Saratoga the place to be
THERE’S racing and then there’s racing at Saratoga, America’s oldest horse race track. Where else does a town of some 60 000 accommodate and welcome some 200 000 visitors for a 6 week late July-August racing season, with racing on 6 days of each week?
Yes, every year Saratoga Springs, 220 miles north of New York City, becomes the mecca of thoroughbred racing in America. The season includes a number of important two and three year old races, and virtually every great American thoroughbred from Man O’ War to Secretariat has raced and won there. The big one is the Travers Stakes - “the mid-summer derby’’- for three year olds on the last Saturday in August. This year's rendition is already sold out, with 50 000 tickets bought in the hope that American Pharaoh, the 2015 Triple Crown winner, will run in it. Saratoga has three tracks - two turf and one sand - and the way the sand is watered and lightly graded after each race is an eye-opener compared with the farcical proceedings at the Vaal.
But facts and figures cannot begin to capture the friendly atmosphere and character of racing at Saratoga. Both the local community, who flock to the picnic table areas with their chairs and cooler boxes, to the owners, prominent public figures and celebrities who frequent the boxes decked out in their finery, within the four furlong historic wooden grandstand, are there because they love the atmosphere and they love horses.
Exuberance
The exuberance displayed by the winning connections is infectious and family and friends are allowed into the winner's enclosure to enjoy the thrill of winning.
The meeting on 15 August, 2015, was dedicated to the memory of the late and legendary trainer Allen Jerkens, who once said: "My horses eat better, train harder and run faster at Saratoga than anywhere else". Jerken's family were the guests of honour with the cover of the race card and a feature article paying tribute to the trainer known simply as "The Chief". His most memorable training feat took place on 4 August 1973, when he saddled Onion to defeat the mighty Secretariat in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.
Great horses, trainers and jockeys are remembered with photos, sculptures and a walk of fame. I have little doubt that Venezuelan jockey, Javier Castellano, who has won four Travers and has ridden 27 winners thus far this season at Saratoga, will soon be honoured. In fact, the welcome to Saratoga Springs feature eloquently speaks to the town's early growth around the mineral water springs, and its subsequent development as a racing capital.
In addition, there are at least a dozen horse sculptures in the town itself including one made of driftwood. Where else do thousands of people attend the early morning gallops at the track, have breakfast and have their price of parking refunded on the way out? Where else can one go on a guided tour of the backstretch stabling area?
Thus, every race day at Saratoga starts with gallops and breakfast until 10 am, with families having already staked out their picnic tables by then. The first of an average of ten races is usually off at 1 pm, with festivities at the track winding down at 8 pm, but continuing in town thereafter.
Army
A veritable army of people are employed to oversee, assist visitors, and ensure that everything runs smoothly every day, with every day offering something different in the way of entertainment, fashion and give-aways. So, racing at Saratoga, unlike our July or Met days, is not a one off, but a compact almost 24/7 racing experience, and is clearly a mainstay of the local economy.
It stands in sharp contrast to the largely deserted race meetings in Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, the Vaal, and to a lesser extent Scottsville on Sundays, and that alone suggests that serious consideration should be given to the idea of a compact daily racing season, a la Saratoga, in those centres.