JC / Railbird

Unexpected Dark Day

– A summer squall complete with thunder, lightning, and hail forced cancellation of the Saratoga card after the second race due to portions of the racetrack washing out. “There are big holes in there from the middle of the track all the way down to the rail — I mean huge,” jockey John Velazquez told DRF. (Apparently, the area of the track most affected has been trouble before: “Every time it rains hard like that, we have the same problems around the five-sixteenths pole,” said Edgar Prado.) Repairs were expected to take at least an hour, and even then, “there was no guarantee that the track would be up to standard.” The forecast calls for partly sunny skies and no rain on Saturday, but barely a day has passed this meet without drizzle or monsoon, so you might want to take that report with some skepticism and defensively handicap. [Or not, since dawn breaks clear and cloudless. An afternoon without rain seems possible …]
– Back a year later, taller, possessed of a 75-5 regular season record, and a knack for 3-point shots, the 6th grade Texas Titans handily beat the Saratoga jockey colony 49-32 in a basketball game held Thursday night to benefit the Disabled Jockeys’ Fund. It was an exciting rematch, with the riders holding their own through the third quarter, then tiring in the fourth and looking increasingly desperate and disorganized (in a good humored sort of way) as the kids started racking up points in the closing minutes. (Full report on Brooklyn Backstretch.) On Monday August 18, the jockeys take on the New York State Police in an annual charity softball game benefiting the same worthy cause. Play begins at 7:00 p.m. at the East Side Recreation Field. [Game delayed due to weather.]