Saratoga Horse Racing
Saratoga racecourse was built by William Travers and the first Chairman of the Jockey Club, John Hunter. It opened last August 3, 1863. It is located at southernmost foothills of the Adirondack Region in New York City and it’s the oldest venue that uses any kind of sports in United States. Saratoga racecourse is mostly active only for horse racing starting on the month of July until September yearly.
In this race track, they are running 3 separate tracks in their main course. First is the Main Dirt Track, second is the 1 Mile Outer Turf Track and last is the Inner Turf Track. Other than these 3 tracks, they also run other races like Graded Stakes Races.
These graded stakes races are, Grade I Stakes races such as; Alabama Stakes, Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, Ballerina Handicap, Coaching Club American Oaks, Diana Handicap, Forego Handicap, Go For Wand Handicap, Hopeful Stakes, King’s Bishop Stakes, Personal Ensign Stakes, Ruffian Handicap, Spinaway Stakes, Sword Dancer Handicap, Test Stakes, Travers Stakes, Whitney Handicap and Woodward Stakes
Here are the Grade II Stake’s races: Adirondack Stakes, Amsterdam Stakes, Ballston Spa Handicap, Bernard Baruch Handicap, Fourstardave Handicap, Honorable Miss Handicap, Jim Dandy Stakes, Lake George Stakes, Lake Placid Handicap, National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes, Sanford Stakes and Saratoga Special Stakes.
Grade III Stakes races are as follows: Glens Falls Handicap, Saranac Stakes, Schuylerville Stakes, Victory Ride Stakes and With Anticipation Stakes. And the last two Stakes races are Ungraded Stakes and Steeplechase.
Saratoga race track is very popular to their two names: first is “THE SPA”, meaning For The Nearby Mineral Springs, and the other one is “THE GRAVEYARD OF CHAMPIONS” which means, For The Upsets That Have Occurred There. On year 1999, this race track was on the top #10 as the 20th Century’s Sports Venue of all horse racing tracks. But sadly, because of the tragic event that the Hurricane Irene caused, on the fifth time in the history of Saratoga racecourse, they closed it again on August 28, 2011.
This racetrack always ended up closed because of weather or economical reasons. The last 4 reasons why they really need to close the race track is because of World War II, in year 1911 and year 1912 was due to economical reason and before the Hurricane Irene was due to heat wave that hit the Eastern Seaboard last August 2, 2006. When you have a horse racing venue that is going back to 1863 you have a ton of history associated with Saratoga. So if not for the best horse racing in the United States you will be very impressed with the rich history of this New York track. As you can see it has some very important races that are run throughout the year including a few major prep races. So when you get the chance take a trip to Saratoga for some amazing horse racing you will be very glad that you did.
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