The real clincher for me is that Del Mar is available for free live streaming thanks to calracing.com! You just have to give them a random e-mail address and you’re good to go forever- for free. Whenever Del Mar has a meet, it’s front and center at calracing.

What really does it for me, however, is the fact that the host of their simulcast show is a a dude in a hawaiian vacation shirt and his name is friggin John Lies. Could you imagine being a professional horse show host and your name is John Lies. Killer. Such a badass name.

Weather is a big factor for me as well and I find one of the main reasons that I struggle sometimes on North East racing is when the slop comes into play. I’ve really never seen Del Mar looking in bad shape and I think having the ocean so nearby might be more relaxing to the horses.

Speaking of scenery, there’s a reason why they call Del Mar “Where the Turf Meets the Surf”! You basically have the surf-ready shores of San Diego beach right outside the paddock and then you’ve got, what looks to be, a twenty-lane highway on the other side. Can’t get more California than that.

Some of the best graded action takes place during Del Mar meets and the stand outs are the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes (Crosby was integral in the creation of Del Mar Thoroughbred Club) and the Clement L. Hirsch Handicap. The other Grade 1 races include sthe Del Mar Debutante Stakes, the Del Mar Futurity (which runs in the autumn meet) and the Del Mar Oaks. The Eddie Read Handicap, John C. Mabee Handicap, Pacific Classic Stakes and the Pat O’Brien Handicap round out all the other Grade 1 action.

The Best Pal Stakes is another big one and the Del Mar Derby and the Del Mar Handicap bring in plenty of excitement on an annual basis.

If you love the vibe of West Coast racing as much as I do, Del Mar is literally an unmissable racetrack.

They stream all their races live for free on the internet which is geat for those of us betting with European sportsbooks that may or may not offer live streaming. I’m a Paddy Power player myself and they always offer racing from Monmouth Park although they don’t stream live. No bother for me on that though.

Monmouth is typically the first track to get underway in the United States with races kicking off at 12:50 Eastern Time (before 10 am out on the west coast).

Weekends at Monmouth Park racetrack generally feature races in the $25,000-$50,000 range for allowance races and $30,000-$40,000 claimers. The weekdays usually feature lower-grade competition that runs the $10,000 corridor for claiming.

The biggest Stakes race of the year at Monmouth Park is the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational. Rachel Alexandra put in quite a performance this year and the Haskell runs in early August. You’ll also see lots of attention paid to the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes in addition to the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher. There’s a pile of Grade 3 races at Monmouth Park with the Boiling Springs Handicap, the Oceanport Stakes, the Matchmaker Stakes and the Salvator Mile Handicap to name just a few.

Brad Thomas is one of my favourite features at Monmouth Park and some of his selections have put more than a few bucks in my pocket. You can recognize Brad from his old-man-in-Florida-retirement-sunglasses. He’s a real solid handicapper and I find that sometimes the people working the simulcast shows can really fuck you over with bogus selections (Tampa Bay Downs, I’m looking in your direction) but I find Brad can really unearth a gem and if he tips anything at over 6/1 I’m usually all over it.

Monmouth Park Racetrack’s website has some great features and there’s also plenty of different activities happening at this track. Their annual crab cake cookoff looks like a tasty event (I’m known to enjoy a crabcake) and they also do a really cool event where people run a mile on the track to raise money for retired horses. I think that’s a great concept and I’d like to see that type of thing happening at racecourses everywhere.

One of the defining features of Monmouth Park is its reputation for favouring speed and more particularly early speed. If your horse is a closer then he’d better be an incredible one because if he isn’t in the leading four coming into the back stretch he’s likely in some real trouble. This is one of the reasons’ why Mine That Bird-owner Chip Woolley declined to run him in the 2009 Haskel Invitational- his horse closes late and the pace at Monmouth would be working against them the whole time.

Monmouth Park may not carry the mystique of Saratoga or the glamour of Santa Anita, but it’s a great track that is always bettor-friendly. It can be a bit more unpredictable but it’s a great course that has long meets, live streaming and an above-average simulcast.

CURRENT FIXED-ODDS FOR 2009 TRAVERS STAKES

4. Quality Road

5/4

6. Summer Bird

7/2

7. Kensei

7/2

2. Charitable Man

8/1

3. Warrior’S Reward

14/1

1. Hold Me Back

25/1

5. Our Edge

25/1

As we get closer and closer to the 2009 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, it’s becoming more and more clear that this race is absolutely wide open. Summer Bird is attracting lots of attention and his trainer Tim Ice spoke to the media earlier today declaring that “He looks like the same horse that I had before the Belmont; he’s been training very strong.” Despite losing to Superfilly Rachel Alexandra in the August 2nd Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, Ice declared that “he has no quit in him.”

Summer Bird is current listed as the 3-1 second choice behind former Kentucky Derby favourite Quality Road. From this perspective, you would have to say that the early favourite is Quality Road, but Summer Bird’s ability to go hard over a distance could prove to be his saving grace in the Travers.

Mine That Bird has been officially pulled out due to some swelling following his surgery for an entrapped epiglottis. Chip Woolley decided to error on the side of caution and not risk the horses future by running in the 10 furlong dash at Saratoga.

As it currently stands, Quality Road is the current 8/5 favourite in a field of seven vying for their share of the $1,000,000 purse. My main issue with Quality Road is that he has only run once in nearly five months- his last outing being a win in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes which was a 6.5 furlong contest. For his previous race, you’d need to go back to March 28 when he won the Florida Derby.

Kensei, a stablemate of Rachel Alexandra will attempt to bring some more excitement to Stonestreet Stables and she’s currently 7/2 and will be coming out of the sixth spot.

Calvin Borel will be piloting Warrior’s Reward and he’s an interesting bet at 8/1- the same price as Charitable Man. The odds are propped up by Hold Me Back and Our Edge, who both trade at 15/1.