Saratoga or Del Mar?

[Calzone Lord]

The edge has always been with Saratoga - for me - because of all the shippers.

Other than Presque Isle Downs (with it's 475 stalls and no local training centers for a 100-day long, 5-day a week race meet) no track has quite as much variety with shippers that you get at Saratoga.

It's obviously a much greater test of handicapping skill when you have horses coming from six different circuits last-out. Although, because of factors like slots and the growing number of NY-Bred races ... you're seeing a little less variety like that at Saratoga compared with 5-to-10 years ago.



Look at Presque Isle's latest card drawn (7/17)

Race #1: Includes horses who raced last time out at: Saratoga, Parx, Arlington Park, Belmont Park.

Race #2: Includes horses who raced last time out at: Ellis Park, Penn National (2)

Race #3: Horses raced last out at: Tampa, Thistle, Parx, Mountaineer

Race #4: Horses raced last out at: Praire Meadows, and Delaware

Race #5: Horses raced last out at: Mountaineer and Charles Town

Race #6: Horses raced last out at: Delaware, Churchill Downs, Arlington Park

Race #7: Horses raced last out at: Parx (2) , Laurel, Finger Lakes, Penn National

Race #8: Horses Raced last out at: Delaware, Thistle, Colonial,


Oddly no Woodbine shippers... but there are about five or six of them on the prior days card. Surprisingly -- no River Downs or Indiana Downs shippers either -- but they're not uncommon.

It's hard to gain a big edge at places where the same horses run against each other over and over.