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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Saratoga Notes

A year from now, it figures to be a far different competitive environment around here. Money from the slots could start flowing to NYRA by next summer according to NYRA board member Charles Wait. I would think that, at some point, NYRA could start to raise purses in anticipation of that money; and that in any event we'll surely see such enhancements by the time Saratoga rolls around (hopefully not any earlier than it did this year).

On the other hand, the fate of Monmouth's inflated purse structure, if not the meet itself, is certainly in doubt given the recent commission report and the statements by Governor Christie.

Just less than three weeks left now at the Spa, yet I continue to get emails from Tom Federlin, the flaky czar of local real estate, regarding houses going begging for renters, even for the big Travers-Rachel Whatshername weekend of Aug 28-29. That can't be a great sign for how things are going.

Meanwhile, horses continue to trickle up from Monmouth despite the lower purses in New York, in search perhaps of the shorter fields that are anathema to the bettors. Some chalk players must be wishing they stayed where they were on Wednesday. Three races featured favorites from the Jersey shore who were beaten, including Silver Timber in the featured Troy Stakes, a race which had no balls - eight geldings and a mare made up the field of nine! This favorite was out of the money at .65-to-1 for trainer Chad Brown (and he'd been beaten at 3-10 in his prior). That barn, though still hitting at 36% (12 for 33), has lost its last six races, including Payout at 1-2, and two others at less than 2-1. The percentages generally catch up in this game, and when they do in the case of a barn that has been on a tear as has Brown's, it can create parimutuel opportunities for others. Awakino Cat, 4-1 in the morning line, paid $14.60 despite being trained by Linda Rice, known for her proficiency in these turf sprints. She's 22 for 89 (25%) in such races at Saratoga over the last three years.

Those Monmouth chalk-eating weasels may have been cursing after the finale, when Glacier Bay ($26.20) shipped up to get the money for trainer Alan Goldberg. This barn is an infrequent visitor upstate, but still a solid high percentage outfit at 24% this year.

Chart comment of the day:

EL REAL MADRID bumped lightly with DANTASTIC leaving the starting gate, proceeded to exchange a series of light bumps with the same foe, as the pair fought to establish early position, got the better part of that one, crossing over to the rail just before reaching the first turn [ed note - we have more description here than we do for most horses at other tracks and he's only at the first turn!], took the inside route before being taken back out to the two path for the run down the backstretch, was reserved from there well off the front runners, began to narrow in, along with a good portion of the competition, departing the half mile pole, angled out three wide commencing to rally in earnest, closed with good energy down the center of the course to make things a bit interesting [ed note - I'll say!] in the late stages, before settling for place honors.

13 Comments:

jk said...

"a race which had no balls" ...Hilarious. I would not be surprised to see this make its way into NYRA's diluted condition book.

Following up from the previous post, I recently drove by Monitcello Raceway on my way to Bethel. Bethel is a great day trip from NYC, home of the Woodstock Museum. You can also walk the grounds where the big show was held. And yes, you can stop by the track if you have an urge.

DiscreetPicks said...

I just saw that Sidney's Candy received a 102 Beyer for his romp in this past weekend's La Jolla Handicap. A 102??? You have got to be kidding me. Sidney's Candy turned in perhaps the most impressive performance by any horse so far this year, breaking the track record in the process. If there was any question before regarding an East Coast bias in the Beyer Figures (and there wasn't), it's gone now. Here's a replay of the race, in case any of you haven't seen it yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szYUZSVs9hc

Anonymous said...

DC - I was amazed at the performance as well, and both of us have long been fans of Sidney. However, racing media has long had an east coast bias, and it works well because we consistently get better prices on shippers.

Btw, Santa Anita going back to dirt.


Dirty

Figless said...

Regarding VLTs' read an interesting report that indicated the NYRA purse account would increase about 40% once up and running (the full allotment).

Considering their first priority will likely be to restore the recently cut Stakes money, the residual for overnight purses will be a far cry from the original extimates of $70k MSW races, and therefore not likely to seriously impact the lack of day to day racing quality anytime soon.

If will help, but its not the cure.

Anonymous said...

It looks like the VLT's at Aqueduct wont be up and running anytime soon.

Read the article in the Daily News this morning:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/20/2010-08-20_troubling_links_at_aqueduct_news_finds_a_possible_mob_tie.html

Also look at this article.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100820/BIZ/8200379/-1/SITEMAP

Looks like very careless due diligence work by the Lottery officials to me. Do we really want Genting in our city?

alan said...

>>Do we really want Genting in our city?

As long as they don't build near Ground Zero.

Anonymous said...

What I don't quite understand about the Lottery's "so what" position on the Genting-MGM-Ho Family business relationship in Macau is if it was a known material fact during the bid evaluations, why the Lottery did not disclose this to Paterson, Silver and Sampson? It sounds like Genting didn't even bother to include it on the Lottery application. So, who is hiding what from whom in this deal? It just never ends.......

Anonymous said...

There is clearly a major problem with Genting and the Stanley Ho connection.

Nancy Palumbo, the previous New York Lottery director, serves on Genting's board of directors at Monticello. Do we have a bad smell here or what?

Has anyone at Lottery been promised a golden parachute at retirement by Genting?

I hope Andrew Como is looking at this with clear vision as he will inherit the problems as our future Governor.

alan said...

According to the Daily News article, a subsidiary of Genting is a junket operator for a VIP room "tucked into a casino" built by MGM and the daughter of Stanley Ho. Someone will have to explain to me exactly how makes Genting unfit to operate a racino here. C'mon guys.

Anonymous said...

Look at these articles on Genting. The ties with the Ho Family are long and deep, much more than just a junket operator relationship:

www.globalgamingnews.com/news_asia/genting-star-cruises.html
Genting
Severs Ties To Stanley Ho
March 6, 2007

Singapore News
www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/254754/1/.html

Genting queried over inviting Stanly Ho to invest in Sentosa IR project
By Johnson Choo, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 25 January 2007 2142 hrs

alan said...

Thanks for the links, 1:53. That's a bit more interesting...but what I'm reading here is that Genting was going to sell a 7% share of this project to Ho, and then they didn't. So I'm still not seeing any long and deep ties here.

Anonymous said...

Look, the Lottery can't come out and say what a transparent and honest job they did for NY citizens, supposedly better than the elected officials, when they openly admit they covered up Genting's involvement with international organized gaming suspects. Or, I suppose they can, as this is in fact the Aqueduct deal and we are in NY state. Corruption reeks throughout the gambling world, so nobody can be perfect, but the snowjob NY Lottery did on folks this last go round is laughable. Was this current conclusion planned well before the new round of alleged "bidding" started and who might be the beneficiaries and sponsors?

Steve Zorn said...

The chart comments this season at Saratoga are terrific. Kudos to whoever's doing them.