Bombs dropping at Saratoga!
Saratoga Race 7 9-3-2009 won by Crossfirehurricane at 42-1 by a head over Never Dream who was at 22-1
The $2 exacta paid $1,407, trifecta $8,152
Of the current meet this ranks as the 2nd longest price winner. The longest was at 44-1 on August 3rd with Tri-Polar
One more notch for Pletcher from Thursday’s race tilting the advantage over Linda Rice:
West Ocean’s victory [Race 9] gave Todd Pletcher a 17-16 lead over Linda Rice in the race for the trainer’s title.
Re: Mena being not in good NYRA standing
Richard Migliore instead will ride Backtalk - the 2-year-old, who won Churchill’s Bashford Manor and Saratoga’s Sanford in his past two starts - in Monday’s Grade 1 Hopefull Stakes.
Running today in the 5th: Tiger Woodman 
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;4352843]
Re: Mena being not in good NYRA standing
Richard Migliore instead will ride Backtalk - the 2-year-old, who won Churchill’s Bashford Manor and Saratoga’s Sanford in his past two starts - in Monday’s Grade 1 Hopefull Stakes.[/QUOTE]
The Mig has little pitty for Mena losing his mounts
Speaking outside the jockeys’ room [Friday], Migliore said he was grateful to ride the Smarty Jones colt, especially since he’s had a slow meet with four wins.
Migliore, 45, was bluntly honest when asked if he had any sympathy for the 22-year-old Mena.
“Not at all,” Migliore said. “Be a man. Grow up. Do your job. It’s a lot harder to show up every day when it’s good, bad or indifferent and do your job than it is to give in to those kind of temptations. He has the world at his feet and there’s a lot of guys who would kill to be in that spot, a lot of guys who would kill themselves just to make the weight to ride. If you can’t appreciate it, then, you know what? You don’t deserve it. I know it sounds harsh, but that’s the bottom line.”
As for the race for the leading trainer at Saratoga with 3 days to go it is tied up at 18 wins each between Todd Pletcher and Linda Rice. Rice still has a horse entered in today’s ninth race, Gold Pageantry, at 12-1 on the morning line.
Again, no woman has ever won the title …
In the Grade 1 Forgo Stakes … Pyro first, Kodiak Kowboy a very close second …
Linda Rice won 2 on Sat, Todd Pletcher, 0. Linda retakes the lead…
Just two-days to go
Yesterday was a second lovely win at this meet by Linda Rice trained Mother Russia
Today is the Commentator Stakes in honor of Commentator and they will parade him with the field then give him a treat in the winner’s circle. That new stakes race is the 5th on the card (3:08 pm).
The signature race today will be the 10th - The Spinaway Stakes (grade 1) for 2-yr old fillies at 7-furlongs. Jess Jackson’s wife Barbara owns the favorite - Hot Dixie Chick - who won on opening day of this meet.
Other “names” running today: Luv Gov (3rd), Cannonball (5th), Lime Rickey in the (9th) the Grade-3 Saranac Stakes
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;4356257]
The signature race today will be the 10th - The Spinaway Stakes (grade 1) for 2-yr old fillies at 7-furlongs. Jess Jackson’s wife Barbara owns the favorite - Hot Dixie Chick - who won on opening day of this meet.[/QUOTE]
A lovely win by Hot Dixie Chick in the Spinaway and securing a second meet win for Barbara Banke’s Grace Stables.
A nice double punch by her and her husband (Jess Jackson) this weekend.
Last day of the meet and its almost over with just a few more races to go.
Already determined based upon the races thus far:
Ken and Sarah Ramsey secured their second consecutive owner’s title at Saratoga this summer, leading the meet with 13 victories.
Linda Rice will either be the outright Leading Trainer or co-Champion.
Jockey Ramon Dominguez likely will take his first Saratoga riding title having won on the card already today but it’s not done yet 
Linda Rice does it: Rice becomes first woman to win Saratoga training title!
Linda Rice won the training title at Saratoga Race Course on Monday, becoming the first woman to capture the championship in the 146-year history of the track.
She’s believed to be the first female training champion at any major race course.
The 45-year-old Rice has 20 victories with one race left, one ahead of five-time Spa champion Todd Pletcher. She clinched the title when Pletcher failed to win the Grade I Hopeful with either of his two horses.
“It means the world to me,” Rice said. “It’s been a lot of work and a long time coming and it’s a real honor to compete at the greatest racetrack in the world and come out with a training title.”
She received a painting in a winner’s circle ceremony and got a round of applause. She turned and waved at the fans.
In the Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes (G1) for 2-yr olds it was D. Wayne Lukas (who turned 74 last Wed) taking it with the impressive favorite: Dublin! We’ll likely see this one in the spring chases for the 2010 Kentucky Derby …
Final day Saratoga attendance with perfect Labor Day weather: 29,589
Sunday’s Commentator Stakes and final lap of the track - and into the winner’s circle - by Commentator was lovely to see. Picture of him in the circle with Zito and Mr/Mrs Tracy Farmer
After the race, NYRA presented Zito and the Farmers with framed commemorative photo collages of Commentator. A highlight video of Commentator’s career was shown on monitors throughout the racetrack.
Video: Commentator’s Retirement Ceremony Part 1
Video: Commentator Retirement Ceremony Part 2
By the way - the recipe for the Saratoga Key to the City as given to Commentator:
Commentator Key to the City
Glen Sanders Mansion Bakery
Ingredients:
½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
¼ cup honey
¼ cup molasses
4 cups uncooked oats
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup grape nuts cereal
6 cups finely shredded carrots
1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix oats, salt, grape nuts, carrots and peppermint in a large bowl. Set aside.
Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add brown and white sugars, honey and molasses and bring to a boil. Pour into dry ingredients mixture and combine.
Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan and line with parchment paper. Firmly press into the pan and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and cut while still warm.
Yields 12 bars.
Thanks for the recipe Glimmer! 
Final numbers down - but not by much - from NYRA/DRF:
Attendance was down 2.1 percent, ontrack handle slipped 2.2 percent, and all-sources handle was down just 1.7 percent from 2008. New York Racing Association officials were happy with the meet, considering racing has suffered double-digit declines in handle nationwide recently. New York Racing Association president and chief executive officer Charles Hayward went into the meet expecting 5 to 7 percent declines in handle.
Attendance for the 2009 meet was 854,413, down from 872,627 in 2008. The daily average was 23,734 compared with 24,240 in 2008. There was one less giveaway day this year.
Ontrack handle at Saratoga was $112,005,880, down from $114,563,754 in 2008. The daily average was $3,111,274 compared with $3,187,327. All-sources handle, which includes money bet on Saratoga from simulcast outlets, was $513,837,237, down from $522,530,643. The daily average was $14,273,247 compared with $14,514,740 last year.
There were six more races (365 to 359) and 139 more betting interests in 2009 than in 2008. NYRA ran a record 164 turf races with only 29 races taken off the turf.
As for D. Wayne Lukas trained Dublin - who won today’s Grade 1 $300,000 Hopeful by 2-lengths:
When D. Wayne Lukas attended the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale, the colt that struck his fancy the most was a son of dual-classic winner Afleet Alex out of the Grade 1-winning mare Classy Mirage.
“He was my Number 1 pick in the fall sale,” said Lukas, who convinced owners Robert Baker and William Mack to plunk down $525,000 to get the colt who would be named Dublin.
Lukas said he would take Dublin back to Churchill Downs, before deciding whether to run him in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont on Oct. 10 or the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
“They’ve screwed up the Breeders’ Cup so they’re going to force us to do things I don’t want to do,” Lukas said. “I don’t know just where we’ll look right now. You got the Champagne right in front of us, the Breeders’ Futurity is an option. I would really prefer that we move the Breeders’ Cup to Churchill or Belmont and keep him on the dirt.”
Thanks for the final updates and the recipe…Nice win for Wayne, good for him.
I agree with him, the Breeder’s Cup should be on the dirt…
Girl power – at both ends of the spectrum
I don’t know Linda Rice from a hole in the ground, but it’s nice to hear that a woman is making history in what has traditionally been a guy’s game. Her training title seems a lovely bookend to Rachel Alexandra’s gutsy run in the Woodward.
Congrats to both, and to their connections.
[QUOTE=rebeginner;4360648]
I don’t know Linda Rice from a hole in the ground, but it’s nice to hear that a woman is making history in what has traditionally been a guy’s game. [/QUOTE]
Interesting link with Lukas: Before he was in high school, D Wayne Lukas began developing his skills for evaluating and buying horses. With his friend Clyde Rice – also a successful horseman and father of trainer Linda Rice – Lukas bought mustangs headed to the slaughterhouse, broke and trained them and resold them in auctions
Linda worked for her father and didn’t - like so many others out there (Pletcher, et al) - work for major outfit before heading out on her own.
Her NTRA Bio - which will show that she’s been knocking on the door at Spa (and other places) for some time. She simply didn’t have the volume of horses to take a training title before.
In 2000, Rice won all three of Saratoga’s major stakes for 2-year-olds (Sanford, Saratoga Special and Hopeful) with City Zip, the fourth horse ever to sweep the series. That was the same year she took the Fourstardave Award for outstanding achievement at Saratoga, presented by the New York Turf Writers Association. 9 years later she takes the Leading Trainers title at the meet …
And Todd Pletcher’s remarks on Linda:
Rice started 75 horses, 60 less than Pletcher. Pletcher, a six-time leading trainer at Saratoga, finished with 19 wins but 28 seconds from 135 starters.
“When you run second 28 times, it’s only fitting that you finish second in the meet,” Pletcher said. “It’s a little bit frustrating. Linda had a great meet. It’s quite an accomplishment. She should be proud.”
“Earlier in the meet things were going well,” said Rice, who two years ago finished in a tie for second leading trainer here. “As we got later in the meet, I was one up, Todd was two up, I was one up, back and forth. Of course I’m looking at the horses standing in my barn and not sure if I can follow through. I was concerned the last couple of days because I didn’t have the right horses in. I placed horses pretty aggressively last week and it worked.”
Commentator’s future
I know his owners are going to retire the grand gelding to their farm. But he looks so feisty and healthy, I hope he can find a new career, maybe not a competitive one but one where he’ll still gets lots of attention.
Although, who knows? He may be perfectly happy lazing away in a pasture.
Whichever, I know his owners and trainer will always guarantee the best for him.
[QUOTE=FatDinah;4361419]
But he looks so feisty and healthy, I hope he can find a new career, maybe not a competitive one but one where he’ll still gets lots of attention.
Although, who knows?[/QUOTE]
A perfect candiate for making at least a try at steeplechasing if not exercised routinely as a fox hunter. Least people forget his last effort less then 30-days ago was a very close 3rd behind winner Bullsbay and Macho Again (2nd to Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward) in a Grade 1 race. For 95% of all the horses ever going to the track just that one single effort and graded stakes placing would be the highest point of their career.
I was in the winners circle after the Hopeful, speaking with DWL as Linda recieved her well deserved accolades for the training title. When the crowd roared Wayne looked over and noted that he and LInda’s father Clyde grew up together and that he was very proud of her. Linda’s brother Wayne is named for DWL.
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