Mother Nature Wreaks Havoc with Saratoga Grass Racing

Saratoga’s streak of good weather came to a crashing end a few days prior to the big Whitney Stakes card.  While clear weather on race day did little to dampen the vibrant partyers in the crowd, it greatly affected the wagering aspect of the day. More than any other Saratoga racing days Whitney weekend has seen the focus shift away from horses and wagering and onto partying and attention seeking by attendees. While the outright cancellation of two grass races was necessitated by the condition of the turf course, the day was perhaps emblematic of the constant shift away from racing and wagering and onto the consumption of alcohol, food and people watching. This trend has been in the works for almost a decade now and there is a growing suspicion among veteran bettors that the New York Racing Association is too quick to move races from the grass course to the main track and satisfied with large crowds drinking and eating on big days. However, given last year’s casualties on big days, it is not surprising the racing office is exercising caution when it comes to track condition, but it bears repeating that the racing focus must be paramount if racing is to survive as a sport.   

The outright cancellation of races also led to cancellation of all horizontal wages affected by those races. This left horse players with an old-fashioned menu of Win, Place and Show and Exacta wagering (which in my unpopular opinion is not necessarily a bad thing).  The fact that the Whitney Stakes itself was locked into a particular post time to accommodate television resulted in an extraordinary amount of time between races later in the card.  The usual long weekend racing day on Saturdays seemed even longer with up to 50 minutes between betting opportunities. But for the party goers dressed in jockey and horse costumes, you could feel the energy sap from the building during the delays. As previously written about here in this column, this is something that needs to be addressed and at least some midweek cards need to be run within shorter time frames.

On the track the Whitney Stakes itself was a wonderful betting affair with Arthur’s Ride leading from flag fall to finish in a rather easy victory over large field.  An aggressive ride by jockey Junior Alvarado took the favorite – National Treasure, shipping in from the West Coast for notable trainer Bob Baffert, – out of his game and he was never a serious factor. Arthur’s Ride may try to complete the rare Whitney Stakes/Jockey Club Gold Cup double when he returns to the spa again on closing weekend.  The plan would be to then train up  to the Breeder’s Cup Classic at Delmar in November. Both races are run at a mile and a quarter and Arthur’s Ride’s breeding and past performance suggest that distance will be to his liking.

The Fasig- Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sales took place Monday and Tuesday nights and despite turbulence earlier in the day in world financial markets, the sales showed healthy near double digit increases in average and median prices. Opening night saw a colt sired by Not This Time sell for $3.4 million and Tuesday’s session saw a colt by Into Mischief sell for $2.4 million. There were twelve horses that sold for $1 million or more over the two nights. 

While many high-priced yearlings do not meet purchaser’s expectations, one that already has is Ferocious. The colt was purchased earlier this year out of the March OBS sale as a two-year old for the healthy sum of $1.3 million. The colt, sired by Flatterer, debuted with an impressive victory on the Whitney Day undercard and figures to improve further as the distances increase. Owned and trained by the same connections who brought Kentucky Derby winner Mage, Ferocious appears to have significant potential and could return to run at Saratoga again later in the meet in the Hopeful Stakes on September 2nd.