Notes and Observations - Sept 11

- I was wrong about a lot of things on Saturday, including the misinformation I posted here about the Pick 4, sorry. Indeed, there was a $500,000 guaranteed Pick 4 on the four Grade 1’s yesterday. Why did I think otherwise? As I’d mentioned, I did read it somewhere, so I checked the NYRA website, going right to the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Because certainly, if they were guaranteeing a minimum pool, there would be doing everything in their power to publicize it, lest they end up having to shell out money themselves. But there was nothing; absolutely zero on their website. So, operating out of the assumption that there is at least a MINIMUM of competence in NYRA’s marketing department, I figured there was no guaranteed Pick 4.

I picked up the Racing Form, and missed David Grening's mention of it in his front page story. That was because I’d turned to the past performances, where there is usually a black banner on top of the first leg of these deals;it would have referred to the $500,000 GUARANTEED PICK FOUR, but there was nothing. Nor was there any mention of the wager by Dave Liftin nor Mike Watchmaker in their analyses on the Handicapping page; so they must not have known about it either, I imagine, and if so, that would certainly be the fault of NYRA.

The final pool for the bet was $506,934, so they barely made it. However, the payoff of $111 wasn’t too bad I suppose for two favorites and two clear second choices.

- Even after the summers in which the crowds at Saratoga were growing, it seemed like the attendance bar would lower a bit more from the prior year upon the return downstate. So given the fact that attendance at Saratoga declined slightly in numbers (though more in spirit when you consider how glorious the weather was), you could expect the worst at Belmont, and you’d be right. Only 8,365 showed up at Belmont for the four grade 1 races and the appearance of possibly the best horse in the country, of whom everyone who wanted could get a close-up view of in the paddock. I’d like to think that it was part of what seemed to be a generally light traffic day, with $3.35 a gallon perhaps a number finally sufficient to make people think twice about getting in the car. With every NYRA race available at home to anyone with a cable wire or satellite dish, even a beautiful day outdoors may not be enough to get people to bleed their money at a gas pump, and it’s hard, really, to blame anyone for that. But we know this is just part of the problem, and that the trend has been quite clear for some time.

- I was out of the Pick 4 immediately, as I took a stance against In The Gold in the Gazelle, going with Leave Me Alone and Yolanda B. Too instead. The Head Chef didn’t understand why I was so stubborn about it, even as I expressed fear as her odds plummeted to 9-5. Jerry Bossert in the NY Daily News this morning, revealed that In The Gold was in heat when she ran far behind Leave Me Alone in the Test, and that "She's doing much better now.”

Oh. Nice of them to let us know that now. Not to say I would have had her if I’d known, but isn’t that something worthy of full disclosure? Can’t we have a little fire symbol next to the past performance line to indicate a filly in heat? (I’m only half joking.)

- The only thing more amazing than Saint Liam’s almost effortless win in the Woodward – a virtual public workout, leading Jerry Bailey to comment “That is as easy as you can win. I feel bad taking money for this, but I will," [Newsday] is the fact that nearly $25,000 was bet on the Dutrow entry of rabbits to win, and who knows how much in the daily double. In theory, the totals should be zero, of course. You’re supposed to enter horses to win horse races; these two were entered to lose, and the fact that they were permitted to run uncoupled with Saint Liam, despite what the rules might say, is farcical. There are always people who will bet a horse because of their name or jockey or whatever, and those who later discover that the horses were supposed to lose may think twice about wagering on the sport again. Everyone knew why these horses were entered, and there’s no reason why the stewards can’t step in and order them coupled under special circumstances such as these.