I’ve been going to the Spa since 1973 and yesterday is without a doubt the most insane day ever.....

Amenities, changes, upgrades, marketing to attract new fans, I get it.....
Times change and The Spa kept its “lost in time” charm well past its expiration date. I have never been shy about expressing my opinions in life and much more so when it comes to this very special place.

The give away days have kept the Spa in the news, attracted new folks to the race track as well as creating a cottage industry on eBay for Saratoga related junk.
Yesterday they were giving away with $7 paid admission a Spa zip up hoodie. A pretty basic gray sweat shirt with some red lettering on the upper left side
Saratoga Race Course or something to that effect. By the 3rd race yesterday you could find them on eBay for $25. The quality was not good, fashion wise it would be in the Uncle Bill line. You could buy a similar product for about $10 bucks at any Champion outlet.

The announced crowd was 46,000 plus, Travers Day it was 48,000 plus. Once again
NYRA attendance figures have been VOODOO for years counting season pass and ticket holders daily. My buddy Doug who has missed only a handful of days at the Nelson Ave gate collecting for our Veterans in the past 10 years and is as good a judge of crowds as anyone. He certainly is better than NYRA’s GE accounting practices, swears it dwarfed Travers Day. He said in no uncertain terms it was the busiest day he had seen since the American Pharoah Travers.

By 10:30 AM for those that know the layout the lines stretched on Nelson Ave down to the Horseshoe and on Union Ave almost to the Yadoo Gardens. Fairmount, Belmont 3 and I arrived at the track about 11:50, 40 minutes before the first post. The lines were absurd. We went to the Trackside Grill and watched the first two races there with many others who refused to stand in an insane line. After the 2nd race we ventured over to the Siro’s Side of the clubhouse entrance and gained entry in a few minutes. The general line was still out to Nelson Ave and wrapped around the fence.

Can you imagine this in the old days before phone/tablet wagering? There would have been a riot with horseplayers (Remember them NYRA) getting shut out of the double for a sweat shirt!!!

It was very crowded inside and chaotic as we entered between the 2nd/3rd races as hordes of spinners were leaving the track at the same time with armfuls of sweat shirts. The Mac/Cheese truck ran out of food, Hattie’s sold over 400 lbs of chicken. Many once they got inside waited another 2 hours in line for their hoodie.

The crowd was thinning by the time the Empire 6 was going off. As the top 2 yr old fillies in the country stepped onto the track for the 128th running of The Spinaway the old Spa was a Ghost Town, less then 10K left in the house for the feature race of the day......

It ain’t about racing or gambling anymore......

Frank D.
No I did not get or want a hoodie 😎