With the opening of Garden State Park comes a distinctively different style of racing than we observe at the Meadowlands. One of the major differences comes as a result of the fact that Garden State races much further down the class ladder versus the Meadowlands. John Campbell generally doesn't drive. Some other top drivers also spend time with the Grand Circuit. So, for a good part of the meet, we are left with fields of lesser horses. Furthermore, many of the second and third tier drivers who do not drive regularly at the Big M get back in the sulky for Garden State. So, with cheaper stock and a much wider diversity of talent in the driving pool. This often leads to some more erratic moves and paces. Driver changes can become more important. Whereas at the Meadowlands, you might see a change from Morrill to Moyseyev, at Garden State, you might see more changes from much lesser drivers to the top guys, which can make a big difference.

Another significant challenge is that there is not television show to see the races every night. In addition, there is no replay machine like there is at the Meadowlands, allowing you to see any race from the meet to give another look at a given race.

The bottom line on it is that while I do not change my methods, so to speak, you may have to shuffle the weighting of the factors a bit. The flow of cover is more irregular with the lower level horses. Further, on a mile track, when cheaper horses are overused and expire, the result is often much worse than it appears, making for what might appear to be more wild form swings. Finally, without visual confirmation being as available, it puts a big premium on your ability to read a chart, and your willingness to spend time with the charts.

As I do at the Meadowlands, as the meet begins and develops, I keep an eye out for certain horses who, from my experience, seems to gain a competitive advantage upon the move to Garden from the Meadowlands. Some of the young horses we may not know about, but there are several who have demonstrated to me that they like the surface, race well at this particular time of the year, and who seem to reach their sharpest part of their cycle at this track some time during the meet.

In alphabetical order, some of the key horses who I expect to be significantly more effective at Garden State are:

This is not an all-inclusive list … just the major horses who may have appeared dull at the Meadowlands, but who, when sharp, should have more than there share of winning opportunities. A few look to benefit immediately from the switch. Others will still have to show other signs of moving into shape before we look to play them.