Day after day, week after week Saratoga attracts what few racing meets do: a big crowd every day. Arguably the most popular racing meet in the country, Saratoga appeals the casual fan and the serious gambler, to families and crowds of friends out for a day of socializing and gambling. Though little of Saratoga remains…
On Sunday afternoon, Atlantic City Race Course broke a 37-year attendance record when 13,528 people showed up for its six-race card at the little track in Mays Landing, New Jersey. If by “boutique meet,” you mean short, then Atlantic City is the most boutique of the boutiques, racing for only six days every year.…
Call me “the woman who left Keeneland to drive to Charles Town.” It’s true, even if no one would believe it. Charles Town Races sits in the Blue Ridge Mountains, roughly equidistant, a 90-minute car trip, from both Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It’s been around since 1933, and visitors walking through the facility will see…
It’s a few minutes past 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning in Lexington, Kentucky; it’s still pretty much dark out, and the temperature is a few ticks north of 40 degrees. But it’s opening weekend at Keeneland Race Course, and the ground floor of the grandstand is bustling. The horses have been on the track…
Ah, holiday weekends! Not sure what the justification is behind making Columbus Day a major holiday, but given the chance at a three-day weekend…I’ll take it. As usual, I spent Saturday at Belmont, where there were three Grade 1 races on tap: the Jamaica, the Frizette, and the Champagne. On Sunday I headed for points…
In January of 2007, I went to Philadelphia Park for the first time. I don’t recall that it was particularly cold, but it was gray, and the place had a desolate feel. We sat in the restaurant on the fifth floor; it was perfectly pleasant, but the horses seemed awfully far away: it was tough…
I lived in the mid-Atlantic for seven years, and I logged more hours than I care to remember on I-95, making my way home to friends and family in New York and Saratoga. When I left the area in 1995, I vowed I’d never again live anywhere that required regular travel on 95. I was…
