We here at the Daily Racing Blog hope that is not the case.  Once again on Saturday the early races were taken off the turf.  Only the feature event in the 8th race stayed on the grass.  Regular readers of this column know that when races get taken off the turf course there are a lot of scratches, which leads to smaller fields that produce inferior … Continue reading Sunday Muddy Sunday

OFF TURF.  That has been the sad track listing the last 10 days at Saratoga.  Saturday’s weather forecast calls for partly cloudy skies, with scattered showers.  It has been quite the rainy season at The Spa.  The Daily Racing Blog is hard pressed to recall so many lousy days (see off turf) in the first four weeks of the meet.  We’ll move ahead to Saturday, and hope … Continue reading The Alabama

Beats a good day at work.  And no one is having better days of work at Saratoga than Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. (pictured)  The jockey title is his to lose, and barring injury he should win easily.  His mounts are in the money 55% of the time.  Thursday was no different.  The young man was in 8 of 9 races, and the horses he rode … Continue reading Any Day At Saratoga…

Last week the Daily Racing Blog talked about the leading jockeys at this years meet at Saratoga.  Today  lets take a look at the top three trainers.  (these numbers come at the end of racing on Monday and do not reflect Wednesday’s card)  The top two are no surprise.  Ranking third at this point is Steve Asmussen.  He has had 44 starters, of which 24 have been … Continue reading Day 24 & We Want More!

The Daily Racing Blog apologizes for not publishing any new posts the last few days.  We were on hand in Saratoga from Friday through Monday and were experiencing some technical difficulties which made it impossible to file any reports while away from our headquarters. It was another sloppy weekend of racing at The Spa as many of the races on the turf were moved to the dirt … Continue reading We’re Back!

The Thursday card at Saratoga brings us nine races, four of which are Maiden Races, beginning with races 1 through 3.  For the uninitiated, Maiden Races are those in which none of the horses in the field have won a race.  Some of the entrants may have a few starts under their saddle, while others might be racing for the first time.  Point being, they … Continue reading Pretty Maidens All In A Row

With sixteen days of racing in the books, the Daily Racing Blog decided to take a look at the jockey standings.  After a slow start the Ortiz brothers are back in form.  Here’s a look at the top five, as of the end of racing on Monday:  Irad Ortiz Jr. his rides are in the money 53%, winning 22%.  Jose Ortiz, in the money 52%, winning 11%.  … Continue reading Week Four, Let’s Make $ome More!

Sure, the purses aren’t as big, and most of the horses aren’t of the same caliber as ones raced Thursday through Sunday- seemingly.  Because plenty of champion horses have broken their maiden at Saratoga on a Monday card.  The most recent being BIG BROWN back in 2007.  Owners and trainers always want to run their horses at Saratoga, (regardless of the day) to try and win at … Continue reading Making Bank On Monday

A nice day of racing on the Saratoga card for Saturday.  Up for grabs is 2.1 million dollars in prize money spread over 5 stakes races, highlighted by the feature race, The Whitney Stakes, with a purse of 1.2 million.  The Whitney (race 9) is a Grade 1 Stakes race for three year-olds and up, run at a mile and an 1/8 (9 furlongs) on … Continue reading The Whitney Stakes

On the 12th day of racing our favorite track gives us a card of ten races, split evenly between dirt and turf.  The track seems to be drying out from the soaking it took earlier in the meet, so we’ll be on  the lookout for highly rated speed horses in the sprints, and fast closers in route races.  Oddly enough, the feature race on Thursday … Continue reading Day Twelve