True...there are other options depending on the quality of stock..One is Hot Springs come Feb.Another is Texas..Many believe Louisiana being below sea level allows for a horse to really leg up if the intention is to come north and be dead fit for Belmont and the spring meet.

I will wait to hear from Wooley on this.

Good claiming races at the upper end of the scale are rare in New York. Those optional claimers under allowance conditions (that nobody ever seems to get through) are mindless. Where did the straight NW1X, 2X, 3X, and even 4X races go to? Horses that got through allowance conditions tried stakes or high-end claimers. Turf sprints are not my cup of tea but some folks like them but all they do is chew up the turn for the better route races. And I miss the starter handicaps, with claimers, allowance runners, and stakes horses all competing with huge weight spreads for a distance of ground.

The inner used to be fun with the caulks and the "horse-for-the-course" angles and you knew the racing was going to be bad but since the racing has been piss poor all year even that small thrill is gone, along with the "not politically correct" caulks. We used to fire up more IRS tickets on inner-track racing here than anyplace else but now I'm looking forward to Tampa Bay on December 12th - dirt, full fields, turf racing, and shippers from everywhere except Mars. If Tammi Piermarini rides there this year my heart will go all aflutter.

Somebody needs to re-invent New York racing. Hell, NYRA couldn't even fill the graded Stuyvesant Handicap a few weeks ago and then did away with it.

gone is my beloved christmas money/new years eve stake in the Display HCP using Paraje on top..or Peat Moss...Murry Garren is hanging with Marty at the Cloud Room laughing at all of us crybabies..Bring back Bowie and close from Christmas until ST Pats and fire Campo he is clueless

PEAT MOSS couldn't get into gear until he had gone 12 furlongs. After the second mile he was full of run for the drive to the wire. I used to love spending the afternoon of New Year's Eve at the Big A for the Display Handicap. Now we get the 1 & 5/8ths Gallant Fox as the longest race of the year. That'd be a sprint for PEAT MOSS and Gustines would need to be whipping him out of the gate.

Ah, I loved Paraje. And Peat Moss, too. I remember when they carded a race for ol' Peat at 2 1/2 miles which he won handily under 137 lbs. Aqueduct, I think.

Those horse ran like the Everready Bunny. Federal Funds had 144 starts, Paraje, 100, and Jacksonport 97. Peat *only* started 39 times.

PEAT MOSS was sold to the Pony Express to gallop across Kansas and Nebraska.

That includes Chad Brown

7 Siren's Call Jose Lezcano 4.40 2.80 2.20
3 Pleasant Sister Channing Hill 3.50 2.30
8 Amelia the Cat Edgar S. Prado

I used to be a fan of Chad. Talked up his horses, career with Frankel, Cornell etc. with my pals at OTB. Bet on his horses. Now, whenever I think if Chad Brown, I'll think of what a low-class, uncouth father he has.

There is a pretty basic reason for the loss of higher priced claiming races at some tracks....for over a decade these horses have migrated to tracks with slots and thus inflated purses for these events. The migration has been pretty much complete for years now.

Andy is telling us that NYRA is folding slowly.

And why.

I know why. Old farts such as myself cannot stay with a product that is deteriorating year by year.

And young folks can't get into a game that requires more of a mindset beyond a 'reality show' or a quick video game.

Not really Throat...The migration of sore legged humpbacks to the slot tracks is over and done or was..The feit complete is the fact that they cannot card a race of 35k's anyone is confident they will use..This does not allow for anyone to reach in and take a 25 with any confidence you will be able to turn him around and grab a purse plus bills and make any money.You are forced to sit in jail and rack up 4000 in bills..If they take the horse back without a win your screwed and that is if you even get a race on the first week out of jail.I have sent many horses who were a tad slow to West Va...it was never exactly profitable and most were winners..