I find it a little weird that there are still six races to go on today's Saratoga card, but the feature race, the Union Avenue Stakes, is already over, having been run as the third race.

Yes, the Union Avenue had a field of only five. And I know that if you slot a five horse race late on a New York card, it is liable to have an adverse impact on the late pick whatever wagers, as well as the West Coast simulcast money that comes into play later in the day.

However, Saratoga is supposed to be about the sport as much as the bottom line, and I'm not the first to muse out loud that at Saratoga, stakes races really belong in the traditional spot late in the card, specifically the next to last race of the day.

You want to run short field stakes races early in the card at Aqueduct and Belmont? That's not tremendous either, but it is a lot more understandable at those tracks. It should be avoided at Saratoga.