I’m asking for feedback here. The question is …am I too indulgent? The next issue of Down The Stretch, Canada’s most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper, comes out tomorrow and racing fans-  to their delight (or perhaps not) - will discover at least six full pages of coverage from Saratoga. I guess the first question someone might ask is, ” Why is a paper that claims to be covering Canadian horse racing devoting so much space to Saratoga?”

The answer is this: I went to Saratoga for a week with my friends Jim and Clint. I like to write about myself.  I used the paper’s budget to pay for the hotel. I think some people like to read about wanton, borderline irresponsible betting. But I am getting grief about this. Writer Perry Lefko, who is almost certainly bereft of any personal agenda, complained about the four pages I have used up in which I chronicle, on a day by day, practically race by race basis, my betting at Saratoga. Perry has written a poignant story about a Fort Erie jockey and how he has dedicated himself to helping his partner regain her life after a terrible accident.  I told Perry we’d run this most excellent story next month because this month’s issue is full… of my Saratoga betting experiences.

We also have a page of Saratoga hats and if that’s not horse racing, what is? Aside from a one page piece on Saratoga announcer Tom Durkin, this month’s issue of Down The Stretch, Canada’s most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper, does have a great volume of local race coverage – how Roger Attfield shocked the bettors in the Breeders’ Stakes, how If I Can Dream conquered the Confederation Cup, how San Pail surprised in the Maple Leaf trot. This issue is jammed with harness racing stories – Jody Jamieson winning 7 times in one night, Sylvain Filion’s six-bagger at Mohawk, Luc Ouellette and his 101-1 stunner!

Lefko does get a couple of good shots in – he writes about his work as a Sportswriter covering the pacer Sportswriter on a stormy night at Mohawk and he also gives us a nice piece on the older trotter Lucky Jim who just keeps winning.

Keith McCalmont has a nifty piece on jockeys twittering and we have all the regular stuff – another hilarious cartoon in which Perry and Mooch poke fun at the editor’s weak grasp of geography and the ever popular oddities and entities page which continues to prove that there are more interesting and head scratching stories in horse racing than any other sport.

Ok…that’s my huge and indulgent plug for my newspaper. Am I pushing the envelope just a little too much on my own agenda or do I really understand what readers want?  I’d like to hear your response at this site. 

 I was very pleased to see that Robert Landry won four races at Woodbine on Sunday, August 17. Landry scored in the first with Counter Move ($6.50) for trainer Dan Vella and won the third race aboard Lookinoutforangels, trained by Suzanne Drake. Landry was back in winners circle posing on Firetheexecutive ($14.10) after the 6^th race. This three year-old gelding is trained by Steve Attard. And in the tenth and final race, it was Landry completing the impressive four-bagger, winning by a long nose with Awesome Action ($17.30). Making this all the more impressive is that Landry did all this winning from only five mounts on the day. 

So this kicks off a thought about how so many jockeys of a certain age are performing brilliantly at Woodbine this summer. Landry, perhaps the most pleasant, self-effacing rider at the track is 46 years old and in his 29^th season of racing. Earlier this year he scored his 2000^th career win. In 2003, he was awarded the Avelino Gomez award for his contribution to the game. And he’s hardly the only senior citizen compiling impressive stats at the track.

On Saturday, August 15, Jim McAleney celebrated his 40^th birthday by winning three times. Jimmy Mac surprised in the second with Tin Pan Alley Cat ($21.10) for trainer Ashlee Brnjas. Then he took the seventh with Korvette Kid ($11.30) which is trained by Dan Vella. McAleny completed his birthday triactor in the ninth with Brilliant Moon ($7.50) for trainer Stuart Simon. Even though, according to the math, McAleney is now embarking on his fifth decade, he is still a prominent force in the jockey standings which show him third with 67 wins from 335 rides. The leader Patrick Husbands has 97 victories and he’s no teenager. Husbands is 36 and runner-up jockey Chantal Sutherland is 33. Emile Ramsammy is quietly having another terrific season – Ramsammy had 65 wins by August 18; not bad for a 37 year-old. Eurico Rosa da Silva is fifth in the standings with 61 wins and even though he exudes the personality of a teenage boy who has just scored a date with the head cheerleader, the ebullient da Silva is 33. Richard Dos Ramos continues to keep the win rate close to 15%, in spite of his birth certificate which claims he’s 47. Steve Bahen is 43 and most of his 15 wins this year have come on  high-paying horses (in the fifth race on August 15, he denied birthday boy McAleney a fourth winner, by beating him on 6-1 shot Captive Spirit). Even David Clark can still summon it up. Riding only two or three horses a day, the 55 year-old Clark has still captured 13 races this season.

The only kid making any noise this year is Tyler Pizarro. Sixth in the standings with 57 wins, Pizarro is only 22 years old. Which means, he’s got a good 20 years to get better at this game.

I’ve been absent for awhile from this blog, but I have a very good excuse. Last week was the annual trek to Saratoga. I bet copious amounts of expendable cash and hit a few modest winners, but it’s really not about the profit (or lack thereof). Saratoga for me and my partners Jim McKenny and Clint Nickerson is a temple that beckons for 11 months and three weeks of the year and we count down until the day we can go. In fact, Clint flies in from Victoria, which is not as simple as it sounds. He flew to Seattle and from there to New York and from there to Rochester, where we picked him up last Monday morning. Clint had thoughtfully booked us into 18 holes at the Ravenwood Golf Course outside Rochester. This was excellent because it was a fine course, but even better, it was just a couple miles from Finger Lakes racetrack. Mind you, Finger Lakes is pretty well the polar opposite to Saratoga. The purses are just a fraction of those at the ‘Spa’ and the horses and jockeys simply are not in the same class. Still it was something to bet on, just to whet our appetites for opening day, Wednesday July 29. Needless to say, none of us cashed.

We drove on after the last race for our next anticpated appointment – two nights at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona NY. We had scheduled 18 holes for Tuesday  on the sumptuous Shenandoah Golf Course, which the pros sometimes play. I’m a crappy golfer – McKenny is quite good and Nickerson is close to him, but I thrashed about and was practically knocked out at the end of 18 holes.

Not too whacked to play several hours of black jack and Caribbean Stud poker in the luxurious Turning Stone Casino. How did I do? I got killed on Monday, but made a nice comeback on Tuesday, winning back almost half my losses.

We pulled into Saratoga just before noon on the Wednesday and there is something almost impossible to describe about that first walk through the gates each year. I call it heaven for horseplayers – if you don’t bet the ponies, you won’t understand, but for six weeks each year, the best horses and jockeys come here and  having a win at Saratoga on your resume is ….priceless.

Wednesday was my only winning day. I hit the first winner, ridden home by last year’s Saratoga champion jockey Alan Garcia and parlayed that into a winning daily double ($31). I won about $100 at Saratoga and about $300 more on the first few races at Del Mar, brought in by the magic of sattelite.

It didn’t go quite so well the next four days, which were all losing adventures.  At one point on thursday I was alive with five horses in a pick-three and four of my choices were paying over $1000. I didn’t get a sniff…none of my horses finished in the top three.

The Sunday card dealt more of the same – money bet, money lost, but there was a small hit of redemption. Rachel Alexandra, the superfilly was in the Haskell Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth racetrack in New Jersey. Much as I disdain favourites, I took her at the end of some pick threes and keyed her in triactors. I spend $4 in the pick-threes and when she won by many lengths over a field of overmatched colts, I cashed $32 on the picks and just $24 more from the $16 I had bet in the triactors.  Still, on a technicality, I left Saratoga not completely broke and there would be one more magic moment.  

We stopped once more at Turning Stone on our return trip and with just minutes to go until our agreed return time to the car, I was up about $50 at the black jack table. I increased my base bet to $20 and won, so I let the $40 ride. The dealer gave me a 10 and a 2 and showed a 10 card. The guy beside me had 15 and asked for a card. He got a two for 17 and I started scratching for my card. Incredibly though, the man beside me asked for another card. The dealer asked carefully – “you want to hit on 17?” and the guy said yes.

The dealer gave him a ten; it should have been my bust card. I asked for one and got an 8 and my 20 beat the dealer’s 18. I took this as a message from the Casino. I grabbed my chips, ran to the window and cashed in. I had made a profit of $140…not quite compensating me for a wild week of  betting at Saratoga, but putting a nice flavour at the end of a thoroughly thrilling week.