SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Last month in the Lake George Stakes, horse players were presented with a rare sure thing, even if was not going to be profitable: a horse trained by Chad Brown was going to win. In fact, it was better than that, Brown’s horses were a lock to run first, second and third.

The reason? His were the only three horses in the field, a startling occurrence considering the Lake George was a stakes race with a guaranteed purse of $150,000 for high-end three-year old fillies.

“It’s never happened before, and it’ll probably never happen again, so it was definitely unusual,” Brown said in the winner’s circle after Regal Glory beat her stable mates.

Some advice for Chad: Do not be so sure.

There is a horse shortage in thoroughbred racing, one that has contributed to the reduction of races and race days at Saratoga Race Course. The same shortage has cost Del Mar Turf Club in Southern California tens of millions of dollars in lost handle this summer.