Spa oval opens season without fanfare
Many lament a historic first for Saratoga Race Course as spectators barred amid virus
For Bob Giordano, there is nothing like a morning at Saratoga Race Course.
He likes to plant himself at the ¾ mile pole with a cup of coffee and then watch the horses enter and exit the gap in the fence for their workouts.
“I’m out there every morning,” said Giordano, a former track greeter who produces Thorofan, a digital guide to
Saratoga Race Course. “That’s the engine behind racing. The personalities, the banter, the information that comes out, how they deal with different issues with an animal, problems at the barn . ... You see the trainers, the jocks, the exercise riders, all go through. All the workers, owners, outriders, all the people associated with the game are back there.”
But this year Giordano, and the estimated 1 million other fans, won’t experience what for many is the highlight of summer — the 40-day meet at Saratoga. No one, except those essential to the meet, will be allowed to push through the turnstiles, a precaution as COVID-19 continues to ravage the country. Thus on Thursday, when the bugle signals the first race of the season, the seats overlooking the track will be empty of fans.
As the closure of businesses, loss of employment and deaths associated with the pandemic are on everyone’s mind, it makes the loss of such an enjoyable activity for many that much more difficult.
It is tough on a lot of people — including the horse owners, who will only be allowed in on a limited basis. Sol Kumin, who owned stakes in such horses as Lady Eli, Catholic Boy and Triple Crown Winner Justify, looks forward every year to his summer home in Saratoga Springs, which he calls his “favorite place and
what hooked me on horse racing.”
He hopes the New York Racing Association can lift the restrictions on owners so he and his three children can watch his thoroughbreds on morning runs around Oklahoma track. There, he said, he has a chance to chat with jockeys and trainers. He also will miss dining with his partners.
“If that’s taken away, I will still love it, but it’s different,” Kumin said. “You don’t have the interaction you wait for all year.”
He said Saratoga is like no other track in the nation as it is the social center for the sport. For many, the socializing, including the many fundraisers surrounding the meet, is the reason for the season. Maureen Lewi, who owns a box that’s always full with friends, called 2020 at the track a bad year.
“I’m going to miss the people the most,” said Lewi who has gone to opening day since she was a teenager. “On opening day, I see people I haven’t seen all year. A lot of people who own homes here are still coming. But people who rent, aren’t. … Thank goodness we can see the horses on TV, but it’s not the same. It’s like watching fireworks on TV. It’s not the same thrill.”
For years, opening day was launched with philanthropist and horse breeder Marylou Whitney who hosted a luncheon, an annual reunion of sorts for the equine set. But last year, when the meet was extended into mid-july, there was no Whitney welcome. And just days after the meet’s 2019 opening, she died at age 93.
Her husband, John Hendrickson, said this year and like last, his wife’s absence creates a void. He will also miss the people from the racing world who he considers family.
“Opening day was like Christmas Day,” Hendrickson said. “The Whitney and the Travers are also very special. (NYRA) diluted the season by making it more than one month, but every day is special. It won’t be the same without the people.”
It’s not just those who own boxes or horses who’ll miss the action. For many locals, the track is a summer ritual. Janice Keller of Warrensburg has been attending the meet for years. It is also the annual backdrop for her August birthday celebration with her son, Chris.
“We have been doing this for 20 plus years,” Keller said. “I remember walking him around the track in his stroller and he is now 41 years old. I spent a lot of time at the track with my family, especially my mother who loved going to the races. I have a lifetime of Saratoga racing memories. This is a year that will never be forgotten for what didn’t happen.”
Art Taylor, who lives in Albany, said he’s been going to the Saratoga meet since he was a child. At 22, he said he reserved a table, the only round one on the porch of the Club House, that he has kept for 42 years.
“We have sat there forever,” Taylor said. “It’s devastating to be not allowed to go. We have to pretend it doesn’t exist. They are running the horses, we are in Albany. ... We have to take this year out of the equation. The only way to do it is blank this year out of our minds.”
David Cerilli, who lives in Greenwich and has been going to the track since 1984, said Saratoga Race Course is the best thing the region has to offer and one of the reasons he moved here. He said he will miss betting and dining at the Turf Terrace with friends.
“We like to gamble together, share stories,” Cerilli said. “I can gamble online but doing something by myself it’s not fun. I just opened up an online account because I still want to gamble, but I never did before because it was about the experience with other people.”
It’s not easy for NYRA either. Pat Mckenna, spokesman for NYRA, said there are a lot of emotions swirling around the running of the horses without the fans who create Saratoga’s festive energy and atmosphere.
“When I think of opening day, I think of a tremendous celebration of all that Saratoga means to so many people throughout the Capital Region and upstate New York,” Mckenna said.
“Opening day raises the curtain on one of the greatest sporting events that this country has ever seen; 40 days of racing in America with the finest horses, the most skilled jockeys, owners and trainers. This will be unusual to say the least.”
Mckenna said NYRA already experienced an abnormal sensation during the Belmont Stakes, which this year, became the first leg of the Triple Crown. It’s usually the third. It too was run without spectators.
“It’s reflective of a world turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic,” Mckenna said. “This is something we hope to never repeat and encouraging folks to social distance, wear their masks and hopefully we will be right back here in 2021 celebrating the greatest opening day in the history of Saratoga.”
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Opening day was like Christmas Day. The Whitney and the Travers are also very special. (NYRA) diluted the season by making it more than one month, but every day is special. It won’t be the same without the people.”
— John Hendrickson, philanthropist and husband of the late Marylou Whitney