A Saratoga wrap up, best and worst

Pops, the only reason its easier to accept the meet ending up here is because of the weather. Its now colder and dark today and the weather makes up so much of the atmosphere here. Those warm and sunny mornings and evenings and hot afternoons in the sun give it a certain flavor. People walking around in shorts, women in light summer dresses, etc.
If anything, I always thought NYRA should consider backing the meet up a week and ending before labor day. But they never will because the difference in handle and attendance at Spa the last week(though down from the other 5 weeks here) still dwarfs what they used to do at belmont back when they went home a week earlier.

[PSH]

Saratoga is a special place during a special time of the year.....
My favorite month of the year is August and my favorite place to be is Saratoga. Too bad it is so far away from the SF Bay area.

If you love horses then Saratoga is the place to be.... Especially, in the mornings - being on the backstretch, leaning over the rail at the Oklahoma track, walking around the barns.

The afternoons are special too. Sitting behind Steve's place and just hanging out with other horse players, friends.... The scenery is spectacular and the racing top notch. The best horses, jockeys and trainers all converge in this small town. It is truly a celebration of our sport....

I can not imagine what it is like living there and being able to participate on a daily basis.... ALso, what it feels like today, the day after the meet has concluded and the numerous vans take away the horses to Belmont and Aqueduct.

I need a break given the last six months of non-stop racing at the Mecca. That said, it won't be long until i start dreaming of the last Wendesday of July 2007 approaching and making my plans to travel 3,000 miles to once again be part of The Spa. Next year, it will be for one full week and i will be bringing my family this time.

Thanks for a great meet everyone. Until next year at Saratoga Springs....

PSH

Originally Posted by PSH

Saratoga is a special place during a special time of the year.....
My favorite month of the year is August and my favorite place to be is Saratoga. Too bad it is so far away from the SF Bay area.

If you love horses then Saratoga is the place to be.... Especially, in the mornings - being on the backstretch, leaning over the rail at the Oklahoma track, walking around the barns.

The afternoons are special too. Sitting behind Steve's place and just hanging out with other horse players, friends.... The scenery is spectacular and the racing top notch. The best horses, jockeys and trainers all converge in this small town. It is truly a celebration of our sport....

I can not imagine what it is like living there and being able to participate on a daily basis.... ALso, what it feels like today, the day after the meet has concluded and the numerous vans take away the horses to Belmont and Aqueduct.

I need a break given the last six months of non-stop racing at the Mecca. That said, it won't be long until i start dreaming of the last Wendesday of July 2007 approaching and making my plans to travel 3,000 miles to once again be part of The Spa. Next year, it will be for one full week and i will be bringing my family this time.

Thanks for a great meet everyone. Until next year at Saratoga Springs....

PSH

Steve's piece on this site pretty much sums it up. When you are sitting in the freezing cold in the winter, or on a gloomy fall day, you ask yourself what the hell you are doing here.
Then your mind shifts back to that one great day that was even better than the other great days during the meet. The day when you won a pile of cash, or watched some great races and went out to dinner and then went laet night swimming at a bbq with the beer flowing and were talking about the days races and what was on tap for the next day. You close your eyes and remember that day and tell yourself that more of those are coming the next summer, and you make it through.

[Gander]

Theres just something special about this place. I've been to a few California tracks and while nice to look at, there just seems to be something very social and "meet specific" lacking. The vast majority of people that I see are there because its something to do, a novelity. At Saratoga, people actually plan vacations around the track and as someone who lives here, there was only 1 weekend this entire meet that we didnt have guests from out of town up to visit. I've really come to appreciate the quality of racing here, its very easy to take for granted, especially if you dont compare it to other tracks like Delmar which has in general a very consistently weak quality of racing.

I need a break as I went more this summer than I have in a very long time, but 322 days is a little too long!

I guess I will just have to hope the next 32 days go by very quickly.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Gander

Theres just something special about this place. I've been to a few California tracks and while nice to look at, there just seems to be something very social and "meet specific" lacking. The vast majority of people that I see are there because its something to do, a novelity. At Saratoga, people actually plan vacations around the track and as someone who lives here, there was only 1 weekend this entire meet that we didnt have guests from out of town up to visit. I've really come to appreciate the quality of racing here, its very easy to take for granted, especially if you dont compare it to other tracks like Delmar which has in general a very consistently weak quality of racing.

I need a break as I went more this summer than I have in a very long time, but 322 days is a little too long!

I guess I will just have to hope the next 32 days go by very quickly.

you say that Del Mar has a consistently weak quality of racing? What are you smoking? Del Mar has the best quality of racing in the country. Del Mar and Saratoga have the two best meets in the country in terms of quality. Look at the horses who have run at Del Mar over the years. Last year, the BC Juvenille winner Stevie Wonderboy ran at Del Mar, Wild Fit the BC Juvenille Filly runner-up ran at Del Mar. I don't think I need to bore you and name all the Breeder's Cup winners such as Singletary, Sweet Catomine, and Pleasantly Perfect have run at Del Mar. Del Mar has never lacked in their quality of racing. They have had just as many superstars over the years as Saratoga if not more.

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

you say that Del Mar has a consistently weak quality of racing? What are you smoking? Del Mar has the best quality of racing in the country. Del Mar and Saratoga have the two best meets in the country in terms of quality. Look at the horses who have run at Del Mar over the years. Last year, the BC Juvenille winner Stevie Wonderboy ran at Del Mar, Wild Fit the BC Juvenille Filly runner-up ran at Del Mar. I don't think I need to bore you and name all the Breeder's Cup winners such as Singletary, Sweet Catomine, and Pleasantly Perfect have run at Del Mar. Del Mar has never lacked in their quality of racing. They have had just as many superstars over the years as Saratoga if not more.

But Rupertk they run so many cheap claimers. I'm talking 10 claimers, and a lot at that.
Spa has claimers, but not like that. ANd they must have set the record this meet for maiden claimers, state bred maiden claimers. Yuch.
Its just that those cheap races seem to oevrshadow the quality races they do have. And if you think that racing is on a par with Spa,s well. I dunno what you are seeing. 12 grade ones at the spa, just as many grade 2's. I don't see that at Del mar.
And besides its the evevry day product thats so weak there.

[Revolution]

the saratoga v del mar argument is rather boring. both are excellent and have their own good things. the average purse distribution though at saratoga, del mar and i believe keeneland fall are virtually identical.

[Gander]

Delmar has some nice races on the weekends, but those undercards leave a lot to be desired. The weekdays are usually an utter mess, although tomorrow has a decent sprint stake.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

you say that Del Mar has a consistently weak quality of racing? What are you smoking? Del Mar has the best quality of racing in the country. Del Mar and Saratoga have the two best meets in the country in terms of quality. Look at the horses who have run at Del Mar over the years. Last year, the BC Juvenille winner Stevie Wonderboy ran at Del Mar, Wild Fit the BC Juvenille Filly runner-up ran at Del Mar. I don't think I need to bore you and name all the Breeder's Cup winners such as Singletary, Sweet Catomine, and Pleasantly Perfect have run at Del Mar. Del Mar has never lacked in their quality of racing. They have had just as many superstars over the years as Saratoga if not more.

At the highest levels, i agree with you. The stars that come out in So Cal are most of the time every bit as good and sometimes better than the stars in the east. You could name a million stars like that.

What has slipped is the day to day stuff that fills out the card. I mean, it seems that the only races they can fill are 22k mcl races. I think more than anything its workers comp laws. When guys like Dollase, Lukas and even Frankel for the most part dont run their best stock anymore, its going to hurt overall quality.