Simple math as to dark Monday’s: duration of meet extended due to construction at Belmont, number of racing days still 40. Query however whether dark Wednesdays might have been a better choice then dark Mondays?

Would the Diana have been a better race if the Racing Office had hustled in four tomato cans who had very little chance of even cracking into the gimmicks? While the all Chad trifecta was hard to monetize, the multiple race/horizontal sequences including the Diana were rather lucrative, even with the “free square� in feature.

Field size will never be what it was at the Spa, what with more spacing between races and the improvement of purse structures at Ellis, Woodbine and to a lesser extent Laurel. Harder to rationalize shipping/stabling at the Spa when there is money to be made close to home.

Fun fact: winner of Saturday’s 10th race, Ruler of the Nile, had been claimed six weeks ago for $8,000. In March of 2017, he sold at a 2YO in training sale for $1,000,000.