In his latest column, Charles Hayward holds a barometer to the first fortnight of his hometown meet, where the mercury has been rising – alongside the betting handle
To kick off my survey, let’s borrow a passage from the Glens Falls Post Star carried in a report after the first four-day weekend of racing at Saratoga Race Course, where the 154th summer meet started on July 14.
“Betting handles and attendance at Saratoga Race Course were up significantly over last year’s opening weekend, NYRA officials said Sunday."
The on-track handle from the first four days of the meet was $17,062,482, an increase of 18.5% over 2021. The all-sources handle of $106,401,827 was up by 18.1%, and the paid attendance of 103,254 was up by 10% over last year’s opening weekend.
"Fan interest and engagement with the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course is at an all-time high. We saw that on display throughout opening weekend," NYRA president and CEO Dave O’Rourke said in a press release.
"Saratoga stands apart as a destination that continues to grow in popularity, and we thank the fans for their enthusiastic support of the summer meet."
My wife Betsy and I have been living mainly in Saratoga Springs since the pandemic started in March 2020. Betsy is now commuting weekly to New York City for her art consulting business, and I have been living in Saratoga Springs, writing and taking care of two new kittens that turn one in late August.
Now as we all know, there was racing in Saratoga Springs in 2020 – but the only people allowed on the premises were people that were directly involved in putting on the show. Things improved for the race meet of 2021, and Governor Cuomo – no fan of Thoroughbred racing – finally announced in May 2021 that Saratoga Race Course would operate its normal 40-day schedule from late July through Labor Day 2021.
Clearly that late announcement had an impact on attendance, yet remarkably at the 2021 race meet the NYRA set an all-source betting handle record of $815 million (a 15.6% increase over the prior record of $705m set in 2019).
And now comes 2022. All spring into the summer, there has been a building enthusiasm for this year’s race meeting here in Saratoga Springs, as well as with my racing colleagues throughout the country.
And guess what? The first long weekend of the meet, which started on July 14, showed a double-digit increase over the prior record-setting season!
Second week more challenging
Mind you, the second week was more challenging in two distinct areas. First, I have been a regular Saratoga attendee for over 40 years and have never experienced the consistent five days of 85-90+ degree weather that we had during this past week. Congratulations to NYRA for the manner in which they conducted the races where all jockeys and horses returned safely from each race.
Second, what about the bizarre incident during the seventh race on the Sunday July 24 card, scheduled as a maiden special weight contest on the turf?
I say ‘scheduled’, because a mechanical issue arose when the starting gate tractor created a delay in removing the gate once the field broke. Due to safety concerns communicated by the outrider stationed on the far turn to the jockeys riding in the race, several of them pulled up their mounts.
As a result, the stewards declared a ‘no contest’ and all wagers on the race were refunded. In short, it was a void race – and the track was left counting the cost financially because the seventh race was included in multiple Pick 3s as well as Pick 4, 5, and 6s. It is reasonable that NYRA refunded approximately $1.5m in handle from that one race.
Yet despite the unprecedented heat and the ‘no contest’, the total handle for the first two weeks of 2022 were up substantially compared to 12 months ago. Under the circumstances, a major reason to be cheerful.
On the track: Jockeys – Irad Ortiz leads the way
There really are few surprises in the Top Ten leading jockeys’ table through Sunday July 24. Irad Ortiz, in the first two at Saratoga since 2016, leads the way with 15 wins from 75 rides as he seeks his third jockey title at the meet – and his 20th NYRA meet title overall.
Ortiz arrived in good heart, having landed the Belmont spring-summer meet title with 48 wins; he leads all North America in prize-money terms with $17.9m.
View the current jockey standings at Saratoga
Ortiz was beaten last year at Saratoga by Luis Saez, who has ten winners so far this term – the same as reigning Eclipse Award-winning jockey Joel Rosario.
However, I think this is the strongest Saratoga jocks’ room I can remember and I can foresee a big push up the table from Flavien Prat, currently standing seventh with five wins.
Prat, the dominant figure in southern California in recent years, moved east earlier this year in a bid to catch the eye of Eclipse Award voters. “It feels like if you want to give yourself a chance to get an Eclipse Award that you need to go to New York,” he told the Daily Racing Form. “That’s just the way it is. I never thought I’d leave here, to be honest.”
Prat wasn't messing about last weekend when he popped a couple of hundred miles south to New Jersey for Saturday's rich card at Monmouth Park. The Frenchman rode a graded-stakes four-timer, all of them for Chad Brown (more on him later) highlighted by the G1 success of Adhamo in the United Nations.
Trainers – it’s the Chad and Todd Show
No surprises here. Thoroughbred Daily News have described the annual heavyweight battle between Saratoga's dominant barns as the Todd and Chad Show. Maybe these days it could be the other way round, but it is easy to understand why.
Gunning for his fifth Saratoga trainers’ title, Chad Brown – who broke the winners’ record at the recent Belmont Park meet – leads the way with nine winners already (from 41 starts).
View the current meet trainer standings at Saratoga
Brown has won four of the last six but he is just one ahead of Saratoga’s all-time leading trainer Todd Pletcher (eight from 38), who has won a record 14 trainer titles at the meet. Next up, by the way, after a strong start, is Mike Maker (seven from 28).
Horses – welcoming home for Nest at the Spa
In my view, the most impressive equine performance of the first two weeks of Saratoga was Nest’s runaway victory in the Coaching Club American Oaks on Saturday [July 23] in which the Todd Pletcher-trained filly reversed Kentucky Oaks form with Sacred Oath in no uncertain fashion.
Sacred Oath had come out two lengths to the good at Churchill Downs but Nest, runner-up to Pletcher barnmate Mo Donegal in the Belmont, seemed to have the pace advantage this time. When the speed horses in the race failed to break properly, she went on to a 12 ¼-length victory. Quite the turnaround.
While the pair may well renew rivalries in the Alabama on August 20, there has been speculation that Nest might take on the colts again in the Travers Stakes a week later.
Capital initiatives (i): Wilson Chute
There are also two new NYRA capital initiatives that should be well received by racetrack customers. The first initiative is the plan to reconstruct the Wilson Chute, which required rebuilding a proper chute to replace the one dismantled in 1992 to accommodate additional parking. That year, there were 25 races at a mile, but the chute was abandoned and never properly rebuilt.
Under the aegis of Glen Kozak, NYRA’s senior vice president operations and capital projects, a proper chute has been developed which would ensure that the run-up to the turn would be consistent and fair for all horses and their jockeys.
“It’s a thrill to be able to reconstruct a historic element of Saratoga in a way that will undoubtedly prove beneficial to the summer meet,” said Kozak, a valuable asset for NYRA and the best operations professional and racing surface expert in the industry.
In the weeks before opening day, a number of jockeys expressed safety concerns. Kozak and his team arranged with five jockeys and six trainers to set up a trial race two days before opening day.
Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez, president of the US Jockeys Guild, was among those to raise concerns and participated in the trial. “I think that this trial is a good idea,” he said. “There’s more room than I thought, and you can move the starting gate farther from the rail.”
The ability to run a mile race on the dirt at Saratoga is strategically very important. Without the mile distance on the dirt, you are restricted to races for six and seven furlongs and a mile and an eighth.
This is especially important for two-year-olds and middle-distance horses. In the first two weeks, Saratoga averaged approximately one race a day – and that’s before they ran any chute race for two-year-olds. As such, the new Wilson Chute is a major achievement for the NYRA management team.
Capital initiatives (ii): Post Bar and Paddock Suite
The second project actually launched in 2010. Over breakfast at the track, Steve Duncker, NYRA chairman at the time, convinced his friend Danny Meyer (owner of the Union Square Hospitality Group) to build a Shake Shack at Saratoga Race Course.
The first Shake Shack had opened in 2004 in Madison Square Park in New York City and the racecourse location was one of only 10 Shake Shacks in operation when it opened for the 2010 meet.
In addition to Shake Shack, NYRA built a small bar/food complex including Blue Smoke, Box Frites and the Paddock Bar. Shake Shack and the Paddock Bar have been the most popular bar and dining spots on the track since 2010.
For the 2022 race meet, NYRA is opening a new permanent two-storey structure that will replace and enhance the original Post Bar, a popular single-storey, open-air gathering spot for racing fans that had been located beneath a temporary canopy.
The second-storey Paddock Suite will feature a climate-controlled bar, lounge and outdoor balcony with sweeping views of the historic paddock. The Post Bar and Paddock Suite are located adjacent to Shake Shack, which is still operated by Union Square Hospitality Group.
Premium giveaways
Finally, no article about the opening of Saratoga Race Course is complete without a brief description of the track's regular premium giveaways. Here they are:
Friday, July 29: first giveaway of the season is a great accessory to bring to the races: a Saratoga-branded picnic blanket
Friday, August 19: long-sleeve ringer-style T-shirt, white with red sleeves
Friday, September 2: mini-umbrella, red and white featuring the traditional Saratoga logo
Enjoy the rest of the meet. I certainly will!
• View all Charles Hayward’s previous articles in his influential View from the Rail series
• Visit the NYRA Saratoga website
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