When the Railbird heard that the grand old racetrack in Saratoga Springs was turning 150 years old this summer, he laughed. The lovely upstate oval doesn't look a day over 130. On Saturday, when the folks who have labored to keep this throwback palace of racing a magnet for anyone who loves the ponies officially celebrated the big 150, the joke running throughout the clubhouse was, "I gave cash." I don't think the people behind the scenes at the New York Racing Association would have minded a bit. Rarely do you see horseplayers tear up tickets quite so happily as they do at this beautiful spot in the Adirondacks.
The organizers of the birthday celebration itself couldn't have been luckier with their timing than they were on Saturday, a dazzlingly sunny afternoon with a pleasant breeze, the kind of weather that first drew heat-fleeing swells to Saratoga Springs in the mid-nineteenth century. Oh yes, if you were looking for the icing on the cake, they had a very nice supporting card on Saturday, including the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational, the premier East Coast handicap for older horses first run in 1928. Named for the great family that has long helped make a pilgrimage to the Spa obligatory for two-dollar bettors and bluebloods alike, the Whitney had on hand the doyenne of New York racing, Marylou Whitney, the honorary cochair with John Hendrickson of the celebratory events. The winner of the Whitney, the front-running four-year-old gray Cross Traffic, got a little gift himself courtesy of the race's namesake—a custom blanket sown with 500 of Marylou Whitney's own varietal pink roses.
As if they needed the Whitney Invitational to pull in the crowds—any given day at the Spa blends an intriguing card of races with the most pleasing spot to watch and wager on this continent. Keeneland has its virtues, and Del Mar its fans, but the genius of Saratoga is that the gorgeous and leisurely pleasures of the track itself are combined with a dynamite collection of the best horses from throughout the country and trainers and owners who have targeted this meet as the one they have circled on their calendars. Just a glance at the folks in the clubhouse confirms how well the recipe works. The intimacy of the track—so welcome after a spring of racing at the cavernous but often empty Belmont downstate—makes it that much more special. As the Railbird climbed the old wooden steps to the fourth-floor dining lounge, he passed a smiling Rick Pitino graciously posing for a souvenir photo with two young racetrack workers. Out back behind the clubhouse, jockeys stopped to sign programs for kids. It's as close as you can get, as a fan, to the action itself, and something about the Spa seems to put everyone in a better mood on a daily basis. At most racetracks, you inevitably hear grumbles about the sport's past. At Saratoga, the oldest of them all, you sense nothing but optimism about the future, and if the diet of races for two-year-olds are difficult to handicap, they offer a chance to see a future Kentucky Derby winner's debut.
Cross Traffic crossed the finish line couple of hours after the official birthday celebration was marked in the winner's circle. There, after the sixth race—which was won appropriately enough by a grizzled ten-year-old gelding named Gimme Credit—they unveiled a sixteen-square-foot birthday-cake replica of Saratoga racetrack, designed by Buddy Valastro of Carlo's Bakery, the Hoboken, NJ, setting of the TV show Cake Boss. Replete with marzipan horses and candied versions of the canoes in the little lake in the Saratoga infield, the cake weighed in at a mighty 300 pounds, just a tad shy of where a trio of jockeys would tip the scale. When the riders from the sixth race gathered for a group photo in the winner's circle, the Railbird wondered whether any of them might try and sneak a deserved nibble, but none did. In a very classy gesture, the birthday organizers in fact saved the goodies for the backstretch workers, who rarely get the acknowledgment so deserved for their behind-the-scenes work in making Saratoga (and other tracks) a signature experience for all.
And it has been a signature experience now for a century and a half. It's mind-boggling to recall that the first Saratoga meet was held just a month after the Battle of Gettysburg. When John R. Hunter and William R. Travers, following the successful race meet put together by bare-knuckle boxer turned Congressman John Morrissey, put together their four-race card in 1863, across Union Avenue at what is now the Oklahoma training track, the Civil War had dislodged thoroughbred racing from its traditional home in the Deep South. It took no small amount of audacity to found a new racetrack in the middle of America's bloodiest war. Travers has been honored for his visionary role with the Travers Stakes, the championship three-year-old race held each summer at Saratoga since 1864 (this year's renewal, on August 24, should feature the Kentucky Derby champion Orb and Belmont victor Palace Malace, a runaway winner of the Jim Dandy Stakes in July). Hunter's name and legacy have been less recorded in history. Thanks to the committee who organized this weekend's fête, we'll now be better able to toast Mr. Hunter. And to Saratoga, may the Railbird be among the many to wish you many many happy returns in the future.
