The 2018 Saratoga meet is history. Still, memories linger of a meet that, while strong from a business standpoint, left a bit to be desired artistically. At least in my view. For one, the weather was lousy. The two separate weeks I had upstate were hot and oppressively humid, which some actually considered a welcome change from the persistent rain that seemed to otherwise rule. And the 2018 Saratoga meet was light on stellar equine performances. For me, Diversify’s Whitney and the Personal Ensign slugfest between Abel Tasman and Elate were the undisputed highlights of the meet. Dream Tree’s domination of the Prioress off a long layoff, and impressive debuts from the 2-year-old colt Complexity and the 2-year-old filly Feedback (both trained by Chad Brown, who ran off with the trainer’s title), were also up there. :: Click here for 2019 Saratoga coverage However, I’m a little less certain that Catholic Boy’s Travers belongs up there. The Travers is always the centerpiece of any Saratoga meet, and Catholic Boy was days the best winning it. And it’s good to have a horse around like Catholic Boy who is equally effective on turf and dirt because we really don’t have enough horses like that. But I have serious doubts about the group Catholic Boy beat in the Travers, and I also have reservations that his performance was as strong as his 104 Beyer Figure might suggest. It should be stated right here that the New York Racing Association had no control over the two points raised above. The NYRA had a blessed run for about four years of great Saratoga weather. But these things even-out over time, and horse racing is a game played outdoors. And until a track is built with a retractable roof like you see at six major league baseball stadiums – hey, why can’t we have something like that? – every track is at the mercy of Mother Nature. As for the quality of racing, while the NYRA does assume responsibility for the quality of the horse population it draws from, merely through the process of allotting stalls, the overriding factor here is the declining foal crops. Simply put, smaller foal crops result in a shallower pool of quality horses. And in NYRA’s defense, can you think of any truly good active horse east of Del Mar who absolutely should have performed at the Saratoga meet and didn't? I can’t. But one area where the NYRA (and every other track in the country) does have some leverage is in the administration of racing, and that leads to another matter that stuck out during the 2018 Saratoga meet – some maddening inconsistency out of the stewards stand. Here are a few examples: July 26, Race 10 – Only five races after Brimstone somehow stayed up despite drifting out anywhere from five to seven paths through the stretch, herding Top of the Page, who was challenging for the lead at the time and who eventually narrowly lost second money, this happened: Super Simple finished first over Guacamole after coming out in deep stretch and barely brushing Guacamole, and only because the badly tiring pacesetter was drifting out, leaving Super Simple no other option than to take the course she did, or else possibly run up on the back of the collapsing pacesetter and fall. That the NYRA stewards didn’t take Brimstone down was astonishing. That they took down Super Simple for doing virtually nothing was downright shocking. That these two incongruous decisions happened on the same card within five races of each other was shocking to the extreme. The stewards’ explanation for their call in that day’s fifth race, for whatever it is worth, is posted on the NYRA website, right where it should be. Interestingly, there is no explanation posted for their decision in the 10th race. August 6, Race 7 – The stewards made the obvious call to disqualify runner-up Osare, who came in in midstretch and not only bumped Palinode, but forced that one into Double Cast, who had to be taken up on the rail as a result of the interference. But where were the stewards in race 1 that day? In that race, Playwright clearly veered out in the stretch and bumped Major Attitude. Playwright wound up winning a photo for place over that same Major Attitude. But there was no posted inquiry, or foul claim, either, and the official sign went up without a delay. :: 2019 Clocker Reports: Get in-depth workout analysis for the summer meet at Saratoga Notably, in the stewards’ explanation of the Osare disqualification posted on the NYRA website, they referenced the “chain reaction” bumping initiated by Osare. Remember that for future reference. August 26, Race 6 – One day after Abel Tasman stayed up in the Personal Ensign after coming out and bumping Elate in deep stretch in what at the very least was a disputed no-call, Dr. Edgar was disqualified from first for barely coming out in the stretch run and doing far less than what Abel Tasman got away with 24 hours earlier. In their explanations on the NYRA website, the stewards wrote in regard to Dr. Edgar that it was the “opinion of the stewards that the incident did alter the order of finish.” As for the Personal Ensign and Abel Tasman, they wrote it is the “determination of the stewards that the incident did not alter the order of finish.” Well, Dr. Edgar did finish first by a head and Abel Tasman did finish first by a neck. But given what happened in the stretch run of these two races, it’s a mystery how anyone could make the sharp distinction that the first incident didn’t alter the order of finish, but the lesser, second one did. September 1, Race 8 – The action by the stewards here might have been the most difficult one of the entire Saratoga meet to believe, which is saying something. In deep stretch, Final Frontier came out and bumped Hizeem, and knocked Hizeem into Strike Me Down. Final Frontier got to the wire first by a nose over Strike Me Down, with Hizeem just another nose back in third. This appeared to be a cut-and-dried call, an actual easy one to make. Sure, Strike Me Down did lug in badly through the stretch, which added a tiny layer of complexity to the matter. But it was obvious that Strike Me Down never touched anyone until Hizeem was bumped out into him. It was also obvious that Final Frontier clearly started the whole thing by coming out late and knocking Hizeem into Strike Me Down. But amazingly, both Final Frontier and the innocent Strike Me Down were disqualified, and Hizeem was moved up from third to first. In their explanation posted on the NYRA website, the stewards, who correctly applied the “chain reaction” concept to the Osare disqualification on Aug. 6, this time made no application or mention of “chain reaction,” even though this was a textbook example of it. It is not hyperbole to suggest the inconsistency from the stewards at this Saratoga meet was among the worst ever seen. It’s not even a stretch to make that claim. It’s a valid position. I mean, forget about the demonstrable evidence that what was a foul one day was not another day. No one really knew from race to race what an actionable foul was. It felt like the goal-posts were always moving. As noted, business was good at Saratoga. This meet, despite the poor weather, generated the second-highest all-sources handle in history. As long as the bottom line is good, there is probably little incentive to do anything. But the bottom line isn’t always going to be great at every meet, and at some point, the NYRA will need a customer base that, judging from some of the reaction I saw on social media, feels anywhere from alienated to infuriated at what they saw at Saratoga from the stewards. You could add discouraged, too, because of all the bad stuff horseplayers must deal with, there is little that is more discouraging than feeling like you’re not getting a fair shake from upstairs.