In 2011, Joe Dietrick made his annual trip to Saratoga Race Course from his home in northeast Pennsylvania. He’s come here for decades, and when he was younger, he’d park his mobile home in Saratoga for the whole meet. On that day in 2011, Dietrick was with his son Jon and two grandsons. John Velazquez…
Saratogians are proud of the Travers Stakes. Most of the thousands of fans who show up every year probably don’t know that the race was first run in 1864, or that it was named for one of the men who established Saratoga Race Course; they do know that the day of the Travers is something…
The familiar red and blue Herringswell sign is gone, as are the matching table and chairs that for years had been set up on the backstretch at Saratoga Race Course, right in the middle of the final turn. It was one of the most prominent and visible spots on the main track backstretch, a high-traffic…
Sunday, August 18 At the track $100,000 Summer Colony, for fillies and mares three and up, on the dirt at 1 1/8 miles Breakfast at Saratoga, daily except Travers Day. Enjoy breakfast on The Porch on the ground level of the clubhouse during morning training. Breakfast is available on a first-come, first-served basis from 7 a.m.…
Though the Saratoga Derby Invitational was being run for the first time and is not a graded stakes race, it nonetheless felt like the feature on Sunday at Saratoga Race Course. Perhaps it was the $1 million purse. Perhaps it was the field of 11 horses, including two trained by Aidan O’Brien. Perhaps it was because it is…
When you have a horse that has finished first or second in all but one of his 12 starts, it might seem a bit churlish to be disappointed at missed opportunities and narrow losses. Still, one might forgive owners Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman for wondering wistfully what might have been with McKinzie.…
On a day devoted to honoring the legacy of the late Marylou Whitney, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made his first visit to Saratoga Race Course Aug. 3, announcing the construction of a permanent hospitality facility for backstretch workers. The building will be located on the Oklahoma training facility grounds. Currently, a tent houses a variety of activities…
When the death of Marylou Whitney was announced on July 19 at Saratoga, tributes and obituaries appeared not just in Saratoga Springs, her hometown, but also in newspapers nationwide, from the Palm Beach Post, the paper of her winter home, to the Sacramento Bee. The woman known locally simply as “Marylou” was a woman of national interest, if news…
Balancing composure and emotion, National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame president John Hendrickson anchored this year’s induction ceremony both personally and professionally, looking forward to a renovated Hall of Fame in 2020 and back at the accomplishments of his wife Marylou Whitney, who died July 19 and was inducted as a member of the…
Looking for events later in the meet? Here you go. Wednesday, July 31 At the track… $100,000 Shine Again for fillies and mares three and up, seven furlongs on the dirt. $150,000 New York Stallion Stakes Statue of Liberty Division, one mile, three-year-old fillies sired by stallions standing in New York, turf Breakfast at Saratoga,…
Brooklyn Backstretch 