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I know we are all harness ploppers here but what the heck is going on in Saratoga Springs? Cancelling turf races. Scratches all over. Tiny fields. And every race day FS1 or FS2 has great live shows from the Spa but not today. Is NYRA putting a muzzle on their on air personalities? Before the two race tragedies the on air teams were giving us a lot of truth as to how bad the stewards have been allowing very rough riding. Then when Parcells’s horse went down they basically stopped talking. What is going on?
They have had a hell of year.... When Covid hit, sitting at home, I spent a lot of time watching the FS1 Saratoga show every afternoon while they still had no fans. Learned a lot and to be honest I don't bet harness much as I liked the bigger fields and huge pots. After decades of racing and betting, In the last two years I had my two biggest payouts. This year they have been getting killed with weather and horses breaking down or falling and in the most visible case, a runner going for 6 for 6 breaking down at the wire with a nice lead. The small fields have been crazy and i attribute to two things. 1) other tracks nearby are going for very good money so you can avoid the talent at Saratoga... 2) I think the Pletcher / Brown / and a couple of other trainers just dominate to the point that you don't want to butt heads against them. Sure they race for great money, but with second place getting 20% of the purse, it isn't quite as great when running for second or third money. I don't feel they are muffling the talent. Yesterday with the power outage it was a crazy day. I watched the show for the last couple of races, Gary Stevens still hammering the judges and Ortiz for the careless riding
Explain issue with Ortiz, I don't follow it enough. Wouldn't other trainers talk to judges about him and have it stop? Linda Rice doesn't use irad ever
Ortiz is the best out there now. He has moved on from being very aggressive. He has gone past riding carelessly and past riding recklessly. He is now riding dangerously. The stewards at nyra are clowns. And riding for Pletcher, Brown, Repole etc..., protects him. jmvhmfo