Dreamin' of Saratoga

jshandler — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:01:00 GMT

Opening weekend at Saratoga.

In the world of horse racing, there are few phrases that can come close to it. The beauty. The atmosphere. The excitement. The fun.

The best.

Saratoga is horse racing. For those who have done it, you know what I'm talking about. For those who haven't, get there. Because until you do, you haven't experienced horse racing at its finest.

Beginning when I was 24, my friends and I made the four and half hour trek from Philadelphia to upstate New York every year without fail. Win or lose, it was always the highlight of my summer. Until I moved to Lexington last year, I never missed a year.

As far as racing goes, you cannot ask for anything more. The Schuylerville. The Lake George. The Whitney. The Go for Wand. The Diana. The Vanderbilt. The Jim Dandy. Over the past decade I have wonderful memories of seeing Ashado, Film Maker, Medaglia d'Oro, Invasor, Azeri, Speightstown, Flower Alley, Bernardini and many others win during opening week. I even hit a couple nice exactas along the way.

But Saratoga is much more than racing. It's the atmosphere in and around the racetrack. The food. The drinks. The people. The weather. The camaraderie with friends and family. In fact, some of my favorite memories of Saratoga occurred after the day of racing. Going out to the fabulous downtown area in the packed restaurants and bars is what it's all about. It is truly one of the great towns in America.

Because of family and work obligations I will not be able to make Saratoga for a second straight year. I will be thinking fondly of my friends as they make that long road trip and spend their week ‘cappin from the grandstand.

For those of you who are going either this week or later in the meet, have a great time and enjoy every moment. I wish you loads of fun and may the racing Gods be with you.

** On a side note, how about Evening Attire?! Amazing. What a great story. I hope they send him to the Breeders' Cup. For those of you who wrote to me in my previous post and said he should be retired, anything to add now? Not only does he win by 8, but he breaks a track record. Awesome stuff.

Racing's Second Season

jshandler — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:28:00 GMT

Welcome to Breeders' Cup Chat and the second half of the Thoroughbred racing season! While sometimes not as glamorous as the Triple Crown season, the road to the Breeders' Cup offers some of the best racing around, including turf events galore, seldom seen ‘marathon' routes, and of course, two of the best meets in the world - Saratoga and Del Mar.

There have been many changes to the Breeders' Cup during the past couple of years, most notably the addition of a second day of racing and the advent of the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" series, which increased from 25 races to 57 this year.

Personally, I love the changes. Adding more races on the second day, more divisions, and additional "Win and You're In" events will make things that much more exciting. When the announcement of more races first came, Blood-Horse did interviews with many of the high-profile trainers in the industry. Somewhat surprisingly, nearly every one endorsed the change. That told me all I needed to know. The Breeders' Cup is doing a great job of selling its product and trying to generate interest. This is precisely what racing needs. Let's focus on the good in the sport and not the negative stuff. The RACING is what real fans want to see and talk about. Let's do our part in keeping that going.

One of the things I love about this season is the Breeders' Cup Fantasy Challenge. Based on my conversations with many of you, I am not the only one who enjoys this contest. Basically, it gives us an opportunity to pick the winner in every one of the Breeders' Cup Challenge races, with a chance at winning some serious prizes. If you haven't already signed up, you can do so here.

Now, I don't expect to win any of these prizes, but the contest does give us a cool way of following the races while competing against each other. What I'd like to do on this blog is handicap each race, post my picks the day before (or day of) each event, and then get your picks. Basically, we'll handicap these races together and then see who comes out ahead at the end of the Breeders' Cup Fantasy Challenge. It will be our own mini-contest. The top finisher on this blog will win a nice Blood-Horse prize pack that includes t-shirts, a credit to our photo store, and a couple books.

If you are going to play, please let me know what your Breeders' Cup Fantasy Challenge handle is. Mine is "Offhegoes." Don't worry if you missed the July 5 races, there is still time to join. Hundreds of people all earned $0 at Monmouth anyway. For the record, I earned $6.60 the first day, as I had both runner-ups. Here is the link to the leaderboard.

Also on this blog we'll do Q & A's from the top names in the industry, top 10 lists, and cover current racing news - just as we did on Triple Crown Talk. Mostly though, Breeders' Cup talk will be geared toward racing and handicapping. I look forward to blogging with everyone.

Any early thoughts on the Smile Sprint and/or Princess Rooney?

Breeders Cup Chat : Saratoga

Dreamin' of Saratoga

Racing's Second Season