Once again, Saratoga opens to bustling business
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- D. Wayne Lukas drove into the stable gate on the Oklahoma training track around 4 a.m. Thursday and the Hall of Fame trainer was taken aback by how many parked cars he passed on Nelson Avenue.
“I said to the guard, ‘What the hell is this?” Lukas said. “He said, ‘They were lined up all night waiting for the gate to open up and get a picnic table.’ “
It was just a reminder to the 86-year-old Lukas -- who was making his return to Saratoga after a two-year hiatus -- the enthusiasm there is for Saratoga.
“It’s the only place where tradition is still part of the equation,” Lukas said. “I love being back.”
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From large early-morning crowds to a pop-up rain shower right before the first race -- that gave way to bright sunshine before the race went official -- to bustling business at the mutuel windows, traditions new and old were on display on Thursday’s opening of the 154th Saratoga meet.
All-sources handle for Thursday’s 10-race card was $21,764,922, just about even with last year’s figure of $21,935,534. It’s the fourth time in six years, all-sources handle topped $20 million. Ontrack handle Thursday was $4,264,343, a 5.9 percent increase over the $4,023,700 handled in 2021. Paid attendance Thursday was 28,466, a 2.5 percent increase over last year’s figure of 27,760.
“It’s a strong opening day,” Dave O’Rourke, NYRA’s president and CEO said. “It’s probably an indication really of the tourism up here. Even more so than us, I think it’s indicative of people want to get out and travel again. Usually, opening week is more of a local thing, but the box seat area being so full tells me the out-of-town people are in town already this year. That’s a really good sign for everybody.”
The New York Racing Association introduced two new things at Saratoga Thursday. First, the Post Bar and Paddock Suite -- a two-story bar area right above the paddock was bustling. The upper level gives patrons a terrific view of the paddock as well as the horses leaving the paddock and heading to the track.
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Second, the first race held out of the new Wilson Chute went off without a hitch as Tarabi won the $135,000 Wilton Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The chute allows for one-mile dirt races to be run here for the first time since 1992. The chute itself hadn’t been in existence since 1972.
The race scratched down from nine horses to seven and jockeys expressed satisfaction with the way the race went as there was no trouble entering the first turn. The riders will likely meet with management to discuss whether to allow a maximum of eight or 10 horses in races moving forward.
Javier Castellano, who won the race, said 10 horses out of the chute “is definitely going to be tight. But definitely eight horses, no question about it.”
Castellano, a two-time leading rider at Saratoga, won three races on the card. He was the only rider or trainer with multiple wins.
Marcelo Arenas won his first race at Saratoga when Winter Son ($89) lit up the tote board in race 6 and paved the way for a $120,364 pick six carryover into Friday’s card.
Luis Saez, who was leading rider at the 2021 meet with 64 victories, won Thursday’s first race, rallying Royal Tryst ($13.20) in a $20,000 claiming race that started right at the finish line. The crowd on the apron would have been larger had it not started to pour rain about 15 minutes before the first race.
Mike Maker, the trainer of Royal Tryst, was actually thankful that it started to rain when it did because Royal Tryst had two previous wins on a wet track.
“The last-minute ran sure helped him,” Maker said. “I thought it was coming in a little late, but any moisture in the track he relishes.”
But the rain quickly went away, the clouds gave way to bright blue skies and sunshine.
NYRA management hopes that’s a sign of what lies ahead the rest of the summer.