INTERLUDE: A Disappointing, Tragic 2023 Saratoga Meet
When things get weird, writers write, and I can think of no weirder time during my career than this summer.
I’m writing the bulk of this column Saturday night, hours after Travers Day. It should’ve been a celebration of the best Saratoga has to offer. Arcangelo stamped himself as the best 3-year-old in the country with a win in the Midsummer Derby, and stalwarts Echo Zulu and Gunite both won major stakes races.
Of course, all of that pales in comparison to what happened on the rest of the card. Two more horses passed away due to catastrophic injuries. One of them, New York Thunder, seemed on his way to victory in the Allen Jerkens when he went down in midstretch, to the horror of the Saratoga crowd and those watching around the country on FOX. It’s the second time in a month a major breakdown has happened in a race broadcast on that network (Maple Leaf Mel, of course, suffered a fatal injury in the Test).
Now, everyone involved is looking for a path forward. Many on horse racing Twitter, a highly-opinionated space even in the best of times, called for the rest of the meet to be cancelled. Whether or not that’s deemed the most sound decision is anyone’s guess, but the constant barrage of rain this summer at Saratoga sure seems to have changed the track, not unlike what happened at Santa Anita a few years ago. Rain in upstate New York is nothing new, but we haven’t seen a summer like this in a very, very long time.
An emergency meeting was called Saturday night. I imagine we’ll know more in the coming days. For now, though, all I can say is that I’m sick to my stomach. I was excited for the start of this season, as I have been most summers during my life.
Then it started.
There’s no aspect of this meet that hasn’t been disappointing in some form or fashion. The weather has wreaked havoc on programs, turning competitive turf races into five or six-horse affairs out of the Wilson chute (which has gotten WAY too much use). Inquiries and objections have been handled, to be kind, in a very inconsistent manner by stewards, and a few decisions have rendered members of the New York Racing Association’s own TV crew speechless. Breakdowns haven’t just happened. They’ve happened too frequently, on big stages, in full view of not just hardened horseplayers, but families crammed into spots on the track aprons that are usually empty at other NYRA locales.
There have also been plenty of headaches induced on the wagering end. Computer groups, while shut out of NYRA’s win pools, have started hammering exacta payoffs down to where those combinations routinely pay significantly less than they should. The biggest races on the calendar have struggled to draw full fields. In addition, of course, there was the fiasco where surfaces were changed with one minute to post before the first leg of a Pick Five.
(Quick note: I got some heat for my response to that last chain of events, which probably wasn’t worded the best in the heat of the moment but did say that I needed to know more about communication behind the scenes before crushing NYRA. As it turned out, the organization lobbied for a delay that would’ve given players a chance to change tickets, and those efforts were rebuffed. It was a bad situation all around, communication from NYRA to horseplayers was far from ideal, and that shouldn’t ever repeat itself, but it turns out I may have been…at least partially right?)
The simple thing to do is blame one organization or group of people. It’s easy to blame NYRA, or horsepeople who are perceived to operate in certain ways. Unfortunately, while a few individual arguments aren’t without decent points, the bigger answer is almost certainly far more complex and doesn’t lend itself to the lazy ways we tend to communicate with one another.
We don’t breed as many horses as we used to. The ones we produce don’t run as much, or for as long a time period. Some are bred with 2-year-old sales in mind, not 4-year-old races, which leads to longterm soundness issues and, in my opinion, a weaker breed in general. Owners consolidate their stock with fewer trainers, leading to field size headaches, and some of those trainers have rap sheets longer than Jack Kerouac’s scroll of “On the Road.” Computer-assisted groups are problematic to the average bettor, and horse racing as a whole has no idea what to do with them, or how to effectively answer the question, “what is a foul that merits disqualification?” Finally, of course, Mother Nature has been Saratoga’s worst enemy, and there have been times NYRA has been caught flat-footed in its response to the elements. Mix all of that together, and you get…this.
There aren’t many people in horse racing’s community who are more connected with one track than I am with Saratoga. It’s where I grew up, where I made my bones as a writer and handicapper, and where I’m happy to help as many people as I can in whatever way(s) I can. Even folks who think I’m a moron and who enjoy bashing me for existing are welcome to come find me and break bread at a racetrack whenever I’m at one (it’s not like I’m a hard guy to find).
I’ve had people tell me I’m being too hard on horse racing. I’ve also seen people say I’m lobbying for a job with NYRA. Neither of those viewpoints are true, and to be honest, if people are saying both things, I’m probably being pretty fair.
My experience and perspective means that I see these 40 days in upstate New York as a representation of the best horse racing has to offer, in front of the best fans in the sport. Instead (and please excuse the too-easy cliche coming up), a perfect storm of horrible things have converged on the small city in upstate New York. Instead of being reminded how great this game can be at its best, this meet has shown us how hard it can be at its worst, and it’s done so with staggering, torturous regularity.
In short, what I want is both simple and grand: I want Saratoga to feel like Saratoga again.
I don’t know if that can be done this coming week. To be honest, after the meet that’s taken place this summer, I’m not entirely sure it can happen when Saratoga opens its doors in 2024. I love this place very, very much, but there are no two ways about it: If Saratoga continues feeling less like the Saratoga we know and love and more like the setting of a different “Black Mirror” episode every day, a lot of things are in big, big trouble.
Andrew Champagne 