Barbara Livingston

Many of Saratoga's special moments occur far from the winner's circle.  From hawks to hearts, here's a recent sample. Above:  Another picture-perfect day breaks at the Spa.

Usually, it takes a race meet a while to heat up...but not this year, as temperatures neared 100 the first two days. I'll post random photos from the Spa, from time to time, including this first group.  

When I visit other racetracks, it’s the tug of the future that attracts me. Who will win the feature race, set a track record, or draw off to win by 10 and become a horse to watch? But at Saratoga, it’s what came before that lures me. I witnessed some of the history myself, such as Ruffian’s 1974 Spinaway and an aging, nearly blind Alfred Vanderbilt still listening to backstretch rhythms in the 1990’s.

  Evening Attire (left), 13, and Tacticianor, 7, cut through fresh snow at Akindale Farm, in Pawling, New York, in January 2011.

  Above:  Two Punch glows in the early morning light at Northview Stallion Station, Chesapeake City, Maryland. October 2004. Two Punch was as much a part of Northview Stallion Station as the barns, the grass, the office. The immensely popular stallion was there when Northview began in 1989, and he was laid to rest there this past weekend.