Bettors break track record as Saratoga nears finish line
Race course draws more than a million fans for fifth straight year
The 40-day summer race meet at Saratoga Race Course was a very successful one for the New York Racing Association. Sunday’s jumbo-sized announced crowd of 46,494 — many of them coming for the final giveaway, a hooded sweatshirt — put the total attendance for the meet at 1,039,230, the fifth straight year the Spa has drawn over a million fans.
And, despite losing a full 11race card on Saturday, July 20, to excessive heat and seven races on the July 24 card because of rain, a record all-source handle was set. After Sunday’s card — with one more day of racing left — the all-source handle for the meet hit $679,798,120. The old record was $676,709,490, set in 2017.
The doors close after Monday’s 11-race Labor Day card.
For the first time ever in the 151 years of Saratoga, at least in the modern times, NYRA did some tinkering with the schedule. The 40 days of racing — which has been the schedule for the last 10
years — were spread over 53 days, starting on July 11 and ending on Labor Day.
That brought eight weekends into the equation
and two dark days for the first time.
Dave O’rourke, NYRA’S President and CEO, says the schedule will be the same for next summer: 40 days of racing and a five-day race week, but the off days could be tweaked.
This summer, there was no racing on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Before the gates open back up next summer, that could change to Tuesdays and Wednesdays being dark and racing on Mondays.
O’rourke and Todd Shimkus, the President of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, both said a meeting will be held in Saratoga on Oct. 1 to address that issue. Shimkus said the meeting will involve local representatives from restaurants, retailers, hotels, museums, golf courses, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Polo Association
and Saratoga National Historical Park.
They will discuss what is best for the community and for NYRA.
“We will get feedback,” O’rourke said. “The big question is the dark day. Now that we have tried one version of the five-day format, maybe the second version, we should give it (Tuesday and Wednesday dark days) a shot and see how it impacts everyone. I will let the business community up here drive that decision.
“If there is a consensus of one version or the other, that would be great,”
O’rourke said. “If there is not, we will see what the majority voice is. “
Those who put on the show, of course, were ecstatic with the five-day race week. And they don’t want to see it change.
“Five days a week? I love it,” said Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. “Six days a week is a killer here. Too many races and too much to do, all day long. This gives a break to everyone. I don’t care what days we don’t run. Whatever is better for racing and better for town ... as long as we get two days off.”
“I am in favor of whatever is good for business,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “They might look at it and decide that Tuesday and Wednesday are better . It doesn’t matter to me which days they are. I am going to work seven days a week, regardless.”
The track also had a new look with the debut of the 1863 Club, a three-story hospitality and event facility located on the clubhouse turn.
No major projects are planned for 2020, although O’rourke does have some ideas. Two projects that could be undertaken are the paddock bar and the climate controlled paddock tent. The bar could get a minor face lift and the paddock tent could disappear.
“I would like to get more space for the general public around the horses,”
O’rourke said. “We are kind of moving away from tents.”
O’rourke will point his car south, back to Belmont, this week, as will most of the trainers and jockeys. O’rourke will leave satisfied that his first summer as the boss of NYRA was a good one in upstate New York.
“We’re happy with it,” O’rourke said. “For me, personally, it was eye opening. We spend so much time downstate and then you come up here
... it’s kind of an amazing experience. I love racing. I love Saratoga. This is an entertainment product. Forty days is like a big party and we are the host.”
And now the party is coming to a close. Horses with big wins here over the last eight weeks could be heard from again in the coming months. The culmination of the horse racing year is in early November when the Breeders’ Cup is held in California at Santa Anita.
On Sunday, the summer place to be was emptying out.
“Sad? No, I’m not sad,” said Terry Finley, president and CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds. “When (the end) is here, it’s here. The summer is over. You are a little bummed, but you get over it.”