Ehalt: The Silence Spoke Volumes at Saratoga

My first day at Saratoga Race Course was spent in 1974. Aug. 23, 1974, to be exact. My recollection was that it was a serene setting with a relatively small crowd of people for that era. Maybe 18,000 people. After sharing Belmont Park with 82,000 other people on my first day at the races, and, after that, being a part of crowds of about 25,000 or more at Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack, the building seemed somewhat empty, lacking the clusters of people that filled the downstate facilities. Even the nearby downtown area was quiet and pretty mundane. Yet, while walking around the historic track absorbing each new image, it proved to be a placid yet invigorating environment with its wooden structure and Victorian era charm, making it a pleasurable change of pace from the far more modern facilities downstate. The racing was tremendous that weekend, with Ruffian running a hole in the wind while winning the Spinaway Stakes (G1), and Foolish Pleasure taking a division of the Hopeful Stakes (G1) a day later on a Saturday when a larger crowd of about 25,000 turned out for the final day of the meet. It would take me another four years to build up the financial wherewithal to return to Saratoga, and by then a change was underway. In the year of Affirmed and Alydar, the crowds in 1978 were beginning to rival the turnout at the New York Racing Association's other tracks, which were in a tailspin due to off-track betting. It didn't take long for a deep appreciation of the revived and thriving racetrack and town to grow. It became a joy to spend time amidst the fresh air, good restaurants, and a community that embraced horse racing—which was a revelation for a young man who had grown up several football fields away from one of Belmont Park's parking lots and was surrounded by neighbors who viewed racing as a nuisance. There was delight from the simple act of buying a newspaper, reading the pages of the Albany Times-Union, and seeing the photo finish pictures from the previous day's races, even when one of those images caused me to dine at McDonald's instead of Panza's by the lake. As the years progressed, weekends at Saratoga became a staple and highlight of my life. In the past 42 years, I probably missed only two or three years due to family obligations, and each year when I left the track for the final time there was always a feeling of sadness about the meet coming to an end too soon and an eagerness for another year to roll around. But not this year. It has been said more times than anyone can count how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives so dramatically, yet some six months after coronavirus took a fatal grip on the New York City area, it still rattles the senses to see how it has impacted the world we have come to know. With Belmont Park set to open Sept. 18, the memories of 2020 at the Spa are still fresh and all together unsettling. As much as Saratoga conducted 40 days of racing this year, without fans pumping vitality into the racetrack, it was a meet virtually everyone will prefer to forget than remember. To its credit, NYRA did a tremendous job of working with the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and other groups and agencies to create a safe environment for racing. There were no COVID-19 positives at either Saratoga or Belmont Park during the meet, which, in real life terms, was the highlight of the meet. The racing office, under the direction of senior vice president of racing operations Martin Panza, shuffled the stakes schedule and teamed with horsemen to produce some great racing, such as a classic Spa upset when Calumet Farm's Vexatious posted a heart-stopping victory by a neck over the champion mare Midnight Bisou in the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1). Besides that, the stars of the sport were surely on display in the form of Tiz the Law, Rushing Fall, Improbable, By My Standards, Tom's d'Etat, Swiss Skydiver, Volatile, Gamine, Serengeti Empress, Sistercharlie (IRE), and the 2-year-old Jackie's Warrior. Yet the quiet inside the Spa spoke volumes and produced sights no one could have ever expected to see. On day one of the meet, when only essential personnel were allowed on the grounds, it seemed no different than a day at Belmont, where racing was conducted under the same protocols. But as time went by, the differences from past years at such a beloved and historic venue became jarring to see on a daily basis. A limited number of owners were allowed in for day two and the rest of the 40 days, but with the grandstand, clubhouse, and 1863 Club closed for the meet, at first owners and horseman had to spend their time sitting in picnic tables near the paddock with limited refreshment and food options. It was indeed odd to see people like owner Peter Brant, dapper as always in a light summer suit, sitting at a picnic table with a mask on, and NYRA president and CEO Dave O'Rourke and prominent owner Michael Dubb sharing one some 15 yards away. After a few weeks, that situation changed for the better when the paddock bar area and Shake Shack opened to provide a more comfortable stay for owners. Yet walking around the track, it was more like early June than mid-August. Picnic tables, chairs, recycling pails, and other items were stacked together and still in hibernation from the winter. Storage boxes were stacked in the track's Hall of Fame. An empty vendor's booth was placed in front of the paddock betting windows. The grandstand apron and box seats were deserted as if it was a dark day. Leaving at night, the lights were on inside the modern, one-year-old 1863 Club on the clubhouse turn, even though no one had been inside the building. The town showed more signs of life as the meet went on, but there were far less people filling the streets than a typical August. Restrictions due to the pandemic led to smaller gatherings in restaurants and bars. The Saratoga Performing Arts Center was closed. In a sign of the times, for the first time in recent memory, hotels about 30 miles away in Lake George cost more than Saratoga Springs during the racing season. During Runhappy Travers Week, a leading downtown hotel offered a rate of about $100 a day for a five-day stay, which was about one-fourth of last year's price. On race days, the empty blocks around the Spa were an eerie sight, especially on Nelson Avenue, where residents have been parking cars in their backyard for generations. Instead there was no traffic or people, just "No parking" signs and a hallmark of the meet: quiet. There were, of course, some positives. The weather was great, there was good racing, and fine betting opportunities, the television coverage was outstanding, and, on the media side, Pat McKenna, Keith McCalmont, Tony Podlaski, and the rest of the NYRA media relations team deserve a tip of the hat for coordinating coverage of the races in a safe and effective manner during a highly problematic time. In a sign of normalcy, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame opened Labor Day weekend. Though there was not an induction ceremony due to the pandemic, the 2020 edition of the museum featured some delightful innovations and additions that featured a highly entertaining 16-minute film about the sport presented on high-tech dropdown screens, interactive presentations such as Hall of Fame plaques on nine touch screens in the same room, and a race caller booth where fans can call a famous race and make an audio file of it. Seeing the rich history of the sport presented in such a state-of-the-art manner warmed the heart and was reassuring that all may be fine one day. Yet amidst all that, lovers of the sport could only lament how moments that could have been unforgettable with the right circumstances slipped away from us. Just imagine what the scene would have been like if fans could have cheered on Tiz the Law to victory in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1). Given his popularity and a large Saratoga-based ownership group, without question there would have been 50,000 energized fans on hand to rattle the rafters with the same kind of deafening roar that Rachel Alexandra generated in the 2009 Woodward Stakes (G1). Instead, we had 40 days of stark reminders of how the world has been a much different—and not better—place in the last six months. The true tragedy of the pandemic is how a hideous illness robbed the last breath from more than 900,000 people. But it also took life away from all of us. Everyone has a different take on what's special for them and adds joy to their life, and in the racing world there's a legion of people whose life is filled with uplifting memories of days spent at Saratoga and who look forward to a chance to experience new thrills each year. That feeling did not materialize this year, and at this moment no one can offer a guarantee that 2021 will hit a rewind button and bring us back to the world as it was in 2019. Yet we can hope, or pray, or do whatever is needed to end the pandemic, so that parts of our life, like the 2020 Saratoga meet, can become one-and-done memories that we will never have to revisit again. Considering how precious, and short, life can be, that seems a fair request.