The Spa Spot: Brown and McGaughey each win pair
Although the forecasts of lousy weather - which never materialized - probably had a negative impact on the size of the on-track crowd Thursday, it still was a newsy day:
- Trainers Chad Brown and Shug McGaughey each saddled a pair of winners. McGaughey won the second with Sea Island ($33.60) and the seventh with Abaco ($7.10). Brown swept the late double with Scenario Analysis ($7.50) and Lighthouse Sound ($6.70) to move into a tie with Steve Asmussen at the top of the trainer's standings with four winners.
- Jockey Jose Lezcano won twice, pushing his total for the meet to eight, five behind the leader, Ramon Dominguez. Rajiv Maragh also had two winners Thursday.
- Saratoga was spared the bad weather, but the on-track crowd of 10,268 was down 18 percent from the same day last year. The on-track handle was off six percent to $1,943,132, but the total handle was up six percent to $9,934,582.
- Hopeful winner Currency Swap trained by Saratoga native Terri Pompay is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Grade 2 Amsterdam on Sunday.