Quick shoutout to some folks for the trip to Saratoga.

Trackjohn: Grand Slam performance with the Rachel Alexandra suite in the 1863 Club Building on Whitney Day! Terrific atmosphere and treatment by everyone. Food, drinks, paddock passes to the Test and Whitney Stakes. Thanks for including me as this was an awesome way to arrive to Sar on a Saturday around race 3 and walk in the door!

Donny Nelson, NYRA: I hope someone will pass this along to him. There couldn't have been a kinder, nicer person to be in the room with all the folks on Whitney Saturday. He treated everyone so well and was so kind. He assisted John with tickets for the Picnic Paddock area for Wed through Sunday of FourStarDave week and made it happen! There was one hiccup and it turned out he had car trouble and hand delivered the tickets to the folks that needed them on Wednesday for the whole week. I've had 5 encounters personally with Donny and he has always been FIRST CLASS despite the fact I'm a resident of a state that can't even sign up for NYRA Bets. It doesn't hurt my friends are NYRA Bets folks but a sincere and gracious "Thank You" to him for his help. I was only able to use the picnic tickets on Wednesday but others made use of them on Sat/Sun (Fri canceled and Thurs rain set in early and late pushing us to Cover).

Mathcapper: Randomly ran into him on Saturday when the backyard area was as packed as I've ever seen except for one Travers. Good seeing him and told him to tell Uncle Bill "Hello" as he has been awol on the phone with me for a bit! Probably enjoying the Florida sun. After a great talk with Mathcapper, he told me to bet the 3 horse in the 9th at Woodbine. Great handicapping Rock. 5-2 winner without even looking at a thing and two of my friends from STL at my table where we sat Saturday up near the rail listened also as I said he is handicapper, not a tout. One bet to win LARGE and the other Singled in a LONG Horizontal wager. The horizontal was alive to two HUGE Scores but neither came in. There might be a gambling lesson or two to be gleaned from this little story ...

Sharilyn Gasaway (co-owner of Mystic Dan): Ran into her in the paddock prior to the Test Stakes. I met her the day after Preakness as I recounted here. She recalled our conversation and meeting and was full of information and insight. I encouraged her to be a bright light for racing these days and she said she never turns down requests for interviews and such for those that are out there reading and looking for someone to have on their radio shows, podcasts, etc etc. Ran into her again in the 1863 Club later that day for another excellent conversation where we talked about some details of racing that involve handicapping, ownership, trainers, etc.

FrankD: Took excellent care of me (and shanahan) for 4 plus days until my crew from STL and Baltimore arrived. Looking forward to Labor Day weekend for more of us to make it for one last hurrah for the summer up there. Can't thank you enough for all the hospitality in and around upstate NY! Boardwalk Restaurant and Bar at Lake George is a MUST for anyone that makes it up there. I'll see ya soon.

Richiebee: Lucky enough to have heard from him during the week up there. Always a terrific wit and clever jokes. If not for him, I likely never meet any of you guys as a result of a trip he made to Fairmount Park more than a decade ago that long story made short later led to us meeting at Saratoga.

Paul Matties: Who was kind enough to spend about 10-15 minutes discussing topics of the day in racing, HISA, gambling, etc. He was curious if and when Jerry (TGJB) would make it up this year. I told him I'd make sure he (you) receives the message.

Nameless Vendor in the backyard: One of the owners of a food spot in the backyard was sitting near us on Sunday (the day after Whitney) behind his location. We discussed business and how it is going. He explained that his business and at least 3 others were all down at least 30% this year. That while it is consistent and he wasn't upset, it wasn't as busy as years past although everyone up there agrees Belmont Day itself was out of this world good for business. Everyone thought Belmont hangover was why the meet started slow but after several weeks even the waitress in our area on Saturday (the 10th) said things are slow. When I discussed with the vendor that the economy is not as great now and people are drawing back, he pushed back on me. I stood my ground and said "I really believe that's what is going on." At that point, he said, "Look, I wasn't going to say it but NYRA's Cashless Rule is hurting us." NYRA's agreement with vendors is they get XX% (intentionally not stated here) of every dollar spent and NYRA thought that vendors were not sharing everything with them, namely from Cash Transactions. So, to curtail this "stealing" is where the cashless rule came from. He wasn't upset about it but he was convinced this was an issue in large part why places there are all down. (I'm not saying I agree but sharing what I heard). He went on to say that TIPS for waiters and waitresses and folks at the various places are down even more than 30% and that there is ZERO doubt that the cashless rule was why. It was clear that he knows almost all of the folks on site in the food/bev business and had discussed all of this during the meet so far. I asked our waitress on Saturday about it and she agreed 1000% on the TIPS issue. So, for what it is worth, that's why NYRA went cashless for those that were curious.

The weather didn't help whatsoever while I was there for turf racing. So, I'll run it back on Labor Day Weekend, Fri to Sunday to try to find some excellent days.

Not my greatest post but accomplished my goals here. More soon I hope on a handicapping front although I'm back to work again to pay for these adventures!!