There is no finer setting for thoroughbred racing than historic Saratoga Race Course. It was named one of the world’s top 10 sporting venues of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated.
This year’s meet runs from July 11th through Labor Day. Many of the sport’s top owners, trainers, jockeys, and horses, along with hundreds of thousands of zealous and devoted fans will gather in Saratoga Springs for the premier summer Thoroughbred racing meet in the country.
The Saratoga 40-day boutique race meet regularly draws (on average) more than 20,000 loyal racing fans to the track each day. These fans are treated firsthand to the excitement, beauty, and passion of America’s best Thoroughbred racing.
Each racing season, the past is revisited in the historic grandstand as fans experience not only the best in racing, but the unmatched ambiance and charm that is Saratoga Springs.
The motto of the small town is; Health, History and Horses. And many people turn out for all three, as the population triples to 75,000 or more when the Thoroughbreds return for the summer.
The Daily Racing Blog can think of no better way to describe summer at The Spa than these eloquent, spot-on words given to us by the late and legendary sports and turf writer Joe Palmer:
“Saratoga represents a reaffirmation of racing as enjoyment, of the original forces which first called it into being. You come away feeling that, well, there is going to be a good deal of concrete and gravel in your horoscope for a goodish while, but afterward there will be Saratoga again, with its shaded paddocks…I rather think that the charm of Saratoga is that it represents to those to whom racing is a way of life, something to which they may at need return. It is, of course, the oldest track in America, and its ways are old-fashioned ways. After 11 months of new-fashioned ways, it is as restful as old slippers, as quiet as real joy.”
