth is that holding smaller trainers under their thumb wont accomplish all that much. Many of them have NYbreds as the majority of their horses and will run in NY regardless. The 7 or 8 outfits with all the good horses in NY are mostly already split with Monmouth and they know that NYRA cant really do anything to them. Remember NY has traditionally closed Aqu for training during the Saratoga season already.