8/25 (SAR): Travers, King's Bishop, Test (G1's), Ballston Spa (G3)

[PatCummings]

Originally Posted by jms62

Pat really? How can you defend that field. Sometimes its best to keep quiet and have people think you are a NYRA schill then open your mouth and remove all doubts. Your best strategy in this sitaution is to point out how great the other 3 races in the P4 came up.

I'm far from a NYRA shill. I'm an optimist, and think that a bad day at the track beats a good day almost anywhere else, but more so at Saratoga than just about anywhere.

There are 11 horses in a G1 3YO race in a season that has been completely decimated by injuries, retirements, and basically, average horses - and a bunch of that coming in the last two months. It could be a six horse field and an awful betting race. It isn't.

The winners of the following races are either retired or on extended breaks:
BC Juvenile, Delta Jackpot, Remsen, Gulfstream Park Derby, Sham, Lecomte, Holy Bull, Robert Lewis, San Vincente, Southwest (both divisions), Risen Star, Fountain of Youth, Battaglia, Gotham, San Felipe, Rebel, Spiral, Florida Derby, Illinois Derby, Santa Anita Derby, Arkansas Derby, Derby Trial, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Peter Pan, Belmont...

Sure, some of those races above are repeats.

Paynter, who is completely hyped after the Haskell win and the mysterious illness, has a single graded stakes win to his name.

What exactly was NYRA going to do to get better quality in this field? They almost got Reddam to bring over a foreigner who was 2nd to the Secretariat winner, Bayrir, but he strained a muscle and missed the race.

This is the game we have. I don't have time for the "back in the day" crowd when everything was always better than the present.