This is my first bi-weekly column since Saratoga opened its 40-day season on July 15. The meeting will run five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, with closing day on Monday September 5 (Labor Day).
When the pandemic hammered New York City in mid-March, my wife, Betsy Senior, and I fled our apartment in New York City and we have been living in our home in Saratoga Springs pretty much full time since.
It was great to be in Saratoga over the summer last year, but since no customers could attend the races, I found it difficult to engage with betting on the Saratoga races while living there and watching it all and on my computer or TV. As a result, last year I bet one Saratoga raceday all summer and fall and bet only one day, Belmont Stakes Day, this spring.
Needless to say, I was really looking forward to the start of the 2021 Saratoga meeting.
By late spring and early summer, it became clear that Saratoga was going to be Saratoga again, with the Saratoga Performing Arts Center operating, no restrictions on the racetrack for the fully vaccinated, and more people in town than we had seen in almost two years. By mid-June, you could feel the buzz in the city, day or night.
Opening day, Thursday the 15th, threatened to rain, and, while there were some showers, the track was fast and the turf was good (from rain earlier in the week). The 4-day opening week, Thursday through Sunday, generated all-source handle for the first four days of $90,112,254, which was an increase of 12.18 percent from 2020 ($80,325,660). There was an even larger increase of 22.7 percent from the $73,441,101 total in 2019.
It is important to note that the first Sunday of 2021 poured rain most of the day and the night before, and all four turf races were taken off the track. Keep in mind that the all-time Saratoga meet handle record was set in 2019, which was $705.3 million, as compared to the 2020 handle of $702.5 million. In 2020, of course, no one was able to bet on-track and it was just one percent less than in 2019. This would seem to indicate that 2021 should be a record-setting year.
Early indications from some other tracks that opened around this time may or may not have similar Covid protocols. Del Mar, which has a similar handle comparison to Saratoga, opened one day later than Saratoga. It’s 3-day weekend handle July 16-18 generated more than $80.5 million in all-source handle. This was almost a 17 percent increase from 2020, when no customers were able to bet at the track.
Advantageous scheduling
In fact, Del Mar established an opening-day handle record handle of $21.3million this year. This 2021 handle exceeded by 29 percent the previous all-time high of $16.5 million in 2016.
One smaller track, Colonial Downs in New Kent, Virginia, opened its summer meet on Monday July 19. The opening day 9-race card generated $2.66 million, a track record. Choosing to race on days without much competition has been studied and strongly recommended by Equibase.
The industry also gained some data in raceday scheduling during 2020. The executives at Colonial Downs decided on a meet scheduling that should be advantageous in the competitive simulcast environment. Colonial Downs will operate on a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday schedule from July 19-September 1.
On opening day at the Spa, meanwhile, without question the highpoint and most emotional race of the day was the G3 Schuylerville Stakes, won by the Marylou Whitney Stable’s homebred Pretty Birdie.
Norm Casse, trainer of Pretty Birdie and son of Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, said, “Everyone assumes that I love horseracing because of who my family is and who my father is, but Smarty Jones is the reason I fell in love with horseracing.
“I think we all know the story on how that one ends, with Marylou beating him, and now I train for her. It’s just surreal. I thank her and John [Hendrickson] so much. They’ve given me everything, and I really appreciate everything they’ve done.”
Though the beloved grande dame of Saratoga passed away on July 19, 2019, in her memory, Hendrickson, her husband, maintained her stable, including Pretty Birdie, racing under the banner of Marylou Whitney Stable.
After this emotional win, Hendrickson reflected on how much it would have meant to his late wife, who provided so much to the racing community of Saratoga, “This is where she felt most alive. This is the way she is alive, and she has won on Opening Day. It’s pretty special. This is a dream come true for me and Marylou. Things getting back to normal and winning on Opening Day, she’s throwing a party. She said, “I want to race, get back to work.”
For many in Saratoga, two of the biggest racing events during the Saratoga meet had always been Marylou’s Opening Day party at the track, primarily for Saratogans, and a black-tie party the night before the Whitney Stakes held in Canfield Casino in Congress Park. Both events were carefully followed by the racing community and the community at large at Saratoga.
One last acknowledgement of the important work that the couple did for the backstretch workers: Two weeks ago, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the completion of the Marylou Whitney Pavilion at Saratoga Race Course. The 5,000-square foot facility will replace a temporary building used by backstretch workers for functions and dinners.
Fitting tribute
Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson founded the Saratoga Backstretch Appreciation Program, which provides entertainment, food, movies and language instruction to backstretch workers during the meet. “Marylou Whitney, along with her husband, John Hendrickson, was extraordinarily devoted to the wellbeing of the seasonal backstretch workers, who are the backbone of the Saratoga Race Course, and this new pavilion is a fitting tribute to their efforts,” Governor Cuomo said.
Hendrickson continues to be actively involved in Thoroughbred racing and the Saratoga community. In August 2017, he was elected President of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and he immediately undertook a major capital campaign to transform the institution with brilliant technology.
Any racing fan, bettor or customer who comes to visit Saratoga must plan to spend a couple of hours at the museum, which is located right across Union Avenue from the racecourse. I suggest you visit the museum’s website to watch a brief and highly informative video.
If you are in Saratoga during August, you must try to attend the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony on August 6 at 10.30 am ET. It’s at the Fasig Tipton sales pavilion, which is a ten-minute walk from both the museum and the track. The ceremony is open to the public, but public seating is limited and is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Because of the pandemic last year, the museum will be inducting the inductees of both 2020 and 2021
Inductees for 2020
Horses: Tom Bowling, Wise Dan
Jockey: Darrel McHargue
Trainer: Mark Casse
Pillars of the Turf: Alice Headley Chandler, J Keene Daingerfield Jr, George D Widener Jr
Inductees for 2021
Horse: American Pharoah
Trainers: Jack Fisher, Todd Pletcher
Other than the races themselves, the single most important annual strategic event that occurs in the Thoroughbred racing industry is the annual Jockey Club Round Table. This year, the 69th annual Jockey Club Annual Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing will be held virtually for the second consecutive year. It will be on Sunday, August 15, at 10 am ET and will be streamed on the Jockey Club’s website and other industry sites.
In my opinion, the three most important, substantive and consequential industry initiatives of the last decade were initiated by the Round Table: 1) The Equine Injury Database; 2) the strategy to grow and develop an ambitious television presence for Thoroughbred racing; 3) The Horseracing and Integrity Act (HISA).
Jockey Club Chairman Stuart Janney III will preside over the conference.
Here is the current list of the presenters.
- Kristin Werner, senior counsel for the Jockey Club, who will moderate an aftercare panel that will discuss issues in the current aftercare landscape and programs in development to address them.
- Dr Yuval Neria, professor, Clinical Medical Psychology, Columbia University, who will discuss the Man O’War Project, which was the first university-led research study to examine the effectiveness of equine assisted therapy in treating veterans with PTSD.
- Emily Lyman, CEO of Branch and Bramble, a digital marketing agency, who will detail how her organization analyzes data to assess and react to public sentiment, build brand trust and develop fans.
- Will Duff Gordon, CEO of Total Performance Data (TPD), who will provide an overview of TPD’s timing products, its work with Equibase and new development opportunities in areas such as sports betting, fixed odds and the HISA.
- David O’Rourke, the President and CEO of NYRA, who will discuss NYRA’s investments in facilities, expanded television coverage and NYRA Bets, its national ADW.
- James Gagliano, President and COO of the Jockey Club, who will deliver a report on the activities of the Jockey Club
- Charles Scheeler and Dr Tessa Muir, who will provide an update on HISA. In May, Scheeler was appointed to the HISA board of directors. He was the lead counsel in connection with his independent investigation of performance-enhancing substance use in Major League Baseball. Dr Muir is the former anti-doping manager at the British Horseracing Authority and was a regulatory vet at Racing Victoria. Travis Tygart, the Chief Executive of USADA, said, “We are utilizing shared services within our organization where that can be effective. But we must ensure we have the unique expertise that might be required when dealing with a different type of athlete. Tessa was our first hire for the equine program.
No such position exists in the 38 state regulatory agencies that USADA will be replacing. This should be an important session.
The full agenda and bios of all of the speakers will be posted on jockeyclub.com in advance of the conference.
Finally, I want to draw your attention to this, the most inspiring article on the racing business I have ever read. Written by Bob Ehalt, it was published by The Blood-Horse on July 20.