Just trying to recalibrate and regroup after four hectic days at Saratoga.
The Belmont Festival proved to be a success for all involved. NYRA, Saratoga, Belmont and The Special. Dornoch, Thorpedo Anna and all the other winners, too.
It was definitely a whirlwind for The Special. Joe, Tom and I walked out of the office sometime after 2:00 Sunday morning, the fourth late deadline in a row. Yeah, we used to do 12 papers in a row during sales week. Now, four seems like a lot. The difference these days is we know we can do it. Back then, every night seemed like a far-flung, long-shot, deadline met/missed war. Every night, thinking, ‘This is the night we can’t do it. No paper tomorrow.’ But, alas, we’ve always made it.
We always talk about ways to improve the timeliness and improve our quality of life during Saratoga publishing but ultimately it’s the beast of daily publishing. When the last race goes off 8:06 Saturday night, yeah, you’re guaranteed a late night. No complaining. We signed up for it and still get a thrill when see the paper coming up the hill.
And look at that, a month from now, we’ll be facing our first deadline of The Saratoga Special. Year 24.
