A day at the Horse Track in Saratoga Springs , NY…

More friends from our old hometown showed up here at the camp so it is like a reunion of sorts to see several of our old friends to share stories with. After a full day of soaking rain falling over the Adirondack Park here in upstate New York we all made plans to head over to Saratoga Springs, NY for the day to visit the race course. The race course at Saratoga Springs first opened in 1863 and is said to be the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States.

The info below was taken from Wikipedia and it sums it all up about this fine thoroughbred horse race course:

“Saratoga Race Course has two well-known nicknames -- The Spa (for the nearby mineral springs), and the "Graveyard of Champions" (for the upsets that have occurred there). Man o' War suffered his only defeat in twenty one starts while racing at Saratoga Race Course; Secretariat was defeated at Saratoga Race Course by Onion after winning the Triple Crown; and Gallant Fox was beaten by 100-1 longshot Jim Dandy in the 1930 Travers Stakes.”

The weather was exceptional as the high was near 80 and there was no rain in sight. We drove over to Saratoga Springs and parked near the track where we paid a fellow $10 to park in the large yard behind several homes. With lawn chairs in hand we made our way over to the track and paid the $3.00 entry fee. Picked up  a “pink sheet” to see which horses were running and their odds for this day and then settled down near the race track.

Saratoga Race Course has a few unique features that make visiting this track fun. The horses that race here and the jockeys that ride them are many of the top money winners in the USA. So you get to watch some of the best of the best. So what makes it unique? You can get right next to the thoroughbreds and be within a few feet of them and the jockeys as the horses are being led to the paddock since the path from the stables runs right through the picnic grounds where we were sitting. There is also a mineral spring called the Big Red Spring in the grounds where you can drink some of the mineral waters that made Saratoga Springs famous. Can you say strong sulfur smell… and it doesn’t taste very good but its healthy…. so they say!

With ten races on the docket we decided we would stay for six of them and then head downtown for a few frosty beverages at some of the local establishments. We made our bets on all six races and came very close to winning an exacta bet twice but the stars were not in our favor that day as we had no winnings to show at the end of the sixth race. So it was down to downtown Saratoga to visit some of the well known and frequently visited post track establishments. A fitting end to a fantastic day at the track…

I didn’t realize I didn’t take any pictures of the ponies while we there until we got back to the camp – Sigh… Maybe, next time I will take pictures of the horses and jockeys and maybe next time we will win… We do know that the sun will rise the next morning no matter what…