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Perfect behavior by stakes-winning horses; not so for bad-driving humans.
Horseplayers expected the Whitney to be highway robbery with Quality Road the 1-2 favorite, but Blame won in a street fight.
Everything that makes Saratoga incomparable was available -- from inspirational horse racing to irrational pleasures such as faux diamond rings.
Front-runners scampered home first in all but one of six races run on the sloppy track.
An international cast of characters converges in the small New York town as the yearlings disappear from the auction grounds.
Charlie Zast was there to see Fasig-Tipton opens its new sales pavilion.
Impersonations by a guy playing Elvis and one dressed like Hulk Hogan belied the authenticity of the Saratoga experience.
Lucky college students win scholarships at the racecourse and the ghost of Bernie Madoff lurks in the background of the season's priciest fund-raiser.
A faulty free tee-shirt promotion caused a bit of a blemish on Bill Mott's birthday. He won a race, of course.
Low attendance continued to plague the racetrack as the day's most interesting things happened away from it - a town hall meeting, a toast to an unsung hero and a basketball game.
The end of the extra four days of Saratoga horse racing was marked by the morning workouts and rumors about a ringer on the jockeys' basketball team.
Embarrassed to enter the hat contest, an elegantly dressed owner from Louisville got to hold her head up high when Maybesomaybenot won the Sanford.
Two French jockeys make the most of a dreadful weather day and a horse with a fondness for the course treats the smaller than desired crowd to an exhibition.
Two popular New York City restaurants are getting their own building on the racecourse grounds, providing competition for Siro's and evidence that NYRA's daunting problems are only temporary.
When the owner of a Saratoga Springs, N.Y., gallery learned that a visitor thought a poster commemorating the 1985 Travers Stakes didn't serve the gallery or the race proper respect, the owner challenged the visitor to create something finer.
Monday, July 21, 2008By Vic Zast - Despite their abiding love for sumo wrestling, karaoke, pachinko, and baseball, the celebrants of bounty descended upon Tokyo Race Course, home of the world's third-richest horse race -- the Japan Cup (Jpn-I). Standing a foot taller in a shirt size I can't buy at the souvenir stands, and realizing I know nothing about which horses to bet on or how to even bet them, I am feeling like a gaijin among insiders.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006Ten races on Labor Day concluded the 35 days of Saratoga racing, and it was the kind of high quality card that racing secretary P. J. Campo should have been producing all along.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006Saratoga pulled out the old "give 'em a fleece blanket" promotion, and 66,311 people turned out – or, at least, they paid $3 to go through the turnstiles. The funny part is that many of the souvenir buyers stayed, and how lucky they were as a result. The seventh, eighth, and ninth races were something to witness.
Monday, September 04, 2006Saratoga pulled out the old "give 'em a fleece blanket" promotion, and 66,311 people turned out – or, at least, they paid $3 to go through the turnstiles. The funny part is that many of the souvenir buyers stayed, and how lucky they were as a result. The seventh, eighth, and ninth races were something to witness.
Monday, September 04, 2006Tracy Farmer's dark bay colt by Charismatic has amassed more than $2 million on the racetrack, but even as the 2-1 favorite, he could only finish third in The Woodward (gr. I) on Saturday.
Sunday, September 03, 2006In true Saratoga tradition, "Happy Hour" prices went into effect at 5 p.m. There were price reductions on hot dogs and fries and whiskey and beer. But, other than that, it was another day of trying to pick winners – alas, only three more days of that.
Saturday, September 02, 2006Hirapour, the 10-year-old gelding with designs on a second Eclipse Award as the country's top steeplechase horse, displayed his versatility in winning the A.P. Smithwick Handicap (NSA-II) earlier this meet.
Friday, September 01, 2006Suzie O'Cain, the popular owner of Highcliff Farm in Delanson, N.Y., is trying to get horse owners to dress their jockeys in pink.
Thursday, August 31, 2006The exodus of August-only residents has begun. And familiar faces in the clubhouse boxes are rare.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006On Sunday, Saratoga ran its Ballerina Breeders' Cup Stakes (gr. I) for fillies and mares. But it was the woman known as the "Sticker Nazi," tip-toeing through the lower regions of the clubhouse, who riveted the fans' attention.
Sunday, August 27, 2006The 85-year-old "white cap" - which is the term by which red-vested ushers such as Jake Schmidt used to be called - has handled this assignment for several years now. And what he likes best about it is that he gets to be on television so his grandsons in California can see him.
Sunday, August 27, 2006Some mighty good horses gave race-goers who played hooky from work on Friday a taste of what's upcoming on Travers Day. On yet another perfect late summer afternoon - temps in the high 70s and no humidity - Saratoga Race Course lived up to its old slogan, "the August place to be."
Saturday, August 26, 2006And speaking of stamina, nobody is certain of how far Discreet Cat – a son of Forestry – can run, yet everyone who saw him win the third race was asking why he wasn't entered in the Travers.
Saturday, August 26, 2006The steeplechase set has a different look than the flat racing crowd. The men wear Gucci loafers with d-bits and seersucker suits with striped ties, and the women have Pucci dresses with retro patterns and hairdos that look like the hats that Bonaparte wore.
Friday, August 25, 2006One more scrambled eggs and bacon meal is not what the doctor's ordered, but, then, hey, it is Saratoga and the "vittles" were there to be gobbled up.
Thursday, August 24, 2006Monday signaled the start of Travers week and two of the season's grandest galas. On Thursday, the New York Racing Association will host its annual event to benefit B.E.A.T (Backstretch Employees Assistance Team), and on the evening preceding that, Wednesday, the annual Belmont Child Care Association (Anna House) benefit will be held at the Gideon Putnam.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006Richie Migliore, who has been uncharacteristically non-productive at the Spa this season, rode two winners on the card Sunday. But the Mig's two-bagger was not the best riding performance of the afternoon.
Monday, August 21, 2006The classy black silks with cherry red cap of the Phipps Stable flooded under the finish line first in the Alabama Stakes on Saturday. And with the presentation of the trophy to family members in the winner's circle - beneath cloudy skies befitting the politics surrounding the racetrack - memories of the Vanderbilts, Mellons, duPonts, and Whitneys came rushing to the surface.
Sunday, August 20, 2006When it comes to decor, Gotchya's is to classy as Martha is to chaos. It's a noisy joint -- owing to the tight quarters and bare floors -- and cheesy, with black and white photos of Al Capone and the Rat Pack looking down at you from the walls as you dine.
Saturday, August 19, 2006On Wednesday, jockey Chantal Sutherland rode the mechanical horse at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Her turn on the horse race simulator was Sutherland's first ride of three on the day, the second of which was a fill-in for Rudy Rodriquez and the third, a longshot in the ninth that she booted home 11th.
Thursday, August 17, 2006Saratoga's first three weeks were marked by muggy hot weather followed by splendid cool days and nights, a card cancellation, upsets, an onslaught of New York-bred races, declining attendance, numerous mishaps at the starting gate, and soap opera politics. Will the next 18 days be as rocky as the past 17 days?
Tuesday, August 15, 2006For two hours on Sunday, retired jockey Jerry Bailey signed autographs at the racetrack to benefit the Belmont Child Care Association, and for two hours before he started, Sandra Misiun, a parking enforcement officer from Turners Falls, Massachusetts, waited on line with her $5 donation to get one.
Sunday, August 13, 2006Galas like this don't exist in many parts of the country, but - in Saratoga - they make a Saturday betting horses a battle with fatigue. 'Hung over in Saratoga' is redundant.
Sunday, August 13, 2006Twenty years between winners for a trainer is a long time. But that's about how long it's taken Saratoga Springs homeowner Roger Laurin, the trainer of the first-ever Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) champion Chief's Crown, to get back to work.
Saturday, August 12, 2006Charlie Hayward, the racetrack's president, credits Bill Nader, his newly-promoted chief operating officer, with coming up with the "Grand Slam." Nader pushed for the innovative bet hoping that it would give horseplayers a tantalizing way to wager on several races.
Friday, August 11, 2006Life in Saratoga changes when the yearlings are in town. The horses drive the bats out of the barns that have been their homes for nearly 11 months, and sales of tennis rackets soar, since they are the most effective weapons for shoo-ing the night-flying pests from the attic.
Thursday, August 10, 2006"There is no crying in horse racing" - at least, there's not supposed to be. But at the induction ceremony for new members of the Racing Hall of Fame on Monday, tears seemed a requirement.
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