Preliminary Wrap-up

Street Sense after winning the Jim Dandy

Street Sense being escorted back to the barn after winning the Jim Dandy

Saratoga is beautiful. It feels like a town that exists solely for horse racing. The gorgeous Victorian houses and stunningly tall pines are wildly idyllic, and just what this city dweller needed.

It was a totally analog weekend… no posting, no email, no phone, ALL handicapping. I finally got a chance to meet Joan (can’t wait to meet up for lunch at the Playwright!), but did not meet up with Trodder (definitely next time!). All & all we had a great time!

I’m still way too tired to do a full write up. In the interim here’s the short, list style wrap-up to be followed with a more well crafted, witty twirl full of insightful lessons and funny moments (while under the influence of caffeine and in command of my wits).

Friday:

  1. Went to Siro’s Cup
  2. Went to the Racing Museum
  3. Wandered around a lot trying to figure out how to get to grandstand only to find out that it’s not like Belmont and you have to pay extra for grandstand seating, paying $2 at every turn to get into each area only to find out there wasn’t “free” seating
  4. Finally procured grandstand seating
  5. Cashed 1 ticket in ticket in the 4th, WPS on longshot Golden Horseshoe, who placed

Saturday:

  1. Went to Siro’s Cup
  2. Went back to the Racing Museum because the Hall of Fame was closed for an event when we were there on Friday
  3. Swifty cashed a lot of tickets!
  4. I cashed 2 tickets, a WPS on long shot Holla Bend who placed in the 5th (my pick of the day!) and a WPS on Wanderin’ Boy in the Whitney
  5. Some people sitting behind us cashed a $2000+ trifecta ticket that they picked based on their hotel room number
  6. Tried not to get demoralized by the hotel room number strategy doing better than my late night handicapping

Sunday:

  1. Morning handicapping
  2. Did the room number strategy for a few races with no luck
  3. Room number was the exacta in the 8th race, didn’t have it
  4. Cashed no tickets, unless you count the refund I got for a late scratch (I don’t)
  5. Took a detour on the way back to the city and had a lovely dinner in Rhinebeck

    More to come…