On the second day of the summer meeting at Del Mar, a Saratoga bartender with a taste for pari-mutuel risk noted that just 44 horses would run in six races to which a California-size carryover was attached, while 128 were entered on the opening-day program at the Spa. The West Coast racing product, the circuit being both depleted and geographically isolated, does not change discernibly with the shift from Hollywood Park to the San Diego County Fairgrounds. Eastern stables and many based in Kentucky and the Mid-Atlantic save horses for Saratoga and the strength of numbers, though its sustainability over 40 days gives pause, has been manifest in the meeting's early days.
While reading tales of a record opening-day crowd and Polytrack horror from Del Mar, we have, on this side of the nation, begun the summer idyll, appropriately -- typically perhaps -- in rainy, humid weather interrupted by the occasional perfect day. These, in comparison, are minor inconveniences. Races moved off the turf are preferable to strange material found nowhere in nature protruding from a faux main track, no matter how near the turf to the surf.
The unforeseen notwithstanding, this is the one time of year during which a day at the races in suburban San Diego, the Jersey Shore and particularly in the Adirondack foothills is foremost a social event. The racetrack is again a place of celebration and bon ami. The evidence can be subtle. Five members of the United States Congress presented the trophy after a race run Saturday at Saratoga. There were no boos, catcalls or other appropriate slurs. This crowd is in a very good mood.
For the time being, the looming demise of racing in California and New Jersey is not the dominant topic of conversation even among the most grizzled, emotionally gnarled of horseplayers. Nor is the bizarre, politically-driven death spiral that consumes the industry in New York. These issues are temporarily reduced to background noise, less important than the cocktail-hour analysis of Devil May Care's Coaching Club American Oaks victory Saturday, or Rachel Alexandra's less than impressive, though successful, foray to Monmouth Park for the Lady's Secret Stakes. Published remarks attributed to Zenyatta's connections voicing concern over the Del Mar surface have inevitably given wing to optimistic speculation that the undefeated California mare could be sent here in pursuit of her 18th victory as an alternative to the Clement Hirsch on the seashore Polytrack. Rachel Alexandra was back in her Saratoga stall on the morning after the Lady's Secret and the Personal Ensign here Aug. 29 is a possibility. (Rachel meets Zenyatta at the Spa? We are not holding our breath.) Most importantly, we're talking about racing on these summer days. Less engaging subjects are set aside until after Labor Day.
Saratoga crowds, as they are at Del Mar and Monmouth, are demonstrably younger than downstate and generally better dressed, though it seems that every T-shirt and hat ever given away here eventually finds its way back. An apparently non-steroidal Hulk Hogan impersonator, who in another time would have been turned away at the admission gate, roamed the grounds unfettered during opening weekend. This illustrates the death of propriety, even at the once elegant Spa. The backyard is at full picnic capacity. There is a variety of art for sale and an array of food, fruit to grease. The human traffic, when not seeking shelter from rain, is in perpetual unhurried motion. The apron at race time is a sea of faces, a painting come alive -- what a day at the races is supposed to be.
As long as the paddock bar is three-deep, Hattie's doesn't run out of fried chicken and the rain holds off, all -- for now -- is well at the Spa.
With four days added to the front of this meeting the perhaps inappropriate business comparisons with the last weekend of racing a year ago at Belmont Park have been bizarre. Attendance is up about two-thousand percent over Belmont in 2009. So is on-site betting handle. Field size during the first three days, though depleted by scratches in races moved off the turf, has been encouraging and the racing has been quite good. Garrett Gomez and Alex Solis have opted for the Spa over Del Mar and Kentucky-based riders Julien Leparoux, Robbie Albarado and Calvin Borel are offering their services in what is undoubtedly the strongest colony of riders assembled anywhere. Early indications suggest that the weekend-only meeting at Monmouth and the six-day week at Saratoga may coexist successfully if not always comfortably. A few very-impressive 2-year-olds, notably the flashy Wine Police, have shown the most early of promise.
So far, so good.
Originally Posted on ESPN