Saturday Seminar

[FrankD.]

There is no doubt in my mind after coming here religiously for 39 years that this was unequivocally the WORST SATURDAY CARD EVER IN THE HISTORY OF SARATOGA. A complete and total disgrace that reflects how rudder less the NYRA ship is and truly has been for the past 30 plus years of decline.

The Fourstardave came up as one of the stronger Grade II\'s that you will ever see; too bad it was run over a bog. Wise Dan is a complete and total freak, horses do run numbers like he does over dirt, plastic and green. A footnote that I left him out of the pick 4 after having the first 3 legs breaking the golden rule of never letting the fastest horse in the race beat you in a horizontal play.

There were 5 maiden events highlighted by a pair of regally bred for off track Darley runners who both ran dead last as prohibitive favorites while the 4 bottom level claiming races featured once promising but crippled give aways. The claims of Overcommunication and Shankopotamus in the 9th will not make their new owners checkbooks happy for sure.

Seminar wise it was not TGAB\'s best day on an extremely tough card to find value after scratches. Yes Richiebee he did mention Bernie The Jet from Bernstein America\'s best Jewish sire and being trained by an Italian and ridden by a Venezuelian he was allowed to run on a Saturday. The Donna Green / Kent D. combo with a pair of 46 works was prominently mentioned by Alan saying 20 claimers just don\'t work 46\'s but he needed to connect him with the 9 Speight Me. The MTO Hoist in the 10th was an obvious play but again not connected. Liberal credit given to TGAB as he was stressing out about going offffferrrrrr and reports of Jimbo somewhere on the Jersey pike sticking needles in a TGAB voodoo doll were greatly exaggerated.

The half way mark of the meet 20 down and 20 to go! Ramon is on a mission riding very Cordero/Bailey like day in and day out; never better, far and away the best on the grounds right now. Ramon has 34 wins after 20 days and as historians & purists all know the real Saratoga riding record is held by Manny Yacaza of 41 in 1959 over 24 racing days. Can Ramon get 7 or 8 in the next 4 days?

I won a few bucks in spite of blowing the pick 4, drbillym ventured down for the day taking a break from primping poodles up in Vermont and as always an interesting crew of varied opinions was assembled. For those who are new or casual Thoro-Graph users the seminars provide valuable insight and a whole different perspective into dissecting the best data on the market. For old worn out degenerate gamblers; It\'s never too late as the game is constantly evolving and without a doubt some of the sharpest minds in the country wander in and out of these events.

The MVP of the day was Bill Spillane as he paid attention to the forecast and grabbed a table under cover of the carousel for the boys. A good thing as it rained sideways so hard for 20 minutes or so we had to pull the table back further under cover from the carousel rail to avoid being soaked.

 In addition a new rule of protocol was established in giving opinions which from this point forward will be known as the Spillane rule. In discussing the 9th race with 3 obvious give aways in the heat (Shankopotamus, Overcommunication & Bomber Boy) Bill stated over and over that horses that run 4\'s don\'t race for 20k, he was particularly adamant about the Pletcher & Jacobson horses. After the race he said the exacta of Shankopotamus & the Jamie Ness horse was a $72.00 gift as all heads turned at the table. Bill simply looked up and said he only knocked the Terranova horse once while trashing the other 2 multiple times. Hence the Spillane rule \" if I didn\'t say it twice, it doesn\'t count\" You can\'t make this stuff up. Anyone remember the character in Goodfella\'s Jimmy 2 times who said everything twice?

Good luck,

Frank D.

[richiebee]

FrankD. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is no doubt in my mind after coming here
> religiously for 39 years that this was
> unequivocally the WORST SATURDAY CARD EVER IN THE
> HISTORY OF SARATOGA. A complete and total disgrace
> that reflects how rudder less the NYRA ship is and
> truly has been for the past 30 plus years of
> decline.

Why NYRA\'s current business model is wrong: I can not know this without seeing
internal records, but would love to see what races NYRA is opening for entry
but not using. Would not be surprised if alot of races with \"only\" seven or
eight quality horses are not being used. My opinion: the shorter fields of
quality horses (ie non bottom, non maiden races) will attract the attention of
serious horseplayers; the parade of cheap and maiden and cheap maiden races will in
the long run turn these serious horseplayers off to the product.

With good management and minimal government meddling, New York Racing is a
desirable, sustainable product, even with a serious reduction in Racino cash.

> Seminar wise it was not TGAB\'s best day on an
> extremely tough card to find value after
> scratches. Yes Richiebee he did mention Bernie The
> Jet from Bernstein America\'s best Jewish sire and
> being trained by an Italian and ridden by a
> Venezuelian he was allowed to run on a Saturday.
> The Donna Green / Kent D. combo with a pair of 46
> works was prominently mentioned by Alan saying 20
> claimers just don\'t work 46\'s but he needed to
> connect him with the 9 Speight Me. The MTO Hoist
> in the 10th was an obvious play but again not
> connected. Liberal credit given to TGAB as he was
> stressing out about going offffferrrrrr and
> reports of Jimbo somewhere on the Jersey pike
> sticking needles in a TGAB voodoo doll were
> greatly exaggerated.

Yeah those 46 works were right there for everyone to see in DRF, as was the
fact that this horse was beaten in a 8K maiden claimer at Tampa in February.
 
> Good luck,
>
> Frank D.

[FrankD.]

Indeed MR. Bee,

Cajun money was not down @ 16/1 in Tampa, it was yesterday as he opened @ 6/1 off
 @ 15/1 ML and drifted to 9/1.

A classic battle between Kent & Ramon; 2 jocks that understood how the track was playing, ding  donging through the 1/2 eyeball to eyeball in the middle of the race track until Kent pulled away by 8 plus in the lane & Ramon held 2nd. The old 1,2 speed pop!!

[PapaChach]

richiebee Wrote:

>
> Why NYRA\'s current business model is wrong: I can
> not know this without seeing
> internal records, but would love to see what races
> NYRA is opening for entry
> but not using. Would not be surprised if alot of
> races with \"only\" seven or
> eight quality horses are not being used.

A few different times I went back and looked at what was in the condition book versus what they ran, and they frequently used a big chunk of the substitute races - which are always 20 claimers or maiden claimers, or nyb maiden 20 claimers.  It\'s hard to conclude anything other than NYRA seems hell-bent on going with quantity over quality, even at Saratoga.  

I am friends with a couple of big players but for the most part, me and the friends I have who play are, as Hyman Roth said of the Risotto Bros., \"small potatoes.\" So maybe we don\'t matter. Maybe it doesn\'t matter that little by little, we\'re dropping out, that I haven\'t played in three weeks, that the guys I used to see up there haven\'t been playing much either. Yeah, for some of us life circumstances play a part, but mostly, it\'s because the product ain\'t what it used to be and in fact, sometimes it flat out stinks, and the stench discourages the sort of excitement we used to feel about the meet. Even without the rain, few if any of the folks in my circle would make the effort to head up there to bother with the embarrassment of a card they puked up yesterday. It\'s not like we lack for other chances during the year to bet on crappy racing.

Once you drift away from a habit or a leisure time activity, after awhile, you kind of get used to living without it, and you don\'t miss it anymore. It\'s like that with golf for me; used to be an addict, got away from it for various reasons, and now, maybe I\'ll play once a year and enjoy it, but I certainly don\'t think about it much anymore. Lately I\'ve been wondering if I\'ll be feeling the same way about this meet and the game in general.