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Don Morehouse gave the photo to the placing judges after fifth race Aug. 5, but the image he handed over didn’t give them any wiggle room. Skipadate and Ninth Client hit the wire nostril-to-nostril with nothing in between – a dead heat.

David Duggan nodded and smiled and did everything but kiss babies after winning the Mollie Wilmot Wednesday. The Irishman might as well have been Macho Again in the Travers, stopping, starting and turning with every step. Toss in Joe Biden at the Democratic convention (and a leprechaun for good measure) and you have Duggan. That’s what happens when you win six races – and you only brought eight horses – at Saratoga.

High Action attempts to pull off a difficult double in today’s Grade I, $150,000 New York Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase. Winner of the A.P. Smithwick earlier in the meet, he tries to match the 1999 Saratoga campaign of Campanile, the last horse to take the Smithwick and Turf Writers in the same year.

Edgar Prado leaned on the wooden rail outside Bobby Frankel’s barn Tuesday morning and asked the simple question.

 “Who are you rooting for in the jockey race?” Prado asked.

Gary Sherlock answered before the reporter finished the question.

“The Breeders’ Cup will be her next start,” the trainer said.

Carl Grether went to visit his dad, longtime horse owner C.T. Grether, last summer. It was a Thursday. The younger Grether brought his retriever to the house, they threw a ball for the dog and told stories. Right before he left, his father handed him $400 and told him to bet it on his son’s first-time starter at Hollywood Park on the weekend.

Garrett Gomez saw Robby Albarado stand up and wave his whip. He saw it but didn’t want to believe it. Then he saw Albarado talking to ESPN after the race. He started thinking what might have been. Then Gomez returned to the finish line and saw that the toteboard hadn’t posted anything. He thought, ‘well, maybe.’

Michael Matz stood in the paddock and stared intently at the toteboard priorto Saturday’s King’s Bishop. To his left, a giant mass of people slowly funneled onto the walking path like a herd of cattle called to fresh hay. The trainer digested the odds and then left, trailing a safe distance behind the swarm. He signed three autographs, shook many more hands and proceeded through the clubhouse into a box near the finish line. Matz eased into his seat seconds before the start of the 7-furlong contest for 3-year-olds.

In the paddock before the Bernard Baruch, Shadwell Stable vice president Rick Nichols patted Shakis on the neck and made a promise.

Trainer Dave Duggan figured he was running for second money when he entered Porte Bonheur in Saturday’s Grade III Victory Ride Stakes. At the eighth-pole, Duggan started to believe Porte Bonheur had a shot of collaring Indyanne, the 2-5 favorite. Inside the eighth-pole Duggan was hollering. At the sixteenth-pole, he knew Porte Bonheur had the measure of the undefeated Indyanne.