For the many years of my life that I have gone to Saratoga, the drive home knowing that I will not be going back for a year it made me very sad, win, lose or draw. It is a different place, something you just can’t get downstate. This year unfortunately I was only able to make it there for one day, opening day of the meeting. It was a pretty nice day driving up to Saratoga. I stopped around 10:00 to get something to eat, when I came out, it was raining and didnt stop until late that night. Suffice to say it was very pleasant, I was soaked but again it was in Saratoga.

When I was younger and the family vacation came every August it was a trip to Saratoga. I would wait all year for this. Back then it was the August place to be, now it’s the July, August and September place to be. They only had 24 racing days back then which made getting up there a priority but over the years they kept adding days and this year they added four more making it 40 racing days. Next year it looks like more of the same.

Now on paper this looks like a good move but in this instance, the more isn’t the merrier. Especially in this economy the people that are going to Saratoga are the same people for the most part that will be going next year. The four extra days doesnt necessarily mean that there will be new people going to the track. Yes, there will be more people at Saratoga on those extra days at the beginning of meeting then what they would get at Belmont. But overall this change may not be a good thing.

We need to get back to less days especially now that it looks like they VLT’s might be in by next year and NYRA’s financial situation should improve. I mean we saw races this year with horses in years past that wouldnt even be let on the grounds at NYRA let alone respresenting a good portion of their races. I know this will not happen but I hope in the future the powers that be understand that Saratoga is the greatest place on earth, but as the saying goes, “too much of a good thing.”