Expect competitive season-closing races at Del Mar, Saratoga

It’s time to say farewell to the Del Mar and Saratoga meets. Saratoga will close Monday and Del Mar on Wednesday.

If you’ve had an unprofitable season at either track, join the crowd. One tenet to remember each summer is horses specifically are pointed for these boutique meets. Thus, even if a horse’s past performances look bad, its connections are pulling out all stops to win.

A further handicapping angle for this closing weekend is using the jockey and trainer races to your advantage.

At Saratoga, Javier Castellano and John Velazquez are head-bobbing to the wire. Meanwhile, Todd Pletcher has a big lead in the trainer race.

At Del Mar, both titles are up for grabs. Jockeys Joe Talamo, Joel Rosario and Rafael Bejarano are clustered together while trainers Mike Mitchell and John Sadler are nearly in a dead heat.

All involved will be doing everything possible to win races these final days. Granted, these guys always are trying to win. But the intensity level will kick up a notch, and that will be fun to see. Pride motivates these men to win a title nearly as much as making the money.

■ RUDOLPH EXITS — TVG personality Ken Rudolph is leaving the network at the end of the Del Mar meet. Rudolph was a lightning rod for what was right, and what was wrong, with TVG. From its first day, TVG has tried balancing between keeping regular racing fans in tune while entertaining and educating the next generation of horseplayers.

Rudolph admittedly had zero knowledge of horse racing when he started at TVG. But he had an infectiously funny personality and an energy to learn the sport. The feedback I got from racing fans was they either loved him or hated him.

I thought Rudolph, who is black, was a brave hire because he was one of only a few minorities appearing on TVG or HRTV. The on-air talent at both networks is not representative of the horse racing audience. In one week, Rudolph will be returning home for a new job hosting “Good Day Sacramento” on KMAX-TV.

■ ‘INSIDE INFORMATION’ — The weekly HRTV magazine show “Inside Information” will feature 90-year-old paddock guard John Shear, who suffered serious injuries while protecting a young girl from a loose horse this winter at Santa Anita Park. The show will air at 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

■ SOUTH POINT SIX — The popular South Point Six handicapping contest on Thursdays returned this week. The entry fee is $20. There are two ways to win, either by picking a perfect six winners or by having the highest cumulative mutuel payoffs.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick.