Breakfast at Saratoga

On August 3, 1863, the beautiful Saratoga Race Course was born. She is known by various nicknames - The Spa, The House of Upsets, The Graveyard of Champions, but to the folks who live hereabouts it's 'the Track'. And if the meet is in session, just say you're going to Saratoga and we'll know what you mean. Not the city, not the harness track, not the battlefield, although they're all great places to visit.

I know what you're thinking. The sign in the picture above says EST. 1864. The explanation is simple, I think. The Civil War was raging, the Battle of Gettysburg was one month old, and some wealthy men decided they were going to build a race track in beautiful Saratoga Springs, New York. Strange, but true. Saratoga was the escape destination of the rich and famous, not only for her mineral springs but also for the gambling. John Hunter, who would go on to be the first chairman of the Jockey Club*, William R. Travers, a very successful lawyer, and John Morrissey, an Irish immigrant/boxer/politician, partnered up to create the track. Today happens to be the end of Travers weekend, the biggest in the entire racing meet. The highlight is the running of the Travers Stakes, otherwise known as the Midsummer Derby, and named for Mr. William Travers. It has a purse of $1,000,000. 

The first running of the Travers Stakes was in 1864, the second meet of the new Saratoga Race Course. The first meet was four days long, and run on what is now the Oklahoma Training Track, across Union from where the present Race Course stands. The meet was only held for one year at the original location, hence 1864 on the sign.

When I started this blog post I intended to write about breakfast at Saratoga, but something amazing happened. This year marks the 143rd running of the Travers Stakes. Long shot Golden Ticket (33-1) and favorite Alpha (2-1) finished the race in a dead heat. Pretty cool. 

Tradition dictates that the canoe floating on the infield lake gets painted with the colors of the winning stable. The lake will now have two canoes.

Back to breakfast.

If you like getting up early, buffet breakfasts, and beautiful horses, Saratoga is the place to be at 7 a.m. during the meet. The added bonus is a free backstretch tour. Breakfast is served track side. You can sit and enjoy your meal while watching the horses warm up on the track. (You can also bring your own and sit on the track side bleachers, )

 

  
The backstretch tour takes you back to the barns where many of the horses are stabled. We got onto an old tram and were whisked away. Okay, not whisked but tram-ed. One thing about the track I should mention - hats. Lots of ladies wear them to the track.

Our first stop was meeting Buddy, a pony. If you know horses, you'll look at this picture and think, hmm, Buddy does not look like a pony. And he's not, technically. At the track, the race horses are horses and the exercise horses are ponies.

Our next stop was Clare Court, an exercise track built in 1902 by August Belmont, the man who financed the building of Belmont Race Track. In those days this area was Mr. Belmont's private training facility and called Surcingle. It was renamed for Tom and Anne Clare who were track superintendents from 1924 to 1960.

We were given an up close and personal look at the barns. 

Horses, horses, and more horses.

This is the poop pile. Trucks come up from Pennsylvania to collect it. It is used to grow mushrooms.

The starting gate training area. Horses are often re-schooled on using the gate to prevent delays at the start.

On the track in the backstretch.

 And finally, hoofprints in the sand.

Until next time!

*From Wikipedia: The Jockey Club is the authority for all Thoroughbred horses in North America, Canada, and Puerto Rico and maintains offices in New York City and Lexington, Kentucky. The Registry maintained by The Jockey Club, called the American Stud Book, dates back to the club's founding and contains the descendants of those horses listed, as well as horses imported into North America up to the present.