Better Meet: Saratoga or Del Mar

[MMM59]

Which big meet did everyone enjoy more. I thought the weather held up pretty well at Saratoga and made for some great racing. Ortiz brothers and Rosario had quite a few nice wins, and Clement was on fire the first part of the meet.
Rispoli and Pratt made the Del Mar jockey race interesting, along with some nice prices. I give the nod to Saratoga.

[Nitro]

Aside from the very competitive race riding between Prat and Rispoli, I thought Del Mar was the better meet from a gambling perspective. It had consistently larger fields on a race by race basis and the O.A. returns were excellent in terms of value. Their Maiden Claiming races I thought were the toughest to figure.

[GMB@BP]

Hardly knew Del Mar ran to be honest, saw very little promotion or attention, never saw them on any of the national channels.

What were they down, 40%?

[Speed Figure]

Originally Posted by GMB@BP

Hardly knew Del Mar ran to be honest, saw very little promotion or attention, never saw them on any of the national channels.

What were they down, 40%?

Down 40%? they were up 44% and ran only 27 days!

[ronsmac]

Del Mar and it wasn’t even close. Saratoga had a slight edge last year.

[Tom]

Saratoga, no contest.

[lamboguy]

Saratoga was 10 times better as usual.

[westernmassbob]

There is no comparison between Del Mar and Saratoga. Now if you wanted to compare Del Mar against Gulfstream then that’s more fair.

[oughtoh]

I am a Del Mar person having lived in San Diego, but Saratoga was much better than Del Mar. Bigger fields, better races, there was no comparison IMO

[ronsmac]

Originally Posted by oughtoh

I am a Del Mar person having lived in San Diego, but Saratoga was much better than Del Mar. Bigger fields, better races, there was no comparison IMO

Bigger fields? What races were you watching? Saratoga’s average field size was 7.4 per race, Del Mar's was 8.4 per race.

[elhelmete]

Originally Posted by ronsmac

Bigger fields? What races were you watching? Saratoga’s average field size was 7.4 per race, Del Mar's was 8.4 per race.

Never let facts get in the way of old stereotypes

[oughtoh]

Originally Posted by ronsmac

Bigger fields? What races were you watching? Saratoga’s average field size was 7.4 per race, Del Mar's was 8.4 per race.

If that was the numbers then I was wrong, but it seemed like every time I watched Sar. there were big fields and when I saw DM there were small fields. But numbers don't lie. DM also raced 3 days a week most weeks and also skipped a week. Since I am not allowed to bet DM anymore, I have to just watch, so don't have the advantage of seeing a form everyday.

[alhattab]

Originally Posted by Speed Figure

Down 40%? they were up 44% and ran only 27 days!

The 44% daily average increase is accurate, but not apples to apples as it compares a mostly Fri-Sun schedule ($17.2 million daily average) vs. Wed-Sun schedule ($12 million daily average). According to DRF article, $24.8 million Derby Day all-sources handle also really helped (4th highest in track history ex Breeders Cup).Total handle was $467M v $432M.

https://www.drf.com/news/del-mar-sho...ys-and-no-fans

[classhandicapper]

If the track was opened, they ran races, and there were no health debacles, it was a success. Both ran good meets.

IMO, now that Saratoga is in the books and things are generally much more stable in NY, NYRA should be arguing to allow some fans in the backyard and first floor of the grandstand of Belmont even if requires distancing and masks. It would be less risky than a LOT of things that are already approved in Nassau County and even in NYC.

[elhelmete]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

If the track was opened, they ran races, and there were no health debacles, it was a success. Both ran good meets.

This is more or less how I feel. DMR had the one mid-season shutdown due to some jock positives, but they recovered with added days later.