We asked: Why are the fields so small at Saratoga?

The notice from the New York Racing Association went out last weekend.

"ATTN HORSEMEN: The Travers & Forego nominations are light, anyone interested please call the office."

There is no telling how light the nominations were at that point, but they closed with nine for the $1.25 million Travers (G1) and 14 for the $600,000 Forego (G1), both to be run at Saratoga on Aug 28.

And it is too soon to tell how many will be entered. But consider that only four horses took on Knicks Go, unsuccessfully, in the $1 million Whitney (G1).

There is any number of reasons for the light interest in these big-ticket races. Horse Racing Nation talked to four people close to the situation this week to get their takes.

"If you look at the entries at Saratoga on Friday, for the first three or four races, they're starting to see the impact of a smaller horse population," said horse owner Kirk Wycoff of Three Diamonds Farm.

In the case of the Whitney, he said, "I think that sometimes you get a short field when there's a prohibitive favorite. And I think Knick's Go, based off his race in Iowa, looked to be very tough in the Whitney. I think that there were plenty of older route horses that could go in that race if he hadn't been in. The Travers, to me, with Essential Quality in there, is probably close to a prohibitive favorite. And a lot of those horses ran in the Haskell."

Martin Panza, senior vice president of racing for NYRA, agreed.

"Things go in cycles," he said. "Some years, you get 14 horses in the Travers, some years you have six or seven. But when you have the Essential Quality type, who has been pretty dominant, that's going to have some effect on field size. And for the older horse division, there's just not that many around right now. A lot of them got retired as 3-year-olds and went to stud, and there's just not that many around of quality."

Noting that "some races are popular," trainer Christophe Clement added that "some divisions are very light. … The Travers is a very, very tough race. There's no need to run if you're going to be fifth or sixth choice."

Wycoff also thinks "people were taking horses out of service" during the pandemic.

"I think if you go back to last year, all the 2-year-old sales were all late. So a lot of those 2-year-olds didn't make it to the races, maybe they still haven't made it to the races this year. So there's a lot more maiden races being written. And there's a lot less horses that have gone through their conditions to get into that stakes-level competition. We had less racing in 2020. Nobody takes a maiden and puts it in a Grade 1. So it takes time to develop those horses. And that could be part of the effect."

Other factors?

"I've been at Saratoga for most of the month," Wycoff said. "It appears to me there are less horses training every morning. So I think a lot of people stayed in Kentucky with the Ellis Park purses being supplemented from historical horse racing. And certainly Churchill's going to have a deep dirt season in the end of September with no turf. And it is very expensive to come to Saratoga. And there's a shortage of labor at Saratoga. It's hard to get riders and grooms and other people. So all those are potentials. I don't really have a good answer."

Another owner, Michael Dubb, who also is on the NYRA board of directors, had a different take on the matter.

"We live in unprecedented times" because of the pandemic, he said. "And it's obviously having an impact on different facets of the industry in many different ways. All of that said, the interest in horse racing and the handle numbers are up. You know, NYRA has certainly opened a lot more NYRA 1 accounts. And by all metrics, meaning betting handle, it's a pretty good meet."

Just because a race has a short field does not mean it is a bad field, Clement said.

"The quality of the racing in New York is spectacular," he said. "And it's tough to beat the first three or four. It's tough. So I think unfortunately, people are not taking a chance because of the level of racing."

In the case of the Travers, another factor is the timing.

"Three years old, at that level and that time of the year, there's not many left," Clement said. "So it's very aggressive. And a lot of them do not run anymore. There is injury, they need some time. And no matter where you are, if it's New York, Kentucky or California, 3 years old after June, July – there's not that many top horses left.

"It's also because it's a grueling program. And not many of them stay around. So sometimes you get some new ones coming around. But there's no point – if they come around and they're not good enough, then they won't be competitive."

But Panza noted that the Arkansas Derby (G1) had only six horses this year. "Some years, that's 12 or a 13. This year, it just happened to be a smaller field. So it happens. But the older-horse division is very tough right now. There's just not a lot of them in there. Where's the older horses that want to go, you know, a mile-and-an-eighth, a mile-and-a-quarter? There's not a lot of them out there."

Another factor is what division is in question.

"Right now, some of these categories are light," Panza said. "You look at the Breeders' Cup Sprint the last couple years, it's small fields. It didn't used to be that way, but it is now. It just sort of goes that way. Sometimes when you have a dominant horse in a division, it makes it a little bit more difficult to do things."

Panza also brought up a consideration that the others did not.

"We're getting farther and farther away from the owner-breeder in this industry. It's a lot of syndicates that own horses that they don't own the mares, they don't own the daughters. So they don't have the same sort of mentality that the owner-breeders used to have, and that hasn't helped the game."

Here is the difference, Panza said. "When you own the mare and you own the daughter, and you see a stake that's only got four or five in it, you're probably going to jump in because there's value to try and hit the board. It makes your mare worth more money, and her daughter's worth more money. But when you're a syndicate, you're just throwing her back in the Keeneland November sale. You don't really care about the mare or the daughters. There used to be a lot of owner-breeders in game. There aren't anymore."