The festive 40 days of racing at Saratoga Race Course may be heavenly for fans, yet for horsemen there are some different sensations, such as stress and fatigue from long hours of training and the pressure of competing on the nation's premier stage.
For the horse farms that call Saratoga Springs home, there's a similar feeling.
As calm and serene as it may appear from the outside, the July 14-Sept. 5 meet is a seven-week marathon for farm owners and workers, filled with frantic, whirlwind days in which there never seems to be enough hours in the day. Just as attention is focused on the horses at the nearby popular racetrack, an inordinate number of eyes are focused on the farms. Staff has to juggle numerous jobs and perform them well during a time that will have a profound impact on farms' financial bottom line and the image it hopes to convey to existing and future clients.
"The Saratoga racing meet is the culmination of the whole package at the breeding farms in town," said John McMahon, manager of McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and the son of Joe and Anne McMahon, owners and founders of the farm.
At McMahon, like its neighbors at Sugar Plum Farm and Old Tavern Farm, being in Saratoga Springs heightens both their visibility and the stress of shining during the meet.
"During the meet, the expectations for us are so great it can be hard to meet them and put on the right presentation. Everyone is here in Saratoga at such an important meet," John McMahon said. "Some of the breeders who have horses with us are from different parts of the country, or downstate, and they don't see their babies much, so this is the visiting month. There's a lot of pressure because you want their horse to look the part. That's a hard task and it's nerve-wracking since these owners come from, let's say, (trainer) Bill Mott's barn and just looked at their $300,000 2-year-old who is running in a maiden race next week and is looking so gosh darn good. You want their baby to look just as good."
McMahon, the birthplace of 2003 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Funny Cide, is home to about 110 foals a year, illustrating the high volume of visitors once the racing season begins and emphasizing the importance of having the grounds and buildings as finely manicured and polished as possible.
"You would not believe the amount of landscaping that goes on at a farm up here during the last week in June and the first two weeks in July," said McMahon, whose farm stands Central Banker , New York's top sire in 2021. "You have guys spray-painting fences. People are mowing lawns. You are trying to get everything right because you are in the public's eye."
All of that work happens at the same time as the McMahon team will monitor and watch their racehorses or farm graduates at the nearby track and also prepare their contingent of horses for the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale in mid-August. A year ago, McMahon consigned or bought 15 horses that went under the hammer at that Saratoga sale.
"From the breeders' perspective, if you're in the commercial market, which most farms are, a big portion of our paychecks for the year comes from those two nights at Fasig-Tipton for the New York sale," McMahon said. "There's a lot of pressure because we have to get yearlings up to the standards our clients want. There's no room for a poor job if you expect to do well."
Sugar Plum Farm
Visitors to Saratoga Race Course are probably familiar with Sugar Plum Farm. Located on Gilbert Road, adjacent to exit 14 on the Northway and virtually across the street from Saratoga National Golf Course, it is probably the farm that racetrack patrons see most often on their visits to the Spa.
With such a prime location, just a relatively short walk to the racetrack, there are also responsibilities that are magnified during the racing season.
"We are a showcase. We're on the corner of 9P and across the street from Saratoga National. We're on display 12 months out of the year," said Robin Malatino, who owns and operates the farm with her husband, Anthony. "We live in Orlando for much of the year, so our reference points for lawns are Disney lawns so we've done our best to maintain that look at Sugar Plum. The horses don't always cooperate but we've tried our best from our standpoint to make it a showcase for the town all the time."
Malatino said having such a picturesque farm in a prime location plays an important role in presenting the right image for the Saratoga community.
"Being part of the new Saratoga, I always thought we needed more horse farms front and center in Saratoga," she said. "It's great to have the racing museum in town, but there are no live horses there. We have people park on the corner and watch our horses. So, we're happy to have built this farm for the community because it was really needed. I think this corner of town, with the golf course and the farm, has added a lot of value to Saratoga."
Malatino opened Sugar Plum Farm in 2005 and now has 51 horses stabled there, including her prized stallion, War Dancer , who moves to the farm in the summer after standing at Irish Hill & Duchess Views Stallions in nearby Stillwater.
A son of War Front , he is currently ranked second among New York stallions and was the second-leading sire at the 2021 Saratoga meet with seven winners. Watching and rooting for his progeny at the Spa, as well as the 15 horses she owns with a variety of partners through her Diamond M Stable, only adds to a lengthy to-do list during the summer.
"It's definitely exciting to be able to drive a mile up the road and see one of the horses you bred run in a race at a track like Saratoga.
Most of the year we can only watch them on television, so these weeks of racing are extraordinary. We're rooting for every one of his babies, which includes hundreds of horses, which makes it more than exciting," Malatino said. "After last year, it looks like his babies love Saratoga so hopefully he'll have another big meet this year."
Malatino provided War Dancer's stallion career with a boost through some ingenious marketing and social media pushes. That's hardly surprising since she and her husband organized a group to buy the floundering Saratoga Water brand in 1992. She reversed the company's fortunes before selling it by coming up with the idea of a blue bottle that has become synonymous with the product.
"I believe the blue bottle allowed Saratoga Water to become an ambassador for Saratoga all around the country," Malatino said. "People see a blue bottle and they think of Saratoga. Through that and the farm, I think we've been able to build a legacy here. At Saratoga, it's about horses, health, and history and we feel we've had an impact on two of them. That's a good feeling to have."
Old Tavern Farm
Racing fans will get a rare opportunity to see what happens on a daily horse farm this summer thanks to Old Tavern Farm.
Owners Walt and Michelle Borisenok have teamed with the New York Racing Association to offer a Breakfast and Breeding Farm tour of their operation each Friday during the meet.
"This year will be different at Old Tavern because of the Friday tours. We're trying to give people an enhanced experience in horse racing. Saratoga is a world-class venue and it's exciting to see horses race but I thought it would be great for people to see where it all starts," Walt Borisenok said.
The tour, which costs $55 for adults and $25 for children, starts with a buffet breakfast at the racetrack followed by a trolley ride to Old Tavern on Brown Rd., which is about three miles away straddling Saratoga Springs and Stillwater.
"We'll start from scratch with the visitors. We'll show them the mares and foals and talk about why we choose certain sires for certain mares, whether it's based on pedigree or conformation," Borisenok said. "We'll talk about how foals are born and raised and how they get to be called weanlings when we separate them from their moms. We'll talk about preparing horses for sales and what buyers are looking for and explain sales catalog pages. We'll mention market dynamics, explaining how a horse can be successful at producing good runners, however, sometimes it's the shiny new toy that is probably the stallion that has the most demand. Then we'll let them feed the horses and wander around for a bit before they return to the racetrack. It should be a lot of fun and educational."
Old Tavern has 10 mares that produced the foals they ultimately either race or sell, and a major component of the summer will involve preparing 10 horses for the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred sale and rooting for the farm's racehorses with trainers Ray Handal and Jorge Abreu.
"As a breeding farm, it's exciting to be so close to the racetrack and the sales. It creates a buzz. Anybody that's anybody in the racing business will be here and obviously being a breeding farm you want to put your best foot forward," said Borisenok, whose wife, Michelle, formed Brown Road Racing, a partnership for women. "We get a lot of people who just drive up to the farm and want to walk around.
"There's a lot of pressure to be at our best during this time of year, but it's also a very exciting time for us."
Exciting at the farms. Exciting at the racetrack. Welcome to summer at the horse racing oasis known as Saratoga.
