NYRA
 

Saw a headline this morning that Saratoga season to open July 11th. Lets hope they are able to fill the extra races with some 4 yr old 10000 claimers non winners of four lifetime that should improve New York Racing . Maybe they will have Finger Lakes Shipper day .

Same 40 race dates as always. Hope your handicapping is better than your reading comprehension.

This is so unusually dumb that I unfortunately need to respond.

By stretching the same forty days we have run for around a decade to 54 days, from 46 days, means the horse population will be able to run around 2.3 times a meet, as opposed to roughly twice, over the same amount of races. This shouldn't be overly difficult to understand. This means with a horse population of a conservative 1500, you could get 450 more starts, which could increase field size by more than one horse per race.

But, hey, it's easier to take dopey shots on message boards....right?

2000 Saratoga residents are updating their AirBNB listings today.

Mo money.

The issue isnt the horse population because I agree with Andy on the numbers, the issue is does stretching a meet out, a boutique meet that is, make it better or does it devalue the novelty a bit.

Only time will tell but as a horse player I am not sure this will hurt anything and likely will be a positive.

How does running an extra week devalue a meet that has only gotten stronger as days have been added over the past two decades?

The truth of Saratoga is that no matter how long it is, or when it begins and ends, the dates in August are always the busiest overall. That doesn't mean the rest aren't good ( and fun ).

Overall probably good.
To pay $400 a night for hotel , 3 grand a week, with no racing 2 days, will have to flush itself out a little bit.

Saratoga has made strides in the last decade to recover
from a tourist slump that was mainly in 2000-2010 That time frame shuttered down several restaurants, stores and motels/hotels. Since 2004 there has
been a slow but steady resurgence mainly due to the casino opening. More people then ever are taking quick turn and burn vacations. I imagine this summer hotel prices will be at a premium and higher then 2018. Saratoga specificlally in the last 2-3 has had a huge younger people boon to the clubs
and bars.

according to bloodhorse approval is just for this year only.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned yet that the impetus for this move is the anticipated disruption caused by the construction of the new hockey arena nearby. They also say they may have to run a portion of the fall meeting at Aqueduct.

That and the nearby Casino's.

Who I'm sure have no problem with 20,000 gamblers in town and and an extra day off. Although I heard TLG on Steve Byck show Tuesday night saying something about its only an 8 day extension by the calendar. Or something like that..? It was hard to make out because TLG speaks like he's in a funeral parlor when he's on Byck's show.

IMO, Saratoga is the best brand in racing.

5 days a week is better for serious players. at 6 days a week the workload gets relentless.

If there's anything I preferred about it many years ago I'd say the longer meet and higher concentration of stakes on a single day has diminished the excitement of some of the weekday cards. Years ago it felt like every time I opened the Form there was some really competitive high quality stakes on the card. Now we have more of those super cards. I'm sure NYRA has looked at what works better business wise. But for me personally, if's there's 1 or 5 great races on a card, I'm interested and going to the track. If you are giving me a weekday card of mostly maiden races, statebreds, etc.. because all the stakes are on Saturday, I'm way less likely to go.

The downside is that the longer (calendar) meet may make Saratoga less "special" and accessible for people who do one-month rentals up there.


But I accept Andy's reasoning here. It's more of a reflection of the ridiculousness of trainers than anything else. It was common for horses to get 3 starts in a one calendar month Saratoga meeting back in the day. Nowadays trainers are so afraid to wheel their horses right back that they need a stretched out meet.

I don't have the stats, but I recall a number of horses (maybe 20-30) making two starts at Keeneland each spring and fall, and that's a much shorter meeting then the new Saratoga meeting. So on one hand I understand what you said about trainers but it's not all of them since many don't have a problem bringing their horses back on 9-15 days rest during Keeneland.

Keeneland's meet is 22 days in the Spring, now 23, and 23 in the Fall. Saratoga's has been 46. You grab some random number, 20 to 30, which may or may not be accurate, but even if it is, and we choose 25, in a 16 day meet with say 80 horses running a day, that's about 2% of the starters. My guess is Saratoga has similar stats. The question is "average number of starts" and with the Saratoga meet going from 46 to 54 days, that average rates to improve.