Saratoga 7th

[lsosa54]

A couple of thoughts before I run to work. Happy capping to you today:

Originally Posted by For The Lead

2 year olds, in general, are also horses that have not established a class level. They race among their own age group, as they should. They have a lot of growing and developing ahead of them. And in the case of a 2 year old race on the turf...why bother? I know there is a better race out there somewhere.

That's your opinion. I know folks that focus on turf races for young horses exclusively, 1st & 2nd time on the turf and find them profitable given the breeding info they attack it with.

3 year olds ONLY on the turf, in most cases, is another case of "why bother?". It's pretty much a dart throwing event. No matter how you cut it, there simply isn't enough data there to form a solid opinion. This is another case of finding a better race to play.

Again, your opinion. Same comment as with 2 year olds.

I have been around this game long enough to remember the days of going to the track closest to where you live for the day. The track presented 9 races or 10 races or whatever their schedule was. There was a "daily double" on the first 2 races and after that, it was win, place and show. There was no internet and no simulcast, just the 9 or 10 races in front of you. In those days you "tried" to pick the winner of every race. With all that there is today, you don't have to get involved in these types of races. You can look somewhere else for a better opportunity.

No different than how I started. My first Big Cap probably had 80,000 people live at Santa Anita. 1 DD and I think 2 or $5 exactas and that was it - no simulcasting. I was at Santa Anita virtually every day and made my living there in 1995 full time. I used to bike 30 miles round trip to "work" as it helped ease the pressure of playing full time and supporting a wife and young child.

Just two points. In a n2l (non winners of 2 races lifetime, NW2L) there can't be a horse with 10 wins in the race.

Also, the race you attached is not a bottom level Allowance-NW1X, rather, it is a bottom level "money optional claiming race" (OC-NW$X) that is run under allowance conditions. It is very similar to a regular allowance race which has the same money condition. These two races are "apples to oranges", in the same way as an Allowance race with a condition of NW1X is much different than an Allowance race with NW2X condition.

The condition of the race you attached reads "WHICH HAVE NEVER WON $10,000 OTHER THAN MAIDEN, CLAIMING, OR STARTER OR WHICH HAVE NEVER WON TWO RACES OR CLAIMING PRICE $40,000", rather than " for NON WINNERS OF A RACE OTHER THAN MAIDEN OR CLAIMING". These are two completely different races.

The condition forbidding a horse from having won a $40,000 claimer insures that a claimer coming into this race has run at a lower level. A "true" NW1X has no such restriction.

I am well aware of the difference in race conditions. I stated the optional claimer was different that the pure N1X. You can absolutely have a 10 time claiming winner in an N1X/N2L as the condition can state that races below a certain claiming level are not considered.

ANY horse can enter the optional claiming $40K race as long as they are up for a $40K claiming price. They could have run a G1 in their last race.