The Midsummer Derby-The Travers Stakes

With clear skies and comfortable temperatures the place to be on Saturday, August 24th, 2013 will be Saratoga Race Course. Yours Truly will be there all day roaming between the Clubhouse, the rail and the Paddock Post Bar area so stop and say Hi if you see me. Always fun to chat with fellow fans.

 This year's Midsummer Derby, the 144th Travers Stakes, features Palace Malice, the Belmont and Jim Dandy stakes winner, Kentucky Derby winner Orb and Haskell winner Verrazano. If you can't make it to the Track, The Travers will be shown live on NBC in a 90-minute broadcast that begins at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

Who do I like? For me I think Palice Malice continues to mature and move forward and I would not be surprised to see him win rather easily. As for the rest of the spots and my thoughts on the Trifecta, you can read my thoughts over at the Thorofan website

Hey What about Me?

Not your usual Preakness Stakes week. Usually the Kentucky Derby Winner gets all the ink, with speculation on if this will the year for a triple crown and who if anyone can beat him. Not this year.

The Preakness week has been dominated by articles about Bodemeister, the runner up in the Derby. In fact if you landed on earth this week after being away awhile, you would have thought Bodemeister won the Derby. And in these parts of the East, specifically New York, the media, web and twitter have been dominated by Takeout-Gate and the resulting duel between New York State and NYRA. With Emperor Cuomo and his Racing and Waging Board political hacks gunning for NYRA there has been plenty of ink and computer strokes dedicated to this story.

 So in the background goes Derby winner I'll Have Another, trying to nose in front of the Bodemeister and NYRA stories. Will he do it. Sorry I'll Have Another. I'll have him on my exotic tickets, but see Went the Day Well crossing the line first, followed by Bodemeister with I'll Have Another fighting for the bottom of the ticket.

Breeders' Cup Goes to NBS Sports

Really no surprise ESPN is out as the TV outlet for the Breeders' Cup coverage but I did figure it would happen not now but after their contract ran out in 2013. Over the 6 years ESPN had the Breeders' Cup their overall Horse racing coverage wilted, and this past year it really seemed they were just mailing it in.

So what to expect as the Breeders' Cup moves to NBC and NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus):

Not much bad news, although I will miss Jeannine Edwards and Kenny Mayne. Edwards never mailed it in and the humorous Mayne loves the game. Also, not everyone has the NBC Sports Coverage as part of their cable or satellite subscriptions. With less overall viewers the TV ratings might actually be down this year with the change.

However there is plenty of Good:

We get to keep seeing Randy Moss, who worked this summer for NBC on their "Summer at Saratoga" broadcasts.

We also get better branding as NBC now has the complete Triple Crown Races, a bunch of derby prep races, Saratoga racing coverage and now the BC. Now we know when it comes to racing we can turn on NBC or NBC Sports Network throughout the year, instead of wondering what or where we can find the TV coverage. As NBC continues to grow the NBC Sports Network Channel, it seems they will build it around several sports including Hockey and Horse racing. No longer will it be the ugly stepchild that ESPN treated it like.

Charismatic Documentary Thoughts

Thanks to my trusty DVR, I was able to watch the ESPN Documentary on Charismatic. In reading other blog recaps on the race, it seemed the diehards wanted more storytelling on Charismatic, the horse who won the first two legs of the 1999 Triple Crown. However the Documentary focused on the rise and subsequent fall of Jockey Chris Antley.

From a Documentary making standpoint, ESPN was wise to focus on Antley and his battles with drug addiction. The average viewer remains interested in an athletes struggle with addiction. One day after the Charismatic doc, ESPN went the same route again, as they aired a "E-60"documentary with former NY Mets Pitcher Dwight Gooden revealing was in a drug-induced haze and missed the Mets'1986 World Series victory parade.

If you wanted to learn more about Charismatic, you really didn't learn much but the storytelling on Antley was effective, although a bit rushed.

In other documentary notes, if you are in the Saratoga area, The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will host a pair of screenings of the documentary film "The Last Train from Bay Meadows" on Wednesday, Nov. 2 and Thursday Nov. 3 at 7 pm. "The Last Train from Bay Meadows" portrays the history and the eventual closure of the longest continually running Thoroughbred track in California. The track closed in 2008 after nearly 75 years of operation. A discussion of the documentary with producer and director Jon Rubin will follow the screening each night. And the price is right as Admission is Free.

Coming out to Belmont Park

We all know the Belmont Stakes packs in over 100,000 fans when the Triple Crown is on the line but with no Triple in the offering this year lets take a look at attendance this decade going into non-Triple Crown Belmonts.

New York is an event town and the Belmont Stakes remains an event, drawing an average of 60,694 fans in non-Triple Crown years this decade. So far the weather looks good for Saturday-partly cloudy, low 80’s. Assuming you can see the Sun in the sky Saturday Morning, and with 5 graded stakes on the undercard, I think a tad higher than last years #, lets say 53,000, looks like a realistic number.

Year	Winner	TV Rating	Network	Attendance
2009	Summer Bird	4.4	ABC	52,186
2007	Rags to Riches	3.2	ABC	46,870
2006	Jazil	3.5	ABC	61,168
2005	Afleet Alex	5.4	NBC	62,274
2001	Point Given	4.9	NBC	73,857
2001	Commendable	2.8	ABC	67,810

Post Preakness Thoughts

I found it interesting that Donna Barton-Brothers of NBC noted while Super Saver was loading into the gate that he had lost weight since the Kentucky Derby.

I wondered if anyone in the media had reported in the week leading up to the race if Super Saver looked like he had lost weight. I searched the Daily Racing Form, Bloodhorse, all the blogs, the workout reports, etc and found nothing everywhere I searched. In fact most of what I read said he looked good and quoted how he was eating well. Maybe the best way to handicap is rely less on reporting and go to the Paddock yourself and look at the horse before you place your bet.

Looks like only one horse will race in all Triple Crown Races this year-Dublin. Imagine that we start with 20 horses in the Derby and only 1 can navigate through the whole series. How does that stimulate interest in the fan who starts his year following the road to the Derby?

Maybe if NBC gets all 3 races next year, they can do what was done in the past- line up a Sponsor and pony up money for any horse who enters all 3 and a larger bonus amount if they manage to win the Triple Crown. Will help the network with sustaining interest(ratings) and might entice a few owners/trainers to actually have a goal of running in all three.

Sour Grapes

Very interesting post race quotes following the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup win at Belmont by Summer Bird. Despite accurate observations from early one, such as this from Foolish Pleasure, critics are still here. This from Quality Road Jockey Johnny Velazquez:

"I think my horse is better on a dry track. I would like to see both horses on a dry track to see which horse is the best horse. "

Quality Road trainer Todd Pletcher had this to say:

"Summer Bird relishes this type of service. Sometimes you get lucky and it rains when you need it and sometimes it doesn't."

I guess Pletcher and Velazques have decided to throw out the Belmont Stakes win by Summer Bird over a dry and fast track. At this stage the argument is moot, the answer is in the scoreboard and the scoreboard shows 3 Grade 1 wins over both wet(The Travers, JCGC) and dry (The Belmont Stakes) surfaces. Game over.

Survive and Advance

I'll never understand the logic of playing slots or the lottery as oppossed to sports gambling and gambling on the ponies-to me the latter is much more engaging, is a game of skill (with luck thrown in) and entertaining.

Yesterday was opening day at the Meadowlands Racetrack in Jersey and I survived Day one of the Meadowlands Survival Challenge. The premise is simple, pick one horse in each of pre-selected 3 races per race day, and you advance if you pick up a 1st, 2nd or 3rd in any race. If no one falls in the money, you are out.

Playing under the moniker of SaratogaSpa, I stand 1842 out of 4825 players. When it comes to betting, I pretty much play the NYRA tracks only, save for the Breeders Cup, the Triple Crown Series and an occasional odd bet thrown down once in a blue moon at other tracks. So, this contest will be a real challenge.

I love games like the Meadowlands Survival Challenge. and believe all racetracks should set up these "Survival" type games on their respective websites. It creates interest, draws people to the website everyday, and I am sure increases handle with real bets thrown in.

Between playing the challenge and playing/watching the great 11 race card at Belmont on Saturday, this will be a full horseplaying weekend. Head over to out TBA home page for all the Belmont entries, picks and PP information.

No Triple Crown

Well, 10 days before the Belmont Stakes-2007 and no triple crown again. Next year will be 30 years since Affirmed won the last triple crown.
But alas, we have an exciting group of 3 year old horses in Street Sense, Curlin, and Hard Spun.
Street Sense is a good horse but a great horse would not have let Curlin pass him after Street Sense overtook him earlier.
This season looks strong for Saratoga as some of these 3 year old horses will be running in the Jim Dandy Stakes and the Travers.