You are dealing with the many of the same employees. They pack up and ship up there and get a stipend to offset the rediculous rent. Sure Saratoga draws bigger crowds and obviously the full Aqueduct crowd can't afford to ship up there every day, but a lot of them do. Just get on line at the windows and watch what happens 2 minutes to post time.

It has been my experience living in 3 states and performing in 15 states that the "New Yorker" and his attitude is despised everywhere west of the Hudson (which is, BTW, one reason why NY got stiffed on federal terrorism funding.) And while some of that is sheer prejudice, guys like Richiebee are the example I refer to. He never apologised to me. He insulted me and my aunt. He's an arrogant bully and when he meets his match he crawls back into his hole with comments like "I'll never open a post by MO again". How much you wanna bet he opens this one?

Del Mar, on the other hand has a totally different crowd and attitude. Many more novice handicappers there. Any New Yorker will tell you so, because New York "has the greatest handicappers in the country".

Personally, I like visiting both places. I am from New York, but I would never live in either state anymore. The cost of living is way to high.