You would possibly call to mind Saratoga Race Course as a theater.
There is the behind the scenes space, identified in racing because the backstretch. In the morning, well-to-do horse homeowners combine with running shoes, workout riders and grooms as they get ready for the afternoon display. Horses are washed and brushed. Tours come via with curious enthusiasts eyeballing the entire scene.
On the opposite facet of the curtain is the racetrack, the place pricey thoroughbreds race for tens of 1000’s of bucks, or extra, 10 instances an afternoon, and the grandstand, which has its personal mingling of hard-core horseplayers along native households on an inexpensive time out.
Fans arrive in the early morning hours to stake out a picnic desk, whose price soars just about to precious by the point racing begins. On a large day, house is at a top rate, with the well-heeled and dressed-up sitting in non-public packing containers with names like Whitney and Phipps on them and the fewer lucky scrambling for a spot on the rail.
Once a four-week dash, Saratoga’s race assembly has grown so fashionable that it’s been expanded to almost 8 weeks, with the rustic’s maximum vital summer time racing. The largest race, the Travers Stakes on Aug. 26, was once gained by means of Arcangelo, the Belmont Stakes winner, defeating Mage, the Kentucky Derby winner, and National Treasure, the Preakness winner.
Still, the celebratory temper has been dampened by means of the deaths of a dozen horses, which has sparked scientific reforms and attention of a transformation to the observe’s floor.
The meet ends on Monday with the Hopeful Stakes, for 2-year-olds whose homeowners are dreaming of subsequent yr’s Triple Crown and Travers.