Thursday marks the beginning of the 2024 season at Saratoga Race Course– a track where top horses, trainers, and jockeys congregate, for some of the best racing action all year long.
Saratoga is universally considered one of the premier racing meets in the country and the world.
It’s also one of the most heavily bet. Last summer, the 40-day meet handled just about $800 million worth of wagers. You won’t find bigger pools on a regular basis anywhere else.
Many horseplayers make Saratoga the center of their wagering year.
Here’s a few things on what you need to know about playing the races at The Spa.
TRACK DIMENSIONS: Saratoga’s main track is a 1 ⅛-mile dirt track, featuring two grass courses on the inside.
The outer grass course, known as the Mellon turf course after longtime owner and Saratoga benefactor Paul Mellon, is one mile in circumference.
The Mellon course plays host to the popular 5 ½-furlong turf sprints. Saratoga’s inner turf course is seven furlongs around.
2022 brought the return of the one-mile chute on the clubhouse turn of the main track, known as the Wilson Chute.
The chute was part of racing at Saratoga for many years, but fell into disuse in the early 1970s, only resurfacing for one season in 1992 before being dismantled.
BETTING ON BABIES: Saratoga is world renown for its 2-year-old races. Many trainers save their best 2-year-olds for the Saratoga meet, and anyone who Wins a Maiden race here is often marked as a horse to watch for the future.
With Maiden race purses going for more than $100,000, virtually every promising East Coast 2-year-old will be slated for a Saratoga appearance.
Flashy first-time starters often take lots of money. But, value can often be found in horses who have raced once or twice and showed some ability in those races.
They sometimes have an edge over more inexperienced rivals. Generally, they finish in the top two or three and help complete a nice Exacta or Trifecta.
WAGERING MENU: Saratoga offers a plethora of wagering options.
In addition to the standard Win, Place, and Show, there is Exacta wagering on every race (with a minimum of four betting interests), as well as Trifecta and Superfecta wagering on races with at least six betting interests.
Saratoga also features rolling doubles and Pick 3s on every consecutive two and three-race sequence.
The most glamorous bets at Saratoga are the Pick 4 and the Pick 5, both of which feature 50-cent minimum wagers. The early Pick 4 starts in race 2 (or race 3 if there’s a steeplechase race to begin the day), while the late Pick 4 consists of the last four races on the card.
Both these wagers feature gigantic pools. It’s not uncommon to see Pick 4 or Pick 5 pools exceed $1 million.
MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME: Horses from all over the country like to ship in to Saratoga to take their shot at Winning a race at the country’s most prestigious meet.
However, it is worth noting that Shippers from Kentucky tracks have far and away the most success. As such, horses who last raced in Kentucky have to merit respect, at least in the early stages of the season.
The more you know…
