Saratoga Race Course is a famous
horse-racing track in
Saratoga Springs,
New York,
United States. It opened on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States.
History
The Main Track in 1907
Dawn on the Main Track in 1963
John Hunter, who became the first chairman of
The Jockey Club, and
William R. Travers built Saratoga Race Course. The original track was built across Union Avenue from the present Saratoga Race Course, which opened the following year. Since 1864 the track has been the site of the
Travers Stakes, the oldest major
thoroughbred horse race in the
United States, which is the main draw of the annual summer race meeting. The Saratoga meet originally consisted of only four days, but over time was lengthened, and for many years, the meet lasted for four weeks. In the 1890s/1990s it was lengthened to five weeks, and today a six-week meeting is observed, with
Labor Day now being the last day of racing. From 1943 to 1945, racing was not held at Saratoga due to travel restrictions brought on by
World War II; in those years, the stakes races that would have been run at Saratoga were contested at
Belmont Park instead.
Saratoga Race Course has two well-known nicknames --
The Spa (for the nearby mineral springs), and the
Graveyard of Favorites (for the upsets that have occurred there).
Man o' War suffered his only defeat in 21 starts while racing at Saratoga;
Secretariat was defeated at Saratoga by Onion after winning the Triple Crown; and
Gallant Fox was beaten by 100-1
longshot Jim Dandy in the 1930 Travers Stakes.
The track was closed on
August 2,
2006 due to a heat wave which had hit the Eastern Seaboard. This was only the fourth time in the history of the track that it closed, Previously it closed for three entire seasons during
World War II and in 1911 and 1912 when it was not economically viable following
New York State legislation enacted by the administration of Governor
Charles Evans Hughes which outlawed all forms of wagering on horse racing.
Physical attributes
thumb|Race course from Union AvenueAs is the case with the other two tracks operated by the
New York Racing Association -
Aqueduct and
Belmont Park - there are three separate tracks in the main course at Saratoga: a main (dirt) track, which, like that at Aqueduct, has a 1 1/8 mile (1,811 m) circumference; a 1 mile plus 98 feet long outer
turf track known officially as the Mellon Turf Course, in honor of the Mellon family, whose members include prominent Thoroughbred owner/breeder
Paul Mellon and his father
Andrew Mellon, a former
United States Treasury Secretary, and an inner turf track, the circumference of which is 26 feet (7.9 m) shorter than 7½
furlongs (1,509 m).
Steeplechase races are also run at Saratoga and may take place on either of the aforementioned turf courses, depending on the distance of the race. Additionally, there is the Oklahoma Track, which is about 1/3 mile from the main course, and is used for warmups and training. Oklahoma Track was the original track used for racing from 1863 until 1909, when the currently-used grandstand track was opened.
A former distinctive feature of Saratoga's dirt track was the Wilson Mile
chute, which branched off from the clubhouse (first) turn at a 90 degree angle. After the 1971 meeting, its use was suspended; following a brief resumption during the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was dismantled, leaving no distance available for dirt races at one mile. A similarly-designed chute is still in use at
Ellis Park Racecourse, a racetrack in
Kentucky, and is the only such chute of its kind that can be found at any North American track today.
Saratoga Race Course is rich with tradition. A lake in the middle of the track contains a canoe that is painted annually in the colors of the winning stable for that year's Travers Stakes winner. Also, prior to each race a bell is hand rung at exactly 17 minutes prior to scheduled post time for each race.
A new addition in recent years has been "twilight racing", where the first race post time is at 2:45 PM. After its introduction in 2006, it was expanded to the first and last Friday of the meet.
Racing
The following are Graded stakes races run at Saratoga:
Grade I Stakes races:
Grade II Stakes races:
Grade III Stakes races:
Ungraded stakes
Steeplechase:'''
Burials
Buried at Claire Court are
Fourstardave, Mourjane (IRE) and A Phenomenon. Champion filly
Go For Wand, who suffered a fatal injury during the stretch run of the 1990 Breeders Cup Distaff, is buried in the Saratoga infield.
TV Personalites
