Call this post the result of a 12 hour shift with only about 2 hours of true work to do. Would seem like a good time to do some handicapping, but I'm a bit
raced out after 6 weeks of 6 day a week racing. They really have to shorten the Saratoga meet; Labor Day weekend used to be a great place to start the fall Belmont meet.

Two Supreme Court vacancies, the worst natural disaster ever in the US, a President who comes off as sometimes incapable and apathetic, an energy crisis which will affect the entire economy. Any minute now a left winger in my office will come to tell me again that by the middle of this century China will be a superpower and the US will not. Which 60s rock anthem is more appropriate: "Something in the Air" or "Eve of Destruction"?

Not to mention the uncertainty surrounding New York racing and the fact that the Fairgrounds will not conduct racing for the first time since ???, and on top of it all there seems to be great dissension on that other board.

On the cover of Blood Horse, the caption says "Penny Chenery Reflects on Secretariat and Racing's LAST Great Era" (emphasis mine). Is that "LAST" as in "most recent" or "LAST" as in "final", never to be seen again?

Impressions from the Forego, in relation to the BC Sprint, Mass Media and Silver Wagon (who hit gate at start) ran races that tell me they may be more effective at 7f than 6f. Battle Won looked good in defeat. Forest Danger, who bore out badly in the Met Mile, showed no gate speed and no real acceleration at any point during the running of the Forego; it was the lack of acceleration which was the cause of any perceived traffic problems he may have had.

Hope the Euros come to BC to spice up proceedings in the main track events. Recent articles I've read lead me to believe that there's no way a conservatively handled Afleet Alex will run in the BC. Smuggler is out for the year.

If the Euros are coming, will be interested to see if they show up early to get a race over the Belmont strip...