SATURDAY, September 4

Race 1: Final Saturday begins with older statebred maidens and Tagg continues strong meet at good prices sending out Megatrend ($20.60) to 4 1/4-length romp. Favored Storm Boot Gold bumped and shuffled midstretch but going nowhere at time. So much for live race-watching today; time to head for 4 p.m. wedding near Philadelphia. Phone in token bets for the day: win-place bets on All Trumps in 4th and Gygistar in 8th, and 4x4x4x4 pick-four play for $256 to stay out of trouble during wedding festivities. Lowest handle day of meeting.

Race 2: Lasik ($6.80), scratched from tougher versions of this statebred filly N2x earlier in meet, makes first start since 6/27 a 4 1/2-length victory for Dutrow to complete rare 12-12 double.

Race 3: Clarins ($10.40), away since second-place finish in 1 /11 Gulfstream route, is sharp off the bench and beats these 3-year-old filly maidens by 1 3/4 for Hauswald's first of the meeting. Save My Place, 19-1 despite usually overbet Velazquez aboard, wins three-way photo for second from Summer Rainbow and favored Yellow Heat.

Race 4: Remember that 8/7 baby race where Lazy F/Penna All Trumps took all kinds of money, went off favored in loaded field and showed very little? All Trumps ($8.10) shows a lot more today, running down a loose Silent Bid inside the furlong pole and winning by two.

Race 5: You get the feeling Bobby Frankel's having some fun with Ten Cents a Shine, the former Derby prospect he took over this year. Last time out Frankel dropped him in for $35k on the dirt and the 4-year-old came from the clouds to score at 9-1. Today he tries turf for the first time and Ten Cents a Shine ($11.40) finishes powerfully again to score by three-quarters over Private Scandal.

Race 6: Pletcher ties his 2003 record of 35 at Saratoga when Remuneration ($5.10), High Yield colt who was second to Storied Cat in 8/21 debut, presses Spanish Mission through mild half and draws off to win by 2 1/2 lengths. Elder gains seven lengths late to be up for third in baby race run tad faster than All Trumps division (124.87 vs. 1:24.92) after slower opening half (46.67 vs. 45.57).

Race 7: First and faster division of older $35k turf claimers ends same way as 8/20 version with a Devine Wind ($6.20) prevailing in a blanket finish while virtually in hand under a confident Dominguez, who has made a very strong impression at the meet.

Race 8: Arrive at wedding reception and unsuccessfully hunt for television with racing signals. Find fellow guest and DRF handicapper Kenny Peck at bar and ask him who won Forego Handicap, and when he gets text result via cell phone that Midas Eyes won and paid $9.20, I tell him his phone must be broken because Midas Eyes couldn't possibly pay that much. But he did, after drawing clear from Strong Hope in upper stretch and coasting by 1 3/4 over Clock Stopper and Gygistar as 9-5 fave Strong Hope takes a funny step nearing wire and runs fourth. A Huevo, making first start since 11/5/03 DeFrancis triumph, gets some useful exercise middle-moving and then flattening out to be seventh at 6-1. Midas Eyes, who returned from a six-month layoff with a scintillating allowance romp 8/25, was running back just 10 days later, which apparently alarmed the bounce crowd. Imagine that - a racehorse running two fast sprints in 10 days!

Race 9: Capital Peak ($10.20), who had been middle-moving and hanging of late, settles nicely under restraint from Dominguez, saves ground throughout, and makes perfectly-timed late run to grab lead and hold off late charge of 12-1 Generous One in 11-furlong N1x.

Race 10: Second and faster division of $35k older grass claimers ends in blanket finish with two lengths separating first seven under wire. Montecastillo ($15.20), 7-year-old making first start for tag and first since 3/15/03 at Tampa, prevails by head but third-place One Eyed Joker was probably best, finishing fastest after hitting traffic trying to come up rail under Dominguez.

Race 11: Either someone forgot to water main track during preceding 90 minutes of turf racing or $35k 3-year-old fillies are a very slow bunch. Sell the Rallies ($12.20), closing-day maiden-claiming graduate at Belmont, takes over after slow half in 47.03, tires late, but still hangs on by 1 3/4 after seven furlongs in 1:26.57. Good day for blind and caveman-like pick four play as all four favorites lose and no winner is more than 6-1 but pick four connects for half of $3391 payoff.

SUNDAY, September 5, 2004

Race 1: Liked Lord Sheryar last time out in sprint, have to try him again stretching out for first time in seemingly paceless statebred N1x at 4-1. He clears early, is still in front in upper stretch, but gets the wobbles and can't hold off Fancatstik ($7.50), a three-length winner for Gorham/Migliore. Don't be alarmed by the slow times for all nine-furlong dirt races closing week: They're consistently slow, with all six run in 1:51.87 or slower, though none slower than this meet-worst 1:56.32, with the last three furlongs in 42.67.

Race 2: Someday you may be on a quiz show and the $1 million question will be, what's the highest trifecta payoff you've ever seen with a 4-5 shot finishing third? There would be worse guesses than this statebred baby race. 18-1 Accurate, blinkers on after showing nothing in 51-1 debut 8/7, romps by 3 3/4 over 79-1 Pat Kelly firster Naughty New Yorker, with 4-5 West Point/McLaughlin firster Thunderprince another six lengths back in third. The tri: $17,183.

Race 3: Match race on paper and for most of the running between Pletcher/Velazquez Tales of Glory, who opens even-money and goes off 2-1, and Serpe/Prado Formal Attire, who opens 2-1 and goes off 9-10. The two speeds in the five-horse field play cat and mouse from the get-go, as Velazquez floats Prado wide on the first turn, then again on the stretch turn when Prado makes his move. The tactics work up to a point as Velazquez wins the battle, but the dueling and leaving the rail wide cost him the war, as Dominguez and Shuman/Gill Lusty Latin ($17.00) lumber through on the inside and score by a length.

Race 4: Nurse Culkin ($5.50), second to Bellanique in 7/30 running of this statebred filly turf N1x, hangs on by a nose over massive overlay 10-1 Urbane Hustle to give Santos his first winner in his 28th mount since returning from injury.

Race 5: Tagg gets his second first-time-turf winner at the meet when Right This Way ($22.80) wins three-way photo from 8-1 Muguet and 9-1 Tuesday Prayer in this 3-year-old filly N2L turf mile. Favorites High Speed Access and Love and Kris's both stalk early and flatten out late to run seventh and ninth.

Race 6: Burnish ($4.70), second to Should Be Royalty in her 8/9 debut, gives Zito his 10th at the meeting with a 4 1/4-length score vs. fellow 2-year-old maiden fillies in decent 1:05.19. Cheerful, third to impressive Zito firster Alfonsina in debut, second best today.

Race 7: First division of split Glens Falls Handicap for older-filly turf marathoners features seemingly overbet favorite in Where We Left Off, 9-10 despite never having been 10 furlongs much less today's 11. She runs pretty well and pokes a head in front inside furlong pole, but can't quite hold off veteran distance specialist Humaita ($13.40), coming off fourth against much better in Wonder Again's New York Handicap.

Race 8: Only surprise is that Vision of Beauty, $600k Oxley/Ward 3-year-old filly, pays $3.40 and not $2.40 romping by 5 1/2 over five completely overmatched opponents. Maybe everyone bet her to win by trying to turn pick four into pick three.

Race 9: Betting against horses being favored off dirt form in grass races has been successful angle this meet but not here. I toss favorites Dark Equation and Bankruptcy Court and they account for two-thirds of the trifecta as Bankruptcy Court ($10.00) wires the field in this 9.5-furlong N1x and Dark Equation runs an even third at 2-1. Interesting 8-1 Abrasive Stone finishes well for second but the winner was best for Violette/Bridgmohan.

Race 10: Wouldn't have mattered if Abrasive Stone had won because I take a boneheaded position against slow-figure Arvada ($8.50) in the second division of the Glens Falls and she runs an excellent race in her American stakes debut for Frankel/Velazquez. British-bred daughter of Hernando, an in-hand winner of an 8/11 prep for this, sets faster pace than in first division (1:15.08 vs. 1:16.16) and holds off the late runs of favorites Spice Island and Film Maker to score by half a length in 2:14.12, 1.13 seconds faster than Humaita's winning final time.

Race 11: Speaking of slow figures, Tommy Voss has won one grass race after another this meet with Midlantic grass horses who looked too slow on paper, and he does it again here with 5-year-old mare Too Brilliant ($45.60), making just her fourth career start. Daughter of Green Dancer comes flying late under Samyn to nail 5-2 fave Thank the Academy and force a $90k carryover into the mandatory-giveaway closing-day pick six.

MONDAY, September 6

Race 1: It has been widely announced that John Velazquez will ride only the first two races on the card before heading to Philadelphia to ride Pollard's Vision in the Pennsylvania Derby, so everyone figures he must be on a couple of good things. The first is Prime Queen in this $35k older-filly claimer, 7-5 for no other imaginable reason, who runs a dull fourth behind Traci Girl ($10.00), who opens a seven-length early lead for Levine/Migliore and cruises home by 4 1/4 despite a final furlong in 14 seconds.

Race 2: Okay, Velazquez must have stayed for Argento, Pletcher 2-year-old firster and half to Black Tie Affair, who is sent off at 4-5. He stalks until the turn then fades and runs seventh. In the meantime, top-fig Iwinski second-timer Get Wild ($10.60), second to Wallstreet Scandal in 8/16 debut, leads comfortably to furlong pole, looks sure to be swallowed by onrushing Peitz firster Biloxi Scandal, but spurts away to win by half a length. Velazquez ends his meeting 65 for 225, four more winners than the record he set last year. Pletcher still at 35, matching last year's record total.

Race 3: Frankel closes gap behind Pletcher to a mere 35-14 when he runs 1-2 in this $60k allowance with Powerful Touch and Toccet, the latter wisely scratched from Saturday's Forego. Powerful Touch, a 4-year-old Touch Gold gelding who was beaten a head in Offlee Wild's Holy Bull in his only stakes appearance, is now 6 for 10 and completely out of allowance conditions. As for Toccet, making his first start for Frankel and first since 5/4, he presses a mild pace for six furlongs and continues on well, finishing four lengths clear of Free of Love. Multiple stakes-winner Snake Mountain, making first start since March, shows little while running a distant fourth.

Race 4: Watershed Event ($17.60), Charismatic 3-year-old dropping from $65k to $35k and making grass debut, gives Romans his second winner of the meet (in addition to the Whitney), charging from last at the top of the stretch to win by three-quarters under Fragoso.

Race 5: Social Virtue ($6.00), $70k Dutrow firster by Elusive Quality, leads every step to beat statebred juvenile fillies by two in pokey 1:13.12.

Race 6: Pick Six with $90k carryover swells to $787k pool due to mandatory payout and enthusiastic participation by the likes of me, whose meeting now hinges on its final six races. After investing $1576, I will end up about a $2k loser for the 36 days if I don't collect anything. I let two friends buy 2 percent of my play for $31.52 apiece. One of them, kindly recalling my earlier pick-six stakes defeats at the meeting with Perfect Drift, On The Bus and Foreverness, says "Who's going to beat us by a nose in the Saranac today?" I tell him he's got five choices in the field of six, because that's the only race I'm singling. As for this first leg, I go five deep trying to beat 2-1 favorite Dixie Boy, who gets loose on the lead but wisely surrenders to Matzoh Toga ($10.60), emerging from two Monmouth races that have produced several next-out winners.

Race 7: I don't know whether to laugh or cry after Clement firster French Dressing ($39.60) flies past the leaders in deep stretch to win this older-maiden grass race by a length. I'm alive with a big price, but the three horses I used on my main ticket - the winner, 2-1 runner-up Catsgotninelives and 15-1 third-place Exploit'em -- have just run 1-2-3 and guess who didn't bet a nickel on the $169 exacta and $1756 tri? Ah, the joys of putting all your eggs in the multirace basket. It's also debatable whether French Dressing is really anything like 18-1 in the Pick Six - how could a Clement first-timer be that big a price in a mediocre field? Still, it's nice to be alive on two tickets, a 3x3x1x1 and a 2x2x1x3.

Race 8: The closing-day card used to feature the Seneca Handicap at a mile and five-eighths, and I always had to go too deep because I have no confidence in my turf-marathon handicapping. No more Seneca, but this race is its equivalent, a 1 1/2-mile open allowance that fortunately draws a field of just six. I have half the field and no confidence and am just glad to survive as favored Host ($4.70), takes over from Best Minister after a mile and holds on by a diminishing 1 1/4 lengths over Balustrade and Western Fling to give Kimmel his second of the meeting and keep my two tickets alive.

Race 9: An hour earlier, Love of Money, winner of a very fast 8/12 sprint in the slop here, upset the Pennsylvania Derby at 12-1 and this N1x spring features the horses who ran second and third to him that day, Tango Tales and Primary Suspect. The latter had who won his debut with an extraordinary Beyer of 100, and then floundered in the slop when a distant third behind Love of Money, whereas Tango Tales ran an even second while handling the footing. The fast track makes the difference today, as Primary Suspect ($7.10) scores an impressive 4 1/2-length victory for Hennig/Fragoso, running 1:10.19 over the dull track. Alive on both tickets, my meeting has come down to a 1x4 to hit the pick six.

Race 10: I would never bet $1576 to win on a horse like Prince Arch, but you have to single someplace and he looked to me like the most solid horse in the sequence on the following reasoning: Prince Arch has spent most of this year running second and third to Kitten's Joy, Artie Schiller and Shakespeare, the leaders of the eastern grass 3-year-olds in a year when the grass 3-year-olds are unusually strong - Kitten's Joy ran faster winning the Secretariat than older horses ran the Arlington Milllion on the same card. Prince Arch is just supposed to beat this group of 3-year-olds, the best of whom were just dusted by Artie Schiller in the Hall of Fame. Well, it doesn't exactly work out that definitively. Prince Arch is close but still last after six furlongs, and he hasn't made much progress by the time Mustanfar seizes control in upper stretch, but then he finally kicks in while doing his best to run sideways down the stretch, gets to Mustanfar with two strides to go, and I finally come out on the right end of a photo in a Saratoga stakes race. One problem: Did he interfere with the fading Good Reward while lugging in midstretch? I close my eyes until I hear the words: "Results of the tenth race are now official."

Race 11: So Saratoga 2004 comes down to one race, one shifty group of maidens on the turf, and I'm alive to 4 of the 12 - 5-2 Sliding Home, 3-1 Rectory Hill, 6-1 London and 8-1 Graded by Results. It's going to be a long and annoying half-hour until I find out whether it's been a winning season. First, as I wait for the pick six probables to be posted with 20 minutes to post for the finale, my television screen suddenly changes from the Saratoga feed to a black-and-white Italian movie. I realize that the geniuses at Cablevision, who usually cut the Nassau OTB feed at 6 p.m. are unaware that today's an 11-race card running until 6:20. I frantically call NYRA's simulcasting department and start blathering to a nice woman who picks up the phone about what's going on. "I'll have my guys take care of it," she assures me, and within five minutes the Saratoga feed is back on - but no pick-six probables are ever posted. So I'm left to guess, just like back in the old (pre-2003) days when pick-six probables were forbidden by law. The parlay is around $3500 so far, meaning I should be looking at a low of around $12k and a high of $32k, but two conflicting factors make it fuzzy: This thing should pay more than the parlay, given the carryover and the big pool, but was French Dressing really 18-1 in the pick six or more like 8-1? Then there's the hedging question. I'm alive in saver $1 pick fours to a few of the ones I don't have in the pick six, and if any of the complete bombers win, they'll probably pay the big end of the pool to 5-of-6's and I'd have four of those. So I sit with the hand I've been dealt. I also decide that win or lose, I'm not going to complain. It's been a really entertaining meeting, I'm better than even-money to hit a five-digit pick six on closing day, and at this point I'll happily just take a victory by the favorite to whom I would have been singled had things broken differently.

So I'm not going to complain that London was off slowly, bothered repeatedly, and lugged in more than Prince Arch did while missing by just three-quarters of a length while tons the best. After all, Prince Arch could just as easily have lost and London won and that's not a trade I'd want to make. So I'll be happy with Sliding Home ($7.10), happy with the slightly chintzy $11,158 pick six, happy with a handful of $84.50 consos and happy with a winning meeting. Now, when does Belmont open?