Saratoga Raceway -- Is this good marketing?
 

You tell me. This is what you see if you go to Saratoga's replay page.

https://saratogacasino.com/race-replays/

Now I realize that the handle at Saratoga is pathetic, but not as bad as this picture shows -- I hope. But we do see a horse crossing the finish line with the total win handle at $618. We also know that there is no such morning line of 31-1, so that the odds are not that early in the betting.

I mean the photo must have been taken during a score down or a warm up for a later race -- but that isn't what you see. I mean if you are unfamiliar with Saratoga racing and go to this page for the first time to watch a replay for a Saratoga shipper and see this tote board, what are the chances you will ever consider betting on a Saratoga race?

Maybe its picky, but to me its typical of the lack of effort harness racing does to sell its product.

I don't know if things have changed in Saratoga, but I went to the Travers in 1995 (My wife took a picture of Thunder Gulch taking the lead at the head of the stretch. The picture sits above my computer.) and then went to a deserted Saratoga Raceway at night. Wouldn't you think that the harness track would try to market their presence to the many thousands of gamblers in town? Not one word in the Travers program among the ads -- or any other place horseplayers might read.

I'm sure they market their casino now. Ah, well. At least we can tell our grandkids about an old sport that USED TO BE very popular in America.

Back to handicapping Freehold. In the 5th race, there is a horse (SEVALLY) that has breaking lines in his last three races -- including his qualifier at Freehold. Now how is he allowed to race? FYI, his one flat line in a betting race is 4 seconds faster than anyone else. Have fun!