Chris Kay's Legacy: The Man Who Ruined Saratoga?

May be a bit of an overstatement.

Saratoga (the track) will never return to where it was in the 1970s, when I
first visited. Change is inevitable, and the track is, after all, located in
the small city which experienced the largest growth of any municipality in New
York State between the census years 1970 - 2000 (31.5% population increase).

I do not know how all this on site development is allowed to continue, but as
best as I can ascertain the Spa is not on the National Registry of Historic
Places nor does it enjoy "landmark" status, which may have been helpful with
regards to slowing/stopping the type of development being discussed by Dick
Powell and Tom Noonan.

The removal of trees from the paddock area is an [i]infamiglia[/i] and I can
only hope that they are replaced with some younger timber somewhere on the
grounds.

The only renovation which Saratoga really ever needed was a thorough, yet
hopefully tasteful, renovation of the ancient grandstand, with updated
concession areas, comfort facilities and seating. Strangely, this overhaul was
never undertaken, but we have new structures such as the additional seating on
the clubhouse turn, and the Shake Shack and Blue Smoke eateries, which
partially owe their presence to the friendship between restaurant owner Danny
Meyer and former NYRA big C. Steven Duncker.

Turning the picnic tables into profit centers is both inevitable and not really
imaginative. I will not turn thumbs down on expanding the backyard into the
trackside parking area until I see the final results, but the problem with this
sort of renovation is that it is very hard to return toothpaste to the tube.

Maybe sometime in the 2030s, if pari-mutuel racing is still being conducted,
there will be a movement to "retrofit" Saratoga to the magical days of the
1970s, before the Spa was transformed into a Frank Stronach style multi-purpose
facility.

Kay will get the flak for bringing about the further "strip mallization" of the
Saratoga facility, but this process started when Aqueduct and Belmont began to
slide into decrepitude and Saratoga became the only NYRA property where growth
(and all of growth's negative bi-products) was feasible.

If the current round of development makes the backyard unbearable, remember the
alternative is to beat the ever increasing parking, admission and concession
fees and to spend a day watching the races at Saratoga Harness, the only
drawback being that that facility is at least partially owned by the evil
empire, Churchill Downs.