We weren’t supposed to be devoting so many words to Marylou Whitney just yet. Sure, she is always present, somehow, when racing season starts, but it’s on Whitney weekend, this year August 3, that we focus on her life and her contributions to Thoroughbred racing and to Saratoga Springs.

Instead, racegoers at Saratoga Race Course were startled on Friday, July 19, what would have been opening day were it not for this year’s calendar change, when race caller Larry Collmus somberly announced that the woman known simply as “Marylou” had passed away, aged 93.

The local tributes began immediately, from fans and newspapers and television stations and Saratoga institutions. Then they came from further afield, and social media was alit with photos and memories and condolences. Marylou Whitney didn’t have a Twitter account, but if she did, her mentions would have been blowing up.

Continue reading at The Saratogian…