I’ve heard a lot of my horse buddies complaining about the lack of quality in horse racing these days. New York tracks have tons of state bred races. Even at Saratoga, they have to card turf sprints (horses that don’t have enough speed for dirt sprints nor enough stamina for traditional turf routes) to get full fields. California tracks have a storm of 5 and 6-horse fields as well, even at Del Mar.

A quick look at the Wednesday Saratoga entries illustrates the problem. Races 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, are all maiden races. In other words, there will not be a horse that has won a race racing at Saratoga between 1:02 and 4:55 tomorrow afternoon. I realize that the 2-year old maiden special weight races can be strong up at the spa, but only Race 7 is one of those. Half of that sextet are claiming races.

If this is the premier race meet in America, what are the other tracks carding?