Taking it all in stride at the Spa
Fans, restaurants adjusting to historic meet’s new rules
Steve Mastro can’t pinpoint how old he was when he started watching the horses race at Saratoga Race Course. He simply says, “I’ve been coming since I was this big,” holding his hand a little below his waist.
Now, instead of heading to the track, on Saturday he said he was headed to Saratoga Casino Hotel to watch the races on TV. The Belle Harbour, Queens, man decided to make the trip, even though he couldn’t into the backyard.
Mastro’s story is a familiar one during the first weekend in an upended 2020 racing season marred by the coronavirus pandemic. The city that bills itself as the place of Health, History and Horses must get used to a season without cheering fans in the stands, while those few owners who get inside need to follow restrictions including the size of the group. City streets are less bustling with visitors from all over the country and beyond. Concerts were postponed or canceled.
So when you can’t see the thoroughbreds like you used to, you gotta take things in, well, stride.
Bruce Cable of Albany thinks there are
“I appreciate the course we’re on, which is safety and health first. Whatever business we’re doing now is better than what we would face if we had to shut down again, so I’d rather be careful and measured.” Jasper Alexander, chef and co-owner of Hattie’s
some benefits at least from watching someplace other than the track. He said it’s much cheaper to watch it at the casino.
“When you go to the track
It’s $7 to get in, you’re paying for parking, then your program, you’re $24 down before you even walk into the track. Here it’s
$10 and you’re in,” Cable said. “You’re also in the air conditioning.”
But some business owners have a different take. Charlie Hoertkorn, co-owner of The Horseshoe Inn Bar and Grill, said racing season makes up 90 percent of his business.
Hoertkorn said his restaurant used to be the “after party” once the races ended. He has a large open patio at his restaurant right across from the track. It used to just be a stage and space for mingling. Now the dance floor is filled with picnic tables so the restaurant can have more outdoor seating.
“Normally at about 5:30 or 6 we have about 2,000 people,” Hoertkorn said. “Now that’s 100 people.”
Peak business hours are more like 1 p.m. He does see a steady amount of people come in during the day, and has noticed the demographic of people he serves has shifted a little.
“It’s now an older crowd that enjoys sitting at a picnic table watching races under a tent while having food and drinks,” Hoertkorn said.
Hattie’s, a restaurant about five minutes away from the track, is also feeling the pinch. Jasper Alexander, who is the chef and co-owns the business with his wife, Beth, said he’s seeing
numbers that are consistent with the spring.
Although business is tough, Alexander said a fanless track is better than another shutdown.
“I appreciate the course we’re on, which is safety and health first,” Alexander said. “Whatever business we’re doing now is better than what we would face if we had to shut down again, so I’d rather be careful and measured.”
Christine Bessette, who lives on Regent Street, has been renting out her house on Airbnb during racing season since 2013. Many people book with her a year in advance, but in March cancellations came rolling in.
“I’ve had people who’ve come to me for years cancel, but I also have people who still want to come,” Bessette said. “They want to come to Saratoga and figure out ‘where can we watch it?’”
That’s the type of customer The Adelphi Hotel is targeting — someone looking for a watch party.
There is a large outdoor event space behind the hotel equipped with a large white tent, plenty of tables and a stage. Typically it’s used for weddings, but since the wedding season has been put on hold, the hotel transformed the space so people can watch the races.
A large projector is mounted up on the stage, and there are two flat screen TVS on the far sides of the tent.
Patrick Toomey, director of restaurants, said a lot of people showed interest in a watch party since they first announced it. He estimates about 100 people came to watch on opening day.
“When we put out the email blast the phone wouldn’t stop ringing,” Toomey said. “People want to watch the race.”
The hotel started talking about creating a watch party little more than a month ago.
“Before then we were still holding out hope,” Toomey said. “Then we started to see states go in the other direction.”
Many people from Florida and Tennessee come up for racing season, he said, but now they are on the long list of states that must quarantine before coming to New York.
“You’re just not going to get people to come here and quarantine for two weeks before the races,” Toomey said. “It just doesn’t add up.”
Toomey said he feels fortunate that the Adelphi and its three restaurants have a great deal of outdoor seating. He said the business hasn’t been too heavily affected by the unconventional racing season.
Between seating in the front of the hotel and the patios out back, Toomey said he believes the restaurants at Adelphi Hotel are among the places with the most seating in the Capital Region.
“We’ve been booming. It’s an unusual combination of a pent up demand for tables and limited table space,” Toomey said. “We have less seats (than before the pandemic), but we’re filling them up more times a day.”