This was during the Mayor John V. Lindsay administration, and was yet another strike that occurred under the boy/man from Yale. There would be so many strikes during his administration, which ran for an improbable 8 years, that the tabloid nickname for the city was STRIKE CITY.
So, in addition to teachers, transit workers, police, firemen, and sanitation workers, the horses, under the guidance of their trainers, refused to be entered for races, thereby shutting the track down.
So what you might ask. Who cares if racing takes a siesta for a few days? Turns out it was the New York State's Department of Taxation. I kid you not.
No races, no horses claimed. No horses claimed meant no transfer of ownership, and no sales tax that went along with claiming a horse. You're kidding? No.
Mayor Lindsay started a city income tax. He invoked a tax for meals under $1.00 (there was such a thing in the '60s) and made a sales tax apply for what was once a sales tax free hot dog. The tabloids, the New York Daily News and The New York Post promptly called the mayor's meal tax, "The Hot Dog Tax."
That I remember, the trainers Bobby Frankel, and Buddy Jacobson were quite vocal during the strike. After the strike, it seemed Frankel disappeared from New York racing and took up training in California. Shutting down Aqueduct had consequences.
Racing in that era was heavy with claiming races. Of course there were allowance races, maiden special weight races and stake races, but the daily card held several claiming races. And there was active trading activity in claiming horses.
When I started handicapping in the latter part of the 1960s, an angle always was if was a horse moving up or down the claiming price? What did it mean? It's still an angle, but with all the races in which there are no claims to be made, there is less need to have to consider fluctuating claiming values.
I once was talking to the NYRA racing secretary, asking how did he come to create the races that were proposed in the condition book? The condition book covers a two week span of dates indicating the races that the racing secretary is proposing to be filled. Stake races are already scheduled and have their own set of eligibility criteria, nominating fees and entry fees.
These are the other races on the card, and they can be quite varied as to quality and competitiveness amongst the entrants.
Does the racing secretary propose allowance races for state-breds who have never won a race other than their maiden? A non-state bred race? A second level allowance for horses who have never won two races other than their maiden; maybe non-winners of two lifetime starts; perhaps three starts if toward the end of the year; a more complicated optional claimer with several provisos for eligibility; starter allowances for horses who have started at a maximum or minimum claiming price level. There are even more possibilities. How is the racing secretary seeing into the future as to who might be interested in entering under his proposed conditions in the Condition Book?
At any one time there are hundred of horses stabled on the grounds. Every day they gallop out for exercise. A certain percentage are given workouts of varying distances and intensity. The workout horses signal a trainers intent to getting a horse in shape to race.
The racing secretary makes note of all the remaining eligibility conditions of the horses working out, and then creates a proposed race that might see a reasonable number of these horses be entered by their trainers. Fill out the future card.
On Saturday's Saratoga card, the third race was for four-year olds and up for a claiming price of $100,00. This is an astonishingly high claiming price, and one in which horses with winning records will be attracted to enter, and if claimed, the owner will unload/sell the horse for $100,000 to whomever gets the claim.
There is a claiming box that before a race trainers can put in a claiming slip signaling their intention to claim/buy the horse for their owner. There can be no slips, or several slips for the same horse. When there are several claiming interests there is a "shake" that occurs after the race.
The "shake" is numbered pills, or cubes that are poured into a container and shaken. Each claimant is assigned a number for their claim. If the pill that tumbles out matches the number they were assigned, then they "won the shake" and get to buy the horse.
The ownership trade occurs right on the track. A horse that is successfully claimed is led off to their new barn, but only is the veterinarian finds no reason to "void" the claim.
And there's the new rub. It used to be that no matter what condition the horse was in after the race, lame, even dead I think, if you won the claim you owned the horse. A tough game.
Not so anymore. The claimant is protected by the vet's decision that the horse is sound and can be awarded to its new owner. Sort of like a warranty.
But a claim can be voided for a variety of reasons with regard to the horse's soundness. In that case, new ownership does not take place and the horse is placed on the "vet list."
This is somewhat like the N.F.L.'s concussion protocols. A player has to be medically cleared to get back in the game, right away, or down the road.
A horse on the vet list has to complete a workout supervised by the vet who again evaluates the horse for soundness. If cleared, the original owners can enter the horse wherever they want. The horse might be claimed again, and the process repeats, or the owners don't put the horse in an unrestricted claiming race, and hold onto the horse. Or, they retire the horse from racing.
An unrestricted $100,000 claiming race is rare. It means any horse entered is exposed to being claimed by someone else. And guess what, you claim the horse, you pay sales tax. It's as if you just bought a $100,000 car with four legs.
There were 5 horses entered in this $100,000 claiming race for a generous $125,000 purse; three were claimed; two claims were voided, including the claim on the winner, Tuscan Sky, who won by a head.
Tuscan Sky is a 5-year-old gelding who has a 14-4 record, with $329,115 in earnings. Their high water mark was winning the 2024 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth. They are from the Mike Repole Stable, trained by Todd Pletcher. These are top connections.
A gelding has no value in the stud market, so whomever claimed the horse was intent on racing them, at least until the vet, on post-race examination, voided the claim.
Every race run is summarized by a "chart" showing how the entrants ran the race; what position they were in at certain poles of the race, who was riding, the odds, and an index number to their last race. In addition to this information, there is a narrative describing how the race was run, what happened in the running.
There is nothing in the chart that indicated Tuscan Sun suffered any injury. But that doesn't mean they didn't. Something is out of place that warranted a placing on the vet list. But that something is not described.
If Tuscan Sky runs again, the past performance will indicate that there was a claim, '-cv', claim voided, but you're not going to know why there was a void, and what did they recover from? Some information, but not all. I have no information how voided claim horses do if they get back to racing.
In addition to Tuscan Sun being claimed, and voided, Dreamlike was also claimed and voided. Dreamlike, trained by Linda Rice for Ronald P. Stewart, finished third, beaten by a head and a neck in the mile dirt race, finishing nearly 12 lengths ahead of the 4th place horse. Nothing in the chart tells of any trouble.
Dreamlike, is a 6-year-old, also a gelding, with over $708 475 in earnings; multiple stakes placed, with a 25-3-10-7 record. This is a so-called war horse, expected to compete at high levels with generous purses offered.
The third horse claimed—and at this point we're into outlier territory for a rich claiming race with three horses claimed—Gewurztraminer is a 5-year-old gelding, trained by Kinnon LaRose, who just took over the Tom Amoss operation. The horse finished 4th, beaten by over 12 lengths. Gewurztraminer is another war horse with 34 starts, $470,321 in earnings and a 10-9-0 record. They are a solid allowance, starter allowance, optional claimer-type horse. They were claimed by WinStar Farm, William Walden trainer; top connections. Not placed on the vet list. Obviously, Gewurztraminer is expected to keep running.
If anyone remembers the Seabiscuit movie, they will remember that a "Hundred Grander" was the top stakes race amount of the era. The famous Seabiscuit-War admiral match race was for only a $15,000 purse.
Now we have a $100,00 claiming race with a $125,000 purse. And don't forget the sales tax.
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