Opening Day
When I was a kid Saratoga was the “Saratoga place to be.” These days the track season seems to creep further and further into July. In case you haven’t noticed or don’t care the 2018 meet starts on Friday. This means a number of things for our great Capital Region. For starters a bunch of homeowners in Saratoga will soon turn their front and back yards into parking lots. I’m told most people make enough money parking strangers cars on their property to pay the taxes for the entire year. I’m also told, contrary to popular belief, they do claim most of the income on their taxes. It’s not honesty driving that fact but the due diligence of the IRS to track how much money is coming to these homeowners and making sure Uncle Sam gets his cut.
Opening Day also means the local hat stores will get a sudden surge in business. I know nothing about women’s hats but I do know when it comes to Saratoga you can never go too big when it comes to head gear. One year I was asked at the last minute if I wanted to be a judge in a hat contest and I told the organizers that would be like asking me to scrub in on open heart surgery at Albany Med. I mean I can stand there and look like I know what I’m doing but that would be the extent of it.
Opening Day also means a mad scramble to secure clubhouse seating for the next few weeks. Back when I was a younger man, and for many years after, all you needed to get a good table at the track was an extra Andrew Jackson. There was a man, his name escapes me now, who had a nice little side business going where he’d hold back tables and only give them to people who greased his palm. I thought it was capitalism at its finest but I heard the people in charge caught wind of it and shut his little cottage industry down. These days it’s all high tech and you have to sign up early if you want a good seat on a coveted day.
Last summer I waited until the meet began to inquire about a weekend table for four at The Turf Terrace and I was fresh out of luck. I thought because my TV station broadcast “live” from the track almost every day I’d have some pull but no dice. Instead the wife and I treated ourselves to a $12 glass of cheap champagne, a slice of pizza and walked around like everyone else. It was fun.
Opening Day means a return of the hucksters who sell their betting tip sheets outside the gates of the track to anyone naïve enough to part with their cash. It’s funny how ev- eryone selling those tip sheets tells you they had a dozen winners the day before even though there were only ten races. My son asked me once why I was so skeptical of these guys and I said, “If that man really knew, for sure, who was going to win the first race he’d be inside betting everything he had, not out here.”
Once in a while I’ll see what the guys or gals in the newspaper think about the day’s races but even the smart people are only right about 25 percent of the time.
I know the track isn’t for everyone and that’s OK too. From a socioeconomic perspective it really is a marvel that the race track brings together all walks of life in such tight quarters. Where else on the planet do you have millionaires and a guy with holes in his socks standing shoulder to shoulder, leaning on a railing, watching horses parade in a circle before a race? When HBOdid a TV series on racing called “Luck” I was so excited because I knew the creater David Milch would capture the gritty truth of what I’m talking about. Sadly the show got cancelled after one season. If you’ve never seen it look it up, Dustin Hoffman’s performance is fantastic.
Opening Day also means the night before these races start we’ll once again see the well heeled gather for a big fundraiser known as Siro’s Cup. It takes place right next to the track at Siro’s restaurant and brings in a “who’s who” of money and fame from our area. When people ask me what the party is like I joke with them and say, “It’s like Dancing in the Woods minus the clothes.” I’m referencing another hugely popular fundraiser that takes place in December called “Dancing in the Woods.” That one benefits the children’s hospital at Albany Med and “Siro’s Cup” benefits the Center for Disability Services. Two finer causes you will not find in my humble opinion.
Every year I broadcast live from the party at Siro’s and the highlight is always talking to Mary Lou Whitney. She really is a sweet person if you are privileged enough to meet and know her. Her husband John is also a friend ever since he destroyed me in a charity tennis match many moons ago.
So place your bets or don’t but know the summer season is truly in full swing starting tomorrow. First they dance under the stars and then the horses run. I hope as always all participants, be they two legged or four, make it back to the barn in one piece.