Why Saratoga is Special

I should actually title this, "One of the Thousand Reasons Why Saratoga is Special". I am running through the entries for Friday, and as a fan of the jockeys, this lineup jumped out at me.

The race conditions are:

MAIDEN CLAIMING $35,000

Purse $25,000. (up To $4,750 Nysbfoa) For Maidens, Three Years Old And Upward. Three Year Olds, 118 Lbs.; Older, 124 Lbs. Claiming Price $35,000. One And One Sixteenth Miles. (Inner turf)

So, a Maiden Claiming event for 3 and up. $25,000 purse. And here are some of the jockeys:

John Velazquez
Julien Leparoux
Kent Desormeaux
Cornelio Velasquez
Javier Castellano
Calvin Borel
Edgar Prado
Alan Garcia
Ramon Dominguez

This is an All-Star team riding a Double-A event. It happens elsewhere from time to time, but it is more common in Saratoga. I even excluded the "Successful in New York Jocks" Maragh, Arroyo and Lezcano, who win more than their fair share too.

I love the Saratoga meet and I am looking forward to the next six weeks.