It happens every August in this lovely little city of about 26,000 inhabitants nestled 30 miles above the Albany rust belt in the foothills of the Adirondacks.
The masses eat corn on the cob and chicken in the basket. The artistocrats drink champagne. The cool nights are ideal for sleeping, but except for the thoroughbred racehorses, who does a whole lot of sleeping?
On both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum, people party by night and play the horses by day. Late to bed and early to rise-last call at Siro’s is at 4 a.m.-the thoroughbreds begin their workouts in dawn’s early light, and the traditional daily breakfast on the track apron begins at 7.
Few have regrets about burning the candle on both ends for these five weeks at Saratoga, other than those who routinely accompany the posting of the official order of finish on the tote board.
And lest anyone become bored with the routine, Saratoga also offers one of the world’s most elite thoroughbred yearling sales, evening polo matches, a chamber music festival, performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra and conferences that address the state of the union in American racing.
America’s social elite-the Whitneys, the Phippses and the Mellons-meet here every August. But the $2 bettor feels just as much at home as those who can trace their bank accounts way back to the day and age of the robber barons of industry. At times, parimutuel betting is an exercise in trickle-down economics.
The ambience is one of intimacy; Brooks Brothers rubbing elbows with J.C. Penney. Thoroughbreds are led through the crowd to be saddled under a canopy of trees. Jockeys mingle with fans while making their way to the paddock.
The late Red Smith once advised his readers: “From New York City, drive north 175 miles, get off at exit 14, head west on Union Avenue and go back a hundred years.”
That’s Saratoga.
Saratoga Race Course is America’s oldest racetrack-with a history dating back to 1864-and a whole lot more.
“In a universe where it is popular to say that the only constant is change, Saratoga offers staying power of a higher order,” writes David L. Heckerman in the trade publication, Thoroughbred Times.
“The whole experience is enough to confirm that-despite whatever problems racing may be facing at other locations-the game still sells exceedingly well when high-quality horses are presented in a sterling setting on a limited basis.”
Like Belmont and Aqueduct in New York City, Saratoga is run by the New York Racing Association, a private, non-profit, non-dividend-paying corporation governed by a board of trustees, whose members by law receive no compensation.
For many years, the three NYRA tracks boasted the best racing in America, perhaps in the world. In the 1980s, Aqueduct and Belmont began to feel the adverse effects of competing with the off-track betting corporations run by the state and city. Since the early 1970s, OTB has been taking the NYRA product and giving back a pittance.
Meanwhile, the three Southern California tracks-Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar-moved to the forefront of American racing.
But Saratoga remains the epitome of classic racing in America-even though the purses being offered at the current Del Mar meeting are substantially higher.
The Saratoga meeting began July 28 and runs through Aug. 30.
During this five-week span, 29 stakes races are presented, nine of which are Grade I.
By way of comparison, during the May 9-Oct. 8 Arlington International Racecourse meeting, there are 42 stakes races on the schedule and three are Grade I.
There’s an aura about winning at Saratoga.
“To win a Grade I race at Saratgoa ranks right up there with my greatest moments in sports,” says New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner about Spinning Round, a filly he bred and owns that won the Ballerina Stakes before a record crowd of 53,574 on Aug. 8.
“I’d rather win a race at Saratoga than two anywhere else on earth,” says trainer Mack Miller.
This spring, the 71-year-old Miller sent out Sea Hero to give himself and Paul Mellon, the blueblooded colt’s 86-year-old blueblooded owner-breeder, their first Kentucky Derby winner.
Since then, Sea Hero has accomplished next to nothing. His pre-Derby form on the grass suggests that perhaps he would fare much better if he passed on Saturday’s 124th running of the Travers at Saratoga and instead came to Arlington for America’s finest turf race for 3-year-olds, the Secretariat Stakes, on Aug. 29.
But when a man named Mellon is the owner and breeder of the Kentucky Derby winner, he only has eyes for what racing fans refer to as “the midsummer Derby” at Saratoga.
Mellon has won the Travers four times-with Quadrangle in 1964, Arts And Letters in 1969, Key To The Mint in 1972 and Java Gold (a horse trained by Miller) in 1987.
Miller’s name is enshrined in the Hall of Fame of the National Museum of Racing, across the street from the track. Mellon is one of the trustees of the museum.
Many of the throroughbreds whose accomplishments earned them a niche in the Hall of Fame ran at Saratoga.
As a 2-year-old, the great Secretariat won the third, fourth and fifth races of his career on the racetrack in 1972.
Charles Hatton, the late Daily Racing Form columnist who combined a magnificent command of the language with a vast knowledge of the intricacies of a horse’s confirmation, was seated on a bench near the paddock at Saratoga when he saw Secretariat for the first time.
In his biography of Secretariat, Bill Nack describes the sensation of love at first sight for a man who had been coming to the races for more than 50 years: “You carry an ideal around in your head,” Hatton told Nack, “and boy, I thought, `This is it!’ I never saw perfection before. I absolutely could not fault him in any way. I’ve made a kind of thing of looking at horses since before the First World War, when I was a kid, but I never saw a horse like that.”
In the spring of 1973, Secretariat became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. But that August, in the Whitney at Saratoga, he lost to an unsung horse named Onion in one of the biggest upsets in racing history.
Losing at Saratoga is no disgrace. The immortal Man O’ War suffered the only defeat of his 21-race career when he finished second, a half-length behind Upset, in the 1919 Sanford Stakes.
The greatest rivalry in American racing history was that of Affirmed and Alydar in 1977 and 1978. In 1977, Affirmed won the Sanford, then came back 10 days later to defeat Alydar by a half-length in the Hopeful. It was their third meeting and Affirmed’s second conquest in the rivalry.
The next summer, after Affirmed had won the Triple Crown and Alydar had finished second in all three races, they met again at Saratoga. Racing before a crowd of 50,122, Affirmed finished first in the Travers, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of second-place Alydar. But Affirmed’s jockey, Laffit Pincay, was found guilty of fouling Alydar with 5/8-mile remaining in the race, and the stewards reversed the order of finish.
Alydar was declared the winner by disqualification in his eighth meeting with Affirmed. Although Affirmed won five of those races, this proved to be their final rendezvous, so in the figurative sense Alydar had the last laugh. Fittingly, Affirmed was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980, Alydar in 1989.
The 3-year-olds scheduled to run in Saturday’s Travers are a far cry from those thoroughbred boys of summer of the ’70s. But the 11 entrants undeniably are the best in a weak crop-the aforementioned Kentucky Derby hero Sea Hero; Colonial Affair and Kissin Kris, who were 1-2 in the Belmont; Cherokee Run, the runner-up in the Preakness; Whitney winner Miner’s Mark; and a couple of others of moderate accomplishment.
Saratoga can make even this mediocre lot look good.
