saratoga living August 2108 issue

all access HOW MARYLOU WHITNEY SAVED HORSE RACING IN SARATOGA

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T HE CIT Y. THE CU LT U R E. T H E LIFE.

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AUGUST 2018

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august 2018

features the races!

48 Art Before The Horse

76

W ILL LEV IT H PH OTOGR A PHY BY T R AC EY B U YC E

{exclusive} JOSÉ AND IRAD ORTIZ: O BROTHERS, WHERE ART THOU?

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P HOTOG R AP HY BY S U S I E R A I SH E R E X C L U S I V E LY F O R saratoga living

BY

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57

WHY RACING MATTERS IN SARATOGA BY

M IK E K A N E L AW REN C E W H IT E

PH OTOGR A PHY BY

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10 QUESTIONS WITH BOB BAFFERT BY

MIKE K ANE

I LLUST R AT I ON BY J O H N DA LY E X C L U S I V E LY F O R saratoga living

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SARATOGA’S RACING ROOTS BY

B RIEN B O U Y E A

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STARLADIES RACING: WHO RUNS THE WORLD? BY

K AREN BJORNLAND L AW R E N C E W HI TE

P ORT R AI T BY

MARYLOU WHITNEY: THE SAVIOR BY

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ERIC GUILLOT: TRAINING DAY BY

J O E ‘ WO O DY ’ WO O D

HARNESS RACING, AN APPRECIATION BY

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august 2018

NEXT

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RACING 2.0 B RIEN B O U Y E A

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RIDING INTO THE SUNSET N ATA LIE M O O RE

BY

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FUTUREWORLD: HORSE RACING N ATA LIE M O O RE

BY

123

SIRO’S: THE HQ BY

LIZ Z IE H U N T ER

124 Mary McCartney: White Magic BY

K A REN B JO RN L A N D

132 Back In The USA BY

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134 Wow! Skidmore’s The Best In The Nation BY

W ILL LEV IT H

specials 164 saratoga living Food + Drink Guide 2018

172 TOP DOCS: Upstate New York

18 The Team 20 Extra: BTS 22 From The Editor

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Retirement planning

25 It’s True (We Think) 25 Saratoga By The Numbers 26 The Answers 26 Say What?

27 Power Player: Chris Kay 30 Retail: Horse Play 32 Planet: Horsing Around

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ON THE COVER Superstar siblings Irad and José Ortiz

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EDITORS AT LARGE

were photographed by SUSIE RAISHER exclusively for saratoga living.

Shot on location at Belmont Park in Elmont, NY.

Kathleen Gates Will Levith Natalie Moore Anne Newgarden Linda Gates Marco Medrano Colin Cowie Abby Tegnelia Bill Henning Todd Kingston Plummer Lizzie Hunter Jeff Dingler Erika Phenner Monika LaPlante Hakan Akyuz Lawrence White Dori Fitzpatrick Madeline Conroy, Payton Huntington, Chloe Krammel (DESIGN), Sarah Midani Greg Calejo, Susan Gates

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Karen Bjornland, Brien Bouyea, Tony Case, Kyan Douglas Kate Doyle Hooper, Teresa A. Genaro, Cornelia Guest Mike Kane, Simon Murray, Octavio Roca, Kevin Sessums WRITERS

Rosie Case, Rebecca Hardiman, Jacqueline Kuron, Jordan Levin, Sandy MacDonald Maria McBride Bucciferro, Katie Navarra, Mario Quirce, Mitch Rustad Lindsey Shumway, Michael Slezak, Beverly Tracy, Joe “Woody” Wood ARTISTS / PHOTOGRAPHERS

Kyle Adams, Meaghan Aldridge, Dave Bigler, Tracey Buyce, Pamela Camargo David Cowles, Francesco D’Amico, John Daly, Anna Murray, Ian Parker Terri-Lynn Pellegri, Susie Raisher, Robert Risko, Myrna Suárez, Scott Teitler, TJ Tracy

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Volume 20, No.5, August 2018 Copyright © 2018 Saratoga Living LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission from Saratoga Living LLC. All editorial queries should be directed to editorial@saratogaliving.com; or sent to 422 Broadway, Suite 203, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

saratoga living assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

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architecture, interior design & construction management 518.587.7120 | phinneydesign.com | Saratoga Springs, NY

Cinema Saturdays @ SPAC

the team BRIEN BOUYEA is the author of

the book Bare Knuckles & Saratoga Racing: The Remarkable Life Of John Morrissey (The History Press) and Communications Director at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. “My job affords me the opportunity to delve into the rich history of Thoroughbred racing, but sometimes it’s fun to look into the future,” he says. “I believe racing’s next chapter could turn out to be as glorious as its celebrated past.”

TERESA A. GENARO, a prolific

horse racing writer and high school English teacher, grew up in Saratoga Springs, where her parents passed the horse racing bug on to her.

“Everything you read about the Ortiz brothers makes you think they must be too good to be true: They’re

talented, mature and grounded,” she says. “That impression is only amplified when you talk to them and the people who know them. It’s no small accomplishment to have not a single person with a negative thing to say about you.”

MARIA McBRIDE BUCCIFERRO is a Saratoga Springs-based writer and editor who’s served on the staff of The Record, the Post-Star, the Times Union and saratoga living, where she was previously Editor. “When Marylou Whitney arrived here as a newlywed in 1958 and found the city and the track ‘dead,’ she used her imagination and money to liven them up, saving them both, with humor, not snobbery.

Marylou’s a cross between Lady Gaga, Grace Kelly and Gracie Allen—with a touch of Mother Teresa, too.”

SUSIE RAISHER is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program, and has worked on the frontside and backside of some of horse racing’s premiere tracks, most recently as an in-demand photographer and social media specialist. “Irad and José Ortiz are lovely and have long been a delight to have on the NYRA circuit,” she says. “They’re terrific riders, always polite and never lacking a smile for anyone who crosses their paths.”

Bring a blanket, grab some popcorn and join us under the stars for Cinema Saturdays @ SPAC! Complete films with live score performed

by The Philadelphia Orchestra

JOE ‘WOODY’ WOOD is an avid horse racing fan, a widely known raconteur and proud owner of the legendary Woody’s Barbershop near Downtown Saratoga Springs.

“Thoroughbred trainer Eric Guillot is the kindest, gentlest, funniest, craziest and most outgoing man I know,” he says. “I’m proud to be his friend.”

JOHN DALY is a Saratoga Springs-based illustrator and cartoonist. His clients include the Chicago Tribune, Newsday, The Boston Globe and The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Drawing Bob Baffert was a lot of fun,” he says.

“It was a nice change of pace not having to draw a political figure, and it was pretty easy coming up with his likeness, given his trademark white hair and sunglasses.”

saturday

⁄ AUGUST 2018

saturday

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone TM in Concert

saturday

Justin Freer, conductor John Williams, composer (complete with film)

Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert

HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & TM Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. J.K. ROWLING`S WIZARDING WORLDTM J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Publishing Rights © JKR. (s18)

Constantine Kitsopolous, conductor John Williams, composer (complete with film)

August 11 8 pm

© 2018 & TM LUCASFILM LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © DISNEY Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Warner/Chappell Music.

JOHN DALY

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18 saratoga living

August 4 8 pm

Find Your Center Visit spac.org for ways to save on SPAC tickets!

spac.org

SPAC Box Office

(518) 584-9330

August 18 8 pm

The Red Violin with Joshua Bell Michael Stern, conductor Joshua Bell, violin John Corigliano, composer (complete with film)

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SO MANY CHOICES, SO FEW PAGES. #behindthescenes P HOTOG R AP HY BY S U S I E R A I S H E R E X C L U S I V E LY F O R saratoga living

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from the editor

horses

elling the truth, as I found out in stark terms, may not always be the best policy.

Some years ago, I was the newly minted Editor in Chief of 7x7, what became San Francisco’s premier luxury magazine, and simultaneously, I was the Consulting Editor for the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine. In other words, of the three most-read magazines in the City By The Bay, I was editorially in charge of two of them.

At an awards gala about a year into my dual roles, I happened to mention that, since I’m prone to migraine headaches from the tannins found in wine, I rarely have the pleasure of drinking it. Instantly, a heavy, awkward silence fell over what had been a light-hearted room just moments earlier. Everyone in the large space avoided eye contact with me. It was a bizarre, highly uncomfortable situation, simply because I had admitted to the apparently unforgivable crime of not drinking Napa Valley’s finest—for medical reasons! The sting of that event soon carried me straight out of San Francisco and back into the much more tolerant embrace of my beloved New York City.

Enter horses.

Relax—horse racing, as far as I know, doesn’t trigger any personal malady, but, in truth, I’ve never attended a single race on a horse track (or any track, for that matter). I guess the thought of sitting in the hot sun all afternoon, waiting around for several races, didn’t interest me enough to jump at a few opportunities I’ve had over the course of my career to attend horse racing events, including the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. But, here in Saratoga Springs, the historical and glamorous epicenter of American horse racing, I find myself the Editor in Chief of the city’s best magazine by far. And I couldn’t be happier about that.

So, yes, I’ll be there on Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course, screaming at my picks as they come down the stretch and genuinely taking it all in as I check off yet another item on my ever-shrinking Bucket List of firsts. track suit Our EIC readies for his Like most of us, I grew up being taught to treat animals with love and respect. As a child, my family had always adopted stray or rescue dogs first trip to Saratoga’s fabled track.

(Titina, Samantha, Hippie) and, later, as an adult, apartment life in Manhattan dictated that cats (Peanut, Estee) were easier to care for, given my hectic schedule. But the idea of coming home to living creatures who have such an uncomplicated love for you in this complicated world is a feeling that, quite literally, never gets old. At least for me.

And though, of course, I do know that horses—particularly magnificent Thoroughbreds—are hardly household pets, I will still show them no less reverence and love, even as I cheer them on at the track this season. After all, I don’t want to ever experience anything like that bizarre situation I had in San Francisco in my newly adopted (gorgeous) town of Saratoga.

This I know for sure: Horse racing will definitely not give me migraines. But I can’t promise I won’t have a slightly elevated heart rate as my favorite pony is heading for the finish line. Now, that’s a medical condition I truly look forward to experiencing in the flesh.

See you at the races!

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518.306.6690 Richard Pérez-Feria EDITOR IN CHIEF

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Be verlyTrac y.Com

the front Saratoga By The Numbers

10

BOATUPSTATENY.COM

The number of Triple Crown winners who’ve raced at Saratoga

37

Every day is a vacation on a boat!

The number of graded stakes to be contested during Saratoga Race Course’s 40-day meet in 2018

14

The number of riding titles won

by Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero, Jr. at Saratoga (a track record)

1:59.36

The fastest time ever recorded for a 1¼-mile race at Saratoga, which was clocked by Arrogate in the 2016 Travers Stakes

5

(Sign) CHELSEA MOORE

The record number of times Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano has won the Travers Stakes: Bernardini (2006), Afleet Express (2010), Stay Thirsty (2011), V.E. Day (2014) and Keen Ice (2015)

1

Number of times Man o’ War lost in his remarkable 21-race career (it took place in the Sanford Memorial Stakes at Saratoga in 1919, which was won by a horse named Upset; Man o’ War won five times at Saratoga, including the 1920 Travers)

It’s True (We Think)

Course Correction

E

IS SARATOGA RACE COURSE THE OLDEST RACETRACK IN THE NATION? UM, NO. n BY NATALIE MOORE

very town wants to have the best, biggest or oldest something. (It doesn’t really matter what—Stone Mountain, GA’s claim to fame is the world’s largest exposed piece of granite.) So it’s only natural that Saratogians would try to claim their crown jewel—Saratoga Race Course—as the nation’s oldest track. We’ve heard a couple assertions that, unequivocally, Saratoga is the oldest racetrack in the country. We’ve also read that it’s the oldest organized sporting venue in the country, per The Huffington Post.

And saratoga.com says that the track is the third oldest racecourse in the US, but is the oldest organized sporting venue in the country. How that can be true, we’re not entirely sure.

So we asked one of the right track Saratoga Race Course has been open saratoga living’s since the 1860s during the Civil War. contributors (and a horse racing expert) to set the record straight once and for all. “Saratoga Race Course is not the oldest sporting venue in the country,” says Brien Bouyea, Director of Communications at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. “It’s not even the oldest racetrack in the country.” That honor goes to Freehold Raceway in New Jersey, which dates back to the 1830s, he says, though it officially opened in 1854. There’s also California’s Pleasanton Fairgrounds Racetrack, which opened in 1858. (Saratoga Race Course’s debut didn’t occur until 1864, during the Civil War.) Bouyea thinks the rumors exist because of the prominence of the Saratoga meet. “If you want to say it’s the oldest major Thoroughbred track in the country, that’s true,” he says. “It also predates any stadiums in Major League Baseball or football or any of those sports.”

So, it turns out, Saratoga Race Course isn’t really the biggest or oldest anything. But if you want to brag about our city in a factually correct (albeit slightly biased) way, go with, “Saratoga has the best racecourse in the country.” There's very little to debate in that.

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saratogaliving.com 25

the front the

answers WHAT’S ONE SURPRISING TRICK USED FOR GROOMING A HORSE? “Our breed, Gypsy Vanners, have unique hair called ‘feather’ from the knees down. We use mineral oil to condition and keep it clean.”

–MISHA DUVERNOY, Co-owner, Sugar Hill Acres

=SA

Y W H AT ? =

illustration by

Power Player

The Boss

DAVID COWLES

e x c l u s i v e ly f o r saratoga living

NYRA’S PRESIDENT AND CEO, CHRIS KAY, ON THE THRILL OF A TRIPLE CROWN AND WHAT LIES AHEAD IN SARATOGA.

BY TONY CASE

DO HORSES MAKE GOOD PETS? “Horses make wonderful companions but are a big responsibility.

If you’re willing to commit to all of the work that comes with horses, the memories and friendship you form with your horse are priceless.”

–MADDY ZANETTI, Co-owner, Impressions of Saratoga

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26 saratoga living

⁄ AUGUST 2018

Chris Kay, will loom large at Saratoga Race Course this summer.

E “It’s August.

I need some Saratoga.”

–CELEBRITY CHEF, BOBBY FLAY

NYRA

WHAT’S THE FIRST STEP TO BUYING A RACEHORSE? “A prospective owner needs to determine, within his or her financial means, what his or her goals are as an owner (seeking to own claiming-type or stakes horses). The owner then needs to find a trainer that he or she trusts who has a proven record with the type of horses to be acquired.”

–BRIAN CULNAN, Managing Partner, Epona Racing Stable

special kay NYRA’s leader,

ven if you’re not into horse racing, you simply had to get a charge from three-year-old colt Justify’s electrifying sweep of the Triple Crown, when he won the 150th Belmont Stakes. (I know I did.) Aside from his owners—who cashed in on his impressive run at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes—perhaps no one was as euphoric as Chris Kay, President and CEO of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), one of the largest Thoroughbred horse racing organizations in the US and operator of Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack and our own Saratoga Race Course, home of the country’s most storied racing meet.

Much of the success of NYRA, which drives more than $2.1 billion in economic impact each year and is responsible for more than 17,000 jobs, can be attributed to Kay, who took charge in 2013, following leadership roles at The Trust for Public Land and Universal Parks & Resorts.

Before Kay, NYRA had experienced years

the front of financial difficulty, but since his arrival, it’s generated steady profits and spawned innumerable innovations that include multimillion-dollar capital improvements, the launch of an online wagering platform and expanded television coverage.

Kay gave saratoga living a sneak peek of what Saratogians can expect from another action-packed season at the Saratoga Race Course.

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ON YOUR CHANCES OF SEEING JUSTIFY AT SARATOGA I hope he comes to Saratoga, just like [2015 Triple Crown winner] American Pharoah did.

We’ll do what we have to, to make that happen. Bob Baffert made it clear he wants to race the horse again, but we want to listen to the horse. We want to give him time to rest and see how he recuperates. We’ve certainly made our intentions known.

ON NYRA’S UPGRADES TO THE RACETRACK Saratoga is the jewel of horse racing in America. This is hallowed ground—those are not just words. We’ve dedicated a great deal of investment to enhance the experience. (Kay’s referring to new and modern guest boxes, where patrons can wager, watch races, call an Uber and even order food from vendors via tablet computers; the addition of more than 1000 video screens throughout the facility; expanded picnic facilities; a renovated play area for kids; and a racing Walk of Fame. For more, see page 102.)

ON KEEPING SARATOGA’S BUSINESS BOOMING We have a significant economic impact on the Saratoga region—several hundred million dollars a year are generated by the 40-day meet.

We employ a lot of people and have a huge impact on jobs with this sport, and we take that very seriously.

ON YOUR CHANCES OF MEETING HIM AT THE TRACK I wear my name tag as I walk around. I want people to come to me with their comments, questions and criticisms. We want to treat everyone like a guest in our home.

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the front

toga pride Soave Faire

on Broadway sells numerous horse-related novelties including a cactus-scented cowgirl air freshener; (left) a toy horse shows off his favorite city.

Retail

Horse Play SARATOGA’S A TOWN FULL OF EQUINE TRINKETS: CLOTHES, COSTUMES, BOOZE AND FOOD. HERE ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST.

BY KAREN BJORNLAND n PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAWRENCE WHITE

H

orse poop candy, horseshoes studded with jewels and crazy socks that shout “I go to the track.”

Yep, we’ve got them all in Saratoga Springs. I live around here, so I don’t need any souvenirs à la horse. But every track season, I pick up

a few for Saratoga-infatuated relatives and friends. Trotting up and down Broadway, I look for the horsey gifts that will make them snort with laughter. Can you imagine walking into a party dressed as a jockey? At Impressions of Saratoga, souvenir central, they’ve got red-and-

hoss sauce The Drunken Horse is a wine or liquor bottle holder that looks like a horse hitting the sauce.

white diamond-patterned costumes, complete with white pants and black fabric boots, an outfit that would be a scream for Halloween.

Then there’s the Drunken Horse, a wine or liquor bottle-holder that looks like a boozed-up bronco guzzling your best vodka. Crafters Gallery and Impressions sell those guys. Crafters is also where I saw the decorated horseshoes, made from real metal ones that, at one point, pounded the track.

Over at Silverwood, which sells items for expert homemakers, customers are attracted to a rack of horse-themed men’s socks. “Socks are fun and extremely popular,” says Co-owner Charlene Wood.

This summer, the shop is

selling one-of-a-kind custom Saratoga socks. In Soave Faire, an arts emporium known for its hats, I found a Cowgirl Air Freshener (cactus scented) for my car and Pokey, the stretchy orange toy pony, and his green pal, Gumby. Farther up Broadway, G. Willikers sells pony sticks for the kiddies.

With this old-fashioned toy, the little ones can gallop around the room pretending to ride a horse. (Anyone remember Romper Room?)

Did someone say “horse on a stick”? OK, I admit it.

I love the chocolate horse pops at Saratoga Candy Co. I bite the ears and lick the nose, just like a little kid.

And that’s not all: The shop makes Pony Plops, horse manure-like chocolate bark, chocolate horseshoes and Saratoga Horse Apples (there are also marshmallow “poops” rolled in coconut and nestled in green paper grass).

“People ask us if we feed these to the horses,” says Owner Dawn Oesch. Now, be honest: Wouldn’t your goofy uncle get a kick out of a box of chocolate horse poop? Mine sure would.

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30 saratoga living

⁄ AUGUST 2018

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the front cowboy hoot The sport

of corrida de sortija is big in Argentina and Uruguay with cowboys known as gauchos.

horse with no name

Thoroughbreds, the draft horses are valued not only for their speed, but also for their strength. I get tired just thinking about it.

The Scandinavian sport of hobbyhorsing features athletes competing in equestrian events on wooden horses. Really.

EQUINE SKI JORING

Horsing Around The World

H

FIVE INTERNATIONAL EQUINE SPORTS THAT YOU WON’T BELIEVE ACTUALLY EXIST. n BY NATALIE MOORE

ere in Saratoga Springs, our options for viewing (or participating in) horse sports are pretty much limited to polo, equestrian and, of course, Thoroughbred and harness racing. They’re certainly great options: Who doesn’t love a day at the races or a night tailgating at Saratoga Polo Association?

I know I do. But this is a big world, and horses can do much more than just run around a track, field or course. Here are five

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32 saratoga living

horse sports from around the globe that, if brought to Saratoga, might just surprise even the experts in this horse-loving town.

Maybe. Well…maybe not.

CORRIDA DE SORTIJA Argentina/Uruguay Galloping full-speed on horseback isn’t exactly the most delicate way to get from here to there. So when a rider successfully spears a loop the size of a wedding ring hanging on a string between two posts with a stick the size of a pencil, all while mid-gallop (talk about threading the needle!), it’s

⁄ AUGUST 2018

an impressive feat. The sport is called corrida de sortija, or “ring run,” and it’s played by gauchos— basically, cowboys—in eastern South America.

Every Sunday at Feria de Mataderos, a fairground just outside Buenos Aires, locals gather to eat barbecue, dance and marvel at the incredible precision sport.

BAN’EI Japan Think traditional horse racing, but much slower.

Ban’ei, a sport practiced exclusively at the Obihiro Racecourse on Hokkaido, Japan’s second largest island, involves draft horses pulling sleds weighing up to one ton, carrying jockeys over sandy hills. The sleds serve as handicaps, so younger horses and mares pull a lighter weight than older horses and stallions. Unlike racing

HOBBYHORSING Finland If I were a Finnish teenager, you’d find me at the hobbyhorse course. The sport—in which athletes participate in traditional equestrian events like dressage and show jumping, but with stick horses instead of actual horses (you read that right)—gained notoriety outside of Finland after the

ROBERTO FIADONE; (hobbyhorsing) RIGTAN

Planet

United States/ Scandinavia Pretend you’re waterskiing—except that instead of water, you’re on snow, and instead of a boat pulling you, it’s a horse. Oh, and you have to collect rings, and ski through gates and off jumps. This is equine Ski Joring, a variation of skijoring, which also includes skiers being pulled by dogs or motor vehicles. According to Powder magazine, the sport originated among Scandinavian hunters who rightly found that being pulled by dogs was quicker than walking, and the equine variety debuted as a competitive sport is a demonstration event at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Equine Ski Joring gained popularity in the US in the 1950s, first in Colorado, and now has its own governing body, Ski Joring America.

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the front

Piper Leads The Way In Saratoga

trick pony Dzhigitovka is a style of trick riding popular in Russia that’s gaining popularity in England.

Race towards the finish line this track season with a CCL celebration.

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2017 release of both the documentary, Hobbyhorse Revolution (you can stream it on Amazon’s Prime Video) and a video by the Associated Press of a hobbyhorsing competition went viral. “It’s very bizarre for other people to see, for the first time especially, this kind of stuff,” Taija Turkki, an 18-year-old hobbyhorse coach, told the AP. “Because [viewers] think we think the horse is alive, which we do not.” In fact, many hobbyhorses are homemade, and industrially made hobbyhorses are seen as “lower-caste” horses. Though the sport may look kind of silly, it’s reported to be therapeutic, and has apparently helped many girls overcome personal issues.

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I

DZHIGITOVKA Eastern Europe/Western Asia As if gymnastics weren’t difficult enough, try doing it on horseback. Dzhigitovka, a style of trick riding originating in the Caucasus Mountains between the Black and the Caspian Seas, involves skilled riders standing up, doing headstands and jumping to the ground and then back on a horse—not to mention picking up small objects off the ground, all while the horse is full-on galloping. When Georgian trick riders came to the US to perform their skill in circuses and other shows in the late 1800s, the sport caught on and “trick riding had a boom from coast to coast,” says Frank E. Dean in the 1974 book The Complete Book of Trick and Fancy Riding. Recently, the sport and its horse-archery variety have gained popularity in the UK, which sends teams to The World Dzhigitovka Championships in Moscow.

Stylish (and affordable) PIPER BOUTIQUE is a smash on Broadway.

f you’ve lived in or around Saratoga Springs in the past seven-and-a-half years, and you’re a woman, you’ve probably popped in Piper Boutique on Broadway. (And if you’re dating or married to a woman, you’ve probably been there, too.) The tiny shop has become a Downtown Saratoga staple for stylish ladies of all ages since it was opened by Alessandra Bange-Hall in 2011, and for good reason—everything in the store is under $100. “I started Piper Boutique because there were the super high-end stores on Broadway, but there wasn’t really anything for a young woman that was trendy but affordable,” Bange-Hall says.

After graduating from St. Lawrence University at the age of 20, Bange-Hall worked in finance for a couple of years before landing at style powerhouse Marc Jacobs in New York City, where she worked in global licensing. It was there that she developed an interest in fashion

and moved back Upstate to open Piper Boutique three years later. “I always say I have a dream job—I shop and then I style people for a living,” she says. “But I like the business end of it, not just the styling end of it.” Nine months after opening her store

in Saratoga, Bange-Hall opened another in Philadelphia adjacent to the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

Besides Piper Boutique’s affordable price-point and wide-ranging target demographic, great customer service is a big part of the praise the store receives. “You can really come in with no idea what you’re looking for or what looks good on you, and you’re styled from head to toe,” BangeHall says. “It’s always rewarding when you have a woman who maybe doesn’t feel as comfortable [with her body], and she leaves feeling great about herself.”

What’s next for Piper Boutique?

“Both stores are doing really, really well,” Bange-Hall says. “I guess I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing. I’ve really tried to refine the demographic a lot and cater more towards my customers.” With such a successful business and such loyal customers, it seems that just doing what she’s doing is the perfect business plan for Alessandra Bange-Hall. n

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Fourstardave: A Horse For The Ages THE ‘SULTAN OF SARATOGA’ WAS A FOUR-LEGGED PHENOM. n BY BRIEN BOUYEA

D

ubbed The Sultan of Saratoga, New Yorkbred gelding Fourstardave earned his place in Saratoga Race Course lore by winning at least one race at the track for eight consecutive years (1987-1994). Bred and owned by Richard Bomze and trained by Leo O’Brien, Fourstardave won 21 of his 100 lifetime starts and finished in the top three 55 times, with earnings of $1,636,737. Upon his retirement, Fourstardave was

honored at Siro’s restaurant, where he was presented with an edible key to the city and had a small nearby lane named in his honor (Fourstardave Way). The New York Racing Association has recognized him with a Grade I race and a sports bar in the lower carousel at the Race Course. Fourstardave died in 2002 at the age of 17 and was buried at the track’s Clare Court, joining Mourjane and A Phenomenon. (They’re the only three horses buried there; a fourth, Go For Wand, is buried in Saratoga’s infield.)

horse power

Fourstardave’s gravestone at Saratoga Race Course; (top) Fourstardave won nine races at Saratoga.

Here Are Three Things You Should Know About Fourstardave In the 1991 Daryl’s Joy Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course, Fourstardave set a track record for 1 1/16 miles on turf, covering the distance in 1:38.91. The record stood until 2015 (when it was beaten by Ironicus).

The Daryl’s Joy was later renamed The Fourstardave.

1

2

Fourstardave raced at 13 different tracks in his career. He competed in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire, Minnesota and even Hong Kong.

Twenty-one of his races took place at Saratoga. He won nine of those, including six stakes races.

3

In 1997, at the age of 12, Fourstardave competed in a steeplechase exhibition race at the Kentucky Horse Park to raise money for charity.

He finished second.

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Hat’s Off!

SARATOGA-BASED MIL L INER, KAREN S EW EL L , HAS YOU COVERED.

BY ROSIE CASE PHOTOG RAPHY BY MEAG HAN AL DRID GE

broadway show

Milliner Karen Sewell sells the hats she creates at Saratoga Trunk on Broadway.

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art class “I love to create sculpture you can wear,” says Karen Sewell.

hen it comes to royalty and racing, I’m in it purely for the hats.

The sheer whimsy and impracticality of fanciful cranial adornments have long made them the objects of fantasy for regular folk. And while most of us may not receive an invitation to a wedding at Buckingham Palace, many will have the opportunity to rub shoulders with the smart set at Saratoga Race Course’s Travers Stakes this and every August for many years to come.

Karen Sewell is one of those people who loved the idea of getting in on the fun north of the neck. The creative force behind Saratoga Springs’ Pommenkare Fine Millinery (sold at Saratoga Trunk on Broadway in Saratoga Springs) just happened to live across the street from the racetrack, and thought she’d try her hand at millinery—with unfortunate results.

“I thought, hey, we’ll go to the races, and I’ll make some hats! My first attempts were not good,” says Sewell with a laugh. “I thought, if I’m going to do this, then I’m going to do it right—so I started studying.”

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head count All of Karen Sewell’s hats are hand stitched.

The Rochester Institute of Technology graduate was already artistic, holding a degree in photographic illustration and design, and found the process of hat-making to be a satisfying outlet to express her design ideas. “I love to create sculpture you can wear,” she says.

She draws inspiration from the world around her, and especially from nature, but carefully avoids looking at other milliners’ work. “I experiment with the juxtaposition between warm and cold, organic and geometric. My designs tend to morph and change as I create them.”

As a huge fan of dramatic flourishes in both interior design and fashion, it was easy for me to fall for Sewell’s brand of whimsy. From gravity-defying fascinators to aggressively exaggerated wide-brimmed bonnets, her creations are all one-of-a-kind, created by her alone. “You can find hats at all quality levels and price points here in town, but mine are all stitched by hand—no glue!” she says. At any one time, Sewell has as many as six hats in production, all in varying stages of completion. “It’s a timeconsuming process,” she says.

One of the creations of which she’s most proud also pushed the ingenuity envelope for Sewell: a commission from a college graduate seeking to transform into Marie Antoinette for her graduation portrait. “I built a model ship, complete with satin sails to incorporate into the design,” Sewell tells me. “That hat weighed quite a few pounds!” They don’t call her a millinery artist for nothing.

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he nature of their occupation requires all Thoroughbred race-callers to be adaptable to any scenario. After all, a lot of pandemonium is packed into a small window of time usually two minutes or less—and they either get the call right or they don’t. Race-callers have to expect the unexpected and explain it all accurately with a combination of poetic grace and dramatic style to be considered great at what they do. Larry Collmus is one of those rare magicians who has mastered this specialized art form.

more than The Wife Doesn’t Know! Whew!” The clip has been viewed on YouTube more than 700,000 times.

Collmus was hired by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in 2014 to succeed the retiring Tom Durkin, its longtime race-caller, and was setting into what he described as his “dream

 The

Pimlico Race Course all week, but it stopped about an hour before the big race.

A dense fog descended and made portions of the track nearly impossible to see. Collmus, who generally relies simply on old-school binoculars to track the race, knew he had his hands full. “I’ve pretty much seen it all in my career. I’ve had to deal with downpours, bad fog and poor visibility before, but certainly not in a race the magnitude of the Preakness,” Collmus tells me. “It was challenging, to say the least. I had to rely on the TV monitors and different camera angles in the booth, but even then,

Voice 

HAVE YOU MET LARRY COLLMUS, SARATOGA RACE COURSE’S RACE-CALLER EXTRAORDINAIRE? n BY BRIEN BOUYEA I’ve been familiar with Collmus since he rose to fame in 2010 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ, with a call that went viral between a pair of horses, in a final stretch run, named My Wife Knows Everything and The Wife Doesn’t Know: “Into the final furlong…My Wife Knows Everything. The Wife Doesn’t Know. They’re 1-2! Of course they are! My Wife Knows Everything in front. To the outside, The Wife Doesn’t Know. My Wife Knows Everything!

The Wife Doesn’t Know! My Wife Knows Everything...

job of all dream jobs” the following spring when a horse named American Pharoah came along and won the first Triple Crown in 37 years. Collmus, who handles all the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup calls for NBC Sports, was masterful in his storytelling of the great horse’s run to immortality.

Such memorable calls have led me to expect greatness from Collmus, but I must admit, I thought he was in a hopeless situation trying to call this year’s Preakness Stakes. Rain had hammered Baltimore’s

the field was out of sight for a time on the backstretch and also when they were coming into the stretch run.

If the stakes weren’t as high, I probably would’ve tried to add a little more humor to the call, but not in a Triple Crown race.

Thankfully, I was able to pick up the action as they came home.”

Collmus, as he always does, nailed it. I thought both his call and his poise were remarkable, especially considering the elements, as Justify won a thrilling edition of the Preakness.

With all due respect to the numerous talented racecallers out there, Collmus is the best in the game right now. He proved it at Pimlico with Justify and again three weeks later with another brilliant Belmont Stakes call as Justify won the second Triple Crown in four years.

Collmus said it’s somewhat surreal to have called two Triple Crowns after such a long drought. “The Triple Crown is an exhilarating and exhausting five weeks,” he says. “I was spent at the end of it all, but it’s an enjoyable exhaustion…and you want to do it again.”

With the 2018 Triple Crown in the books, Collmus is looking forward to turning his attention to calling the races at Saratoga Race Course. “I’m lucky to have this job and very lucky to be able to come to Saratoga in the summer,” Collmus says.

“It represents everything that is great about the sport— the best horses, jockeys and trainers and without question, the best fans and atmosphere.”

As much fun as he has at Saratoga, Collmus says he always puts the job first. “There are so many wonderful things to do around town, so many great restaurants and ways to be entertained and distracted,” he says. “I love it all, but I only get one day off a week.

My Tuesdays are usually all about getting my laundry done and trying to relax. I wouldn’t be that entertaining on a reality show.”

Maybe not, but he’s sure entertaining calling the races. Rain or shine.

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What Did You Call Me? HOW TO NAME YOUR NEXT CHAMP.

BY MIKE KANE

A

s fun and frivolous as it may seem, naming a Thoroughbred racehorse is serious business. There are rules—specific, timetested ones developed and rigorously enforced by The Jockey Club, which has the final say.

Vulgar, suggestive or offensive names are verboten. All names are carefully vetted using a software program and through research by its staff.

Not any old name is permitted, but the likelihood of success has improved now that the registration process is online, since the list of names already in use or protected can be checked in advance by the owner/namer. Rick Bailey, The Jockey Club’s registrar, says that 70 percent of submissions are approved.

Additionally, Thoroughbred names are limited to 18 characters, including spaces and punctuation, which is why, for instance, the sire of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah was given the syntactically cramped name, Pioneerof the Nile. (That space had to go!) Yet ironically, misspellings such as “Pharoah,” are acceptable. The names of living persons cannot be used without written permission. And famous names are retired. So there will never be another Man o’ War, Secretariat or Justify.

C

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Springs home, when I finally reached him.

Davis didn’t race in this year’s Belmont, which saw Justify go wire-to-wire to win the 13th Triple Crown in racing history, but he kept plenty busy with a battery of other races that weekend.

The 24-year-old Davis has Thoroughbred racing in his blood. His father, Robbie, was a legendary jockey in his own right, having raced in each leg of the Triple Crown (coming up short each time). But over a

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Davis has gone on to log more than 4000 starts, with 456 wins and 512 places to his name and was voted “Jockey of the Week” by the Jockeys’ Guild after he won six races in a single card at Aqueduct Racetrack.

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little advice: Don’t ever try to contact a jockey the weekend of the Belmont Stakes—especially when there’s a Triple Crown on the line. I learned that lesson the hard way.

“I raced probably 25 horses this past Saturday and Sunday,” said Dylan Davis, a professional jockey who calls Saratoga

30-plus year career, the elder Davis won an astounding 3382 races to the tune of more than $115 million in purse money.

Dylan has two sisters, Jackie and Katie, who are jockeys as well (only about 14 percent of jockeys are women). As for Dylan’s place in this family of fast-paced Thoroughbred racers, he’s putting together quite the résumé. Training at age 16 at the North American Racing Academy at Keenland Race Course in Lexington—the only college degree program for jockeys in the country—Davis has gone on to log more than 4000 starts, with 456 wins and 512 places to his name. Back in February, he was voted “Jockey of the Week” by the Jockeys’ Guild after he won six races in a single card at Aqueduct Racetrack.

But before his horse racing glory days got underway, Davis was just another kid growing up in the Spa City and graduating from Saratoga Springs High School. Even though Davis now lives on Long Island— not far from Belmont Park—he still makes time for his friends and family back home.

“My favorite thing about Saratoga is the people,” says Davis. “Growing up there, I had a lot of friends from school, so every time I come up, I get back together with them, and they cheer me on from the sidelines, which is a great feeling.”

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the races!

Art Before The Horse

TRACEY BUYCE’s spectacular horse photography will take your breath away. Promise.

BY WILL LEVITH

all the pretty horses Saratoga Springs-based photographer Tracey Buyce has been working with equine models such as these horses on East of Equinox Farm in Manchester Center, VT since she bought her own horse in 2012. This photo is titled Freedom.

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the races! my little pony King and Prince Shandar from Carem Stables in Greenfield Center; (opposite) Ryder from Carem Stables.

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CREDIT

CREDIT

I

’ve been to Saratoga Race Course countless times and have snapped countless photographs during myriad races, whether it be on my camera or smartphone. The results?

Always delete-able blurs of godawful nothingness. Although you can find my photo byline out in cyberspace (if you really dig deep, but who has the time for that?), I’ll be the first to admit that I have zero talent as a photographer—especially, as a horse photographer. The exact opposite can be said of the amazing Tracey Buyce, a longtime contributor to saratoga living, who’s such a talent at it, it’s almost impossible to put it into words—which is obviously more of my forte. Let me give it a try.

In 2012, Buyce chased down her dream of owning a horse, acquiring a palomino American quarter horse which she named Henri, after the famed French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Naturally, with riding and the simple enjoyment of owning him came an interest in photographing

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stable genius (clockwise from top) Bear Hug, featuring Red, Ryder, Bronson and King from Carem Stables; Voyage, shot on the University of Vermont’s Morgan Horse Farm in Weybridge, VT; Double Trouble on East of Equinox Farm; (opposite, clockwise from top) Prince Shandar from Carem Stables; Sly, wearing another horse’s tail at Sarde Morgans in Clayville, RI; Mama’s First Foal at East of Equinox Farm.

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CREDIT

horses. Three years later, she got serious about it and never looked back.

As you can imagine, photographing a horse requires more than that point-and-shoot technique I’ve been attempting (and failing at) all these years at the track. It’s much more nuanced and decidedly, rather complex. Buyce says she’ll often have another person at the shoot in order to offset her and her camera’s presence around her equine subjects. “I have a horse-noise app that will mimic the sound of an actual horse to get them looking in the right direction,” she says of another one of her methods. Above all, photographing horses requires a good deal of patience.

“I spend a lot of time in the pasture with the horses waiting for that…moment.”

She lets that last word hang in the air a bit. “It’s that mystery about horses that everyone’s drawn to, and that’s what I want the images to reflect, because I feel the same way,” she says.

That “mystery,” at least for her, is the unspoken connection horses have with one another. “Horses make us feel emotional,” Buyce says. “My goal— and I always shoot with my heart—is to evoke emotion.” The first time I looked at Buyce’s work, I got chills. Seriously.

I’m pretty sure the next 100 times I do, I’ll feel the same way. That’s the power of great horse photography. I’m quite sure you’ll agree.

CREDIT

animal attraction Vivian from Sarde Morgans rests her head; (right) Dreamland, a.k.a. Rocking Z Guest Ranch in Wolf Creek, MT.

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the races!

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WHY RACING MATTERS IN SARATOGA

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SARATOGA SPRINGS

photography by

uring my first one-on-one interview with Marylou Whitney about three decades ago, she candidly recalled being underwhelmed with Saratoga Springs during her first visits in the late 1950s. She described it as looking a lot like Ballston Spa did at the time of our conversation— run-down, with plenty of empty storefronts in the business district—a dusty, tired old town with an uncertain future. The situation was so grim in 1957, the year before Marylou became Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, that Assemblyman John Ostrander, who represented Saratoga County, sponsored a bill that required the State Racing Commission to give Saratoga Race Course 24 exclusive days of racing without competition from New York City’s burgeoning metropolitan tracks. The bill received unanimous approval in the Assembly, was passed by the Senate and signed by Governor W. Averell Harriman, who had owned and bred horses since the 1920s.

Sixty years later, it’s hard to believe that racing needed to be saved in Saratoga, now the most important racing city in the country, if not the world. But Saratoga was the poor, hasbeen, Upstate cousin of the four tracks owned by the then new

L AW R E N C E W H I T E

Greater New York Association, which was later renamed the New York Racing Association (NYRA). Thanks to a grassroots push, racing survived at one of the country’s oldest track, and the city took another step forward in its recovery from the downturn that followed the closing of the casinos after World War II. Without Saratoga, NYRA would be long gone.

By the time I did that interview with Whitney, the day before she left for Alaska and the Iditarod dogsled race, Saratoga was well on its way toward its current Golden Age. While the race meet at the cool, historic facility, with its huge purses and highclass stakes that draw the best horses, is the centerpiece of the beautiful, vibrant, Victorian Saratoga , the city has so many other components that help make it the center of American racing: Fasig-Tipton’s annual sales, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma training track that’s open eight months of the year and the racing business-shaping Jockey Club Round Table Conference. Not to mention all that history, too.

Throughout the years, my work has taken me to major races and tracks all over America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

When I tell people where I’m from, their reaction is usually either “I love Saratoga!” or “Oh, I really must get to Saratoga someday!”

I always agree with them, either way. I’m sure you do, too.

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horse heaven Saratoga Race Course is well into its Golden Age as a horse racing capital of the country, and quite possibly, the entire world.

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Track Full Page 9 Property.indd 1

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the races!

Your Inspiration Destination papa john John Morrissey,

who’s credited with bringing horse racing to Saratoga Springs, was a champion bare-knuckle boxer and later, a politician.

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JOHN MORRISSEY’S BOLD VISION FOR THE SPA CITY: TURNING IT INTO A HORSE RACING MECCA. { BY BR I EN BO UY EA } ⁄

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hold your horses John Morrissey first brought horse racing to Saratoga Springs in 1863—and the Saratoga Race Course opened a year later.

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never considered the historical significance of Saratoga Race Course when I went to the track as a kid. It was summer, school was out and my pre-adolescent brain wasn’t required to produce a lot of deep, contemplative thought. I knew the track was ancient, but that’s about all I knew. I sure liked it, though. The horses amazed me (they still do), the people were interesting to watch (they still are) and one day, I got Angel Cordero, Jr.’s autograph (which I still have). It was all so surreal and wondrous. I eventually became a sportswriter, and one of my first assignments was to develop a package of history pieces on the racetrack. Sounded like fun! That’s when it hit me—I didn’t know a single relevant thing that would be helpful in crafting a series of such narratives. Well, I knew Cordero was good, but it didn’t take a genius to figure that one out.

So I hit the books. My reading list included Such Was Saratoga by Hugh Bradley, The Noble Animals by Landon Manning, They’re Off!: Horse Racing At Saratoga by Edward Hotaling and Foundations of Fame by Michael Veitch, all of which remain on my shelf and should be required reading for any Saratoga racing aficionado. During my research, I kept coming across the name John “Old Smoke” Morrissey. Boy, had I been missing out. At first, Morrissey seemed like a fictional character. His story was that outrageous. An Irish immigrant who grew up in nearby Troy, Morrissey graduated from street brawling to the manly art of formal bare-knuckle boxing. He cracked a lot of heads, reigned as the American champion for five years and retired undefeated. With his pugilistic days in the past, Morrissey arrived in Saratoga Springs during the Civil War. Thoroughbred racing was on hold in the war-torn South, so Morrissey, only 32 years old at the time, thought he could prosper by conceiving and presiding over a racing meet at Saratoga.

He was right. Taking place only a few weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg, Saratoga’s inaugural four-day meet in August 1863 was held at an old trotting track (known today as Horse Haven) and was a resounding success.

But Morrissey wasn’t done yet. He went bigger—much bigger. With the backing of some prominent sportsmen, Morrissey opened Saratoga Race Course across the street from the trotting grounds on August 2, 1864. The first race was the Travers Stakes, won by a mighty colt named Kentucky. A week later, at the conclusion of the first season at the new track, The New York Times reported: “Brilliant as had been the previous portion of the Saratoga meeting, it ‘culminated in a blaze of glory’ on Saturday, the concluding

day. The grand stand was a superb array of beauty and fashion, the like of which has never previously been seen in America, and has only been paralleled by Ascot or Goodwood, in England, on a Royal Cup day.”

In the years following Saratoga Race Course’s opening, Morrissey became a two-term United States Congressman and then was twice elected to the New York State Senate.

Even with his political commitments, Morrissey maintained his majority ownership stake in the track and oversaw its continued success. After becoming ill while campaigning for

his second term in the Senate, Morrissey died of pneumonia on May 1, 1878, at The Adelphi Hotel. He was only 47. A lot of great names have followed Morrissey into Saratoga lore: Travers, Whitney and Vanderbilt…Man o’ War, Native Dancer and Secretariat…trainers “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons and Bob Baffert, jockeys Eddie Arcaro and the aforementioned Cordero, among countless others. They owe John Morrissey a debt of gratitude for his vision and resolve. We all do.

I’m glad I opened those books all those years ago. What I found was truly extraordinary. Truly.

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arylou Whitney has been as comfortable with movie stars as she has with backstretch workers and bellhops; she’s at home in the foaling barn, on Alaskan dogsleds and at the Queen’s Palace. Her constant mantra of “I love Saratoga” has shined an international spotlight on this city and its racetrack, whose trajectories are intricately linked. She even coined the city’s best-known catchphrase, “Saratoga: the summer place to be,” and has rightfully earned the heady moniker “Savior of Saratoga.”

Though not a Whitney by birth, she’s taken up the family’s racing and service mantle, extending the Whitney and Vanderbilt dynasties well beyond the turn of the century, and winning millions as the head of Marylou Whitney Stables.

A mix of Lady Gaga, Grace Kelly and Gracie Allen—with a touch of Mother Teresa—Marylou Whitney is more than just Saratoga’s most famous face and name. She is Saratoga. Let me tell you the incredible story of how she singlehandedly saved this city and its racetrack from the brink of disaster.

It’s one every true Saratogian should know by heart.

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wonder woman Marylou Whitney, flanked by NYRA’s President and CEO Chris Kay (left) and her husband John Hendrickson, has won millions as the head of Marylou Whitney Stables.

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MARYLOU WHITNEY could’ve used her fortune and power for anything. She chose Saratoga.

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veryone who’s ever called Saratoga home brought their luggage up to their suite, and I remember that is keenly aware of the great impact Marylou she was wearing her blonde hair on top of her head,” he tells Whitney’s had on the city, but, in turn, that Saratoga me. “I remember her being so friendly—she told me about her wasn’t always the incomparable tourist destination background and her children.” When Sonny was married to it is today. While most Saratogians can robotically his third wife, Eleanor Searle, Ryan tells me that he worked as recite the following, decidedly dour historical footnotes, a bartender and waiter at Cady Hill. “The next season, when I know that Marylou actually lived them. “Everything at the showed up for a party, Marylou remembered me from her visit time was dead here; the track was dead!” Marylou has said of at the Gideon Putnam hotel,” says Ryan. “From that day on, Saratoga when she first arrived here as a newlywed in 1958. every time I’d see her at the track, she’d nod and smile at me.”

“You could roll a basketball down the center of town and not hit uring a stint in New anyone.” Her husband, Cornelius York City pursuing an “Sonny” Vanderbilt Whitney, acting career, Marylou encouraged his new bride to help befriended actress save Saratoga Race Course and Audrey Hepburn and the town itself, and thankfully, she author Truman Capote, a Yaddo agreed. “Sonny, with your money fellow who’s said to have used her and my enthusiasm and work, and three others as a composite we can light up this town!” said for the star of his Breakfast At Marylou. And light it up she did.

Tiffany’s novella, Holly Golightly I first interviewed Marylou in (whom, ironically, Hepburn would 1987 for Adirondack Life magazine later portray on the silver screen). and covered her on and off With her acting career gaining throughout the years for Times steam, the then Marylou Hosford— Union, The Post-Star and The at the time, separated from Frank— Saratogian newspapers, and also met Sonny at a supper club in within these pages. Sonny was Phoenix, and he hired her to star 88 and Marylou 61 when I first with Brandon de Wilde and Lee visited them at Cady Hill, their 21Marvin in his film The Missouri Traveler, which hit the big screen room, 135-acre estate on Geyser in 1958. Marylou then traveled to Road in Saratoga. A financier of Sonny’s 100,000-acre Adirondack the company that would become estate—land that his grandfather Pan American World Airways mommy mia! Marylou Whitney had four consolidated for $1.50 an acre— and founder of the theme park children with her first husband, Frank Hosford, and to act in another film, The Healing Marineland of Florida, Sonny was a fifth with Sonny Vanderbilt Whitney.

Woods. Sparks flew between a decorated veteran of World War Marylou and Sonny, and the couple fell in love. Needless to say, I and II, having served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force the film never saw the light of day. “Sonny said the reason he and Undersecretary of Commerce. He’d also helped finance never made the picture is that he married me instead, and he film classics such as Rebecca and Gone With The Wind. Marie didn’t want his wife to be a movie star!” Marylou has said of the Louise “Marylou” Schroeder was born on December 24, 1925, time. Not skipping a beat, Sonny said, “I think I chose correctly.” and grew up in Kansas City, MO. She attended the University Marylou and Sonny honeymooned in far-flung Flin Flon, of Iowa, but, at the tender age of 19, returned to Kansas City Manitoba, headquarters of the Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting after the death of her father, taking a job at the local radio Company, which he’d founded. “We traveled three days and station where she hosted the popular broadcast, Private three nights by dogsled,” Sonny said. “It was 60 below.” They Smiles, for servicemen during World War II. (The show later lived for a year with Marylou’s four children at Camp Deerland earned her a Woman of the Year award from the USO, and one in Long Lake, NY, then moved to Lexington to settle on the of Sonny’s horses was named Pvt. Smiles in her honor.) In 1948, Whitney family’s 1000-acre horse farm. (Sonny and Marylou Marylou wed her first husband, Frank Hosford, heir to the John had one child of their own, Cornelia, in 1959.) Sonny inherited Deere tractor fortune. The couple had four children—Marian his father’s racing stable, as well as his grandfather’s land, Louise, Frank, Henry and Heather—but divorced, leaving and named one of their broodmares Hush Dear, in Marylou’s Marylou to raise them by herself. “Marylou was beautiful,” says honor. (It was one of his pet names for her, after she told him 88-year-old Fred Ryan, who was Superintendent of Service at that saying “shut up” was too harsh.) As age 90 approached, The Gideon Putnam when he first met her in ’58. “I had just

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winner’s circle (from left) Walter

M. Jeffords, Sr. owners Sonny and Marylou Whitney, jockey Bill Hartack and trainer J.J. Greely, Jr. at Saratoga Race Course in 1960, after the Whitneys’ horse, Tompion, won the Travers; (inset) Sonny’s father, Harry Payne Whitney (right) with his horse, Regret, winner of the 1915 Kentucky Derby.

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Sonny told me: “I’m out of pictures, out of horses, out of mining.” He’d even considered selling Cady Hill, but Marylou had loved the old stagecoach house too much to give it up.

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n 1992, five years after our first encounter, Sonny died at age 93, and he’s buried at Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga, the town he considered his real home— of his nine residences at the time. Three years later, the widowed Marylou ventured to the South Pole on an expedition. Then 71, Marylou fell for 32-year-old John Hendrickson, a former tennis champion and aide to Alaska Governor Walter Hickel. (The two had clearly been seeing each other beforehand, as she confirmed during the ’96 Saratoga racetrack meet that she would be marrying him the following year.) John proposed to Marylou, in style, at Buckingham Palace—at a reception for Prince Philip, who joked that he wasn’t going to pay for their impending nuptials.

(He didn’t.) Governor Hickel presided over their marriage in ’97, and the couple later named a horse in his honor.

Irreverent and smart, John was the perfect complement to Marylou, and proved gentle and supportive after her stroke in 2006, following back surgery. John has always joked about their 39-year age difference. With his irreverence at full tilt, he raised more than a few eyebrows at the Saratoga Springs Rotary Club when he announced, “We’re expecting.” I was relieved to learn that they’d just bought a new puppy.

While I could fill an entire issue of saratoga living listing Marylou’s charities, honors and philanthropic work—she’s been especially generous to Saratoga Hospital over the years—it’s

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a woman in full (from top left): Sonny Vanderbilt Whitney (center) and Marylou in the fall of 1967, the year nearly $800,000 of her jewelry was stolen from Cady Hill; Bo Derek (left) with Marylou at a 2010 Equine Advocates benefit; Marylou and husband John Hendrickson at the 2011 dedication of the Marylou Whitney Rose Garden; a couple thanks Marylou at the inaugural Saratoga Backstretch Appreciation Program dinner; (from left) Marylou and Sonny Whitney, jockey Angel Cordero, Jr. and The New Yorker writer Frank Sullivan in the Winner’s Circle at Saratoga in 1967; (from left) famed horse owner and socialite Lillian Bostwick Phipps, Kay Leach, wife of the former Director of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) and Marylou Whitney at the opening night of the opera at SPAC in July 1966; Marylou and husband John Hendrickson (center) greeting jockey Javier Castellano at Saratoga on August 29, 2010; Marylou catches the 2015 Travers Stakes at the fence; Marylou and husband John Hendrickson arrive at the 2010 Breakfast At Tiffany’s-themed Whitney Gala; the oldfashioned New York City taxi cab that Marylou and husband John Hendrickson arrived in at the 2010 Whitney Gala; Marylou and author Immaculée Ilibagiza, the 2011 Teresian Faith, Hope and Courage Award Winner at the Teresian House Foundation 21st Annual Friendraising Gala.

(1, 5) NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING AND HALL OF FAME; (2, 3, 4, 9, 10) MARIA McBRIDE BUCCIFERRO; (7, 8) LAWRENCE WHITE; (11) CATHLEEN DUFFY

always at her annual Opening Day luncheon at the track when she and her beloved city seem to come alive, with Marylou presiding as its Grande Dame over a Who’s-Who of friends, politicians and local celebrities. Just like any international star, Marylou has a fan base—especially one in her adopted hometown. At her über-popular Whitney Gala, which came to an end in 2012, I watched throngs of well-wishers gather outside the Canfield Casino, saying hello to her as if only a few weeks had passed, saving the party favors she threw out into the crowd. Marylou fans will often paste tiny photos of her with plastic horses and fences to their hats for the track’s annual contest. She’s as close to Saratoga royalty as there’s ever been.

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f course, Marylou’s story has proven more than just an engrossing tale of historical intrigue from the upper echelons of society—a real-life Great Gatsby, without the unhappy ending.

Her story’s also about saving Saratoga and its greatest asset, the racetrack, which hits closest to home for us Saratogians. But where to start? How about Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Walter “Red” Smith’s “directions” to Saratoga: “From New York City you drive north for about 175 miles, turn left on Union Avenue and go back 100 years.”

Whitneys and Vanderbilts, scions of racing and society, have been coming to Saratoga since the days of John Morrissey, the bare-knuckle-boxer-turned-Congressman, who first brought Thoroughbred racing here in 1863. The families have been entwined with the fate of Saratoga ever since, and have been part of its trajectory forward after both town and track were threatened time and again with almost certain demise.

Railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, Sonny’s namesake, and William Travers were among the track’s founders. Beset by corruption and shut down for the 1896 meet under Gottfried Walbaum, it was Sonny’s grandfather, William C. Whitney, Secretary of the Navy under President Grover Cleveland and a descendant of Eli Whitney of cotton gin fame, who bought the track in 1901 and remodeled it.

Generations of Whitneys and their spouses gradually helped bring the track back, making it into the powerhouse it is today. Sonny’s C.V. Whitney Racing Stable bred or raised more than 450 stakes winners at its Lexington farm alone.

Sonny began dispersing his family’s racing stock in his 80s, so Marylou would be free to travel and not have to bother with the business—a historically male-dominated one. After Sonny’s death in ’92, Marylou ended up using a chunk of his estimated $100 million estate to buy back the Whitney broodmares for a stable of her own. She searched for and bought Dear Birdie, a foal by her nickname-sake Hush Dear, for $50,000, just before the mare went up for auction at the Keeneland yearling sale. Marylou’s fledgling Blue Goose Stable—I remember her blue cushions with a blue goose on the five wooden chairs in her clubhouse box near the finish line, at the track—soon evolved into Marylou Whitney Stables. At Marylou’s Opening

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yes she can (from top left): Sonny and Marylou’s

only daughter, Cornelia (left), with her mother and step-father, John Hendrickson, at the 2008 Whitney Gala; (from left) Michael Vanderbilt, grandson of the late Alfred Vanderbilt, John Hendrickson and Marylou at the 2015 unveiling of a Native Dancer statue at Centennial Park in Saratoga; Marylou, smiling from her Clubhouse box in 2012; Marylou, holding court as usual; Marylou (center) with her daughter, Heather (right) and granddaughter, Margaret; (left) John and Marylou, posing with the winning connections of Fort Larned at the 2012 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.

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n 2010, Marylou was honored with The Eclipse Award of Merit “for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in Thoroughbred racing.” I talked with Stella F. Thayer, President-Treasurer of the Tampa Bay Downs racecourse, who first came to Saratoga in the 1970s with her husband.

(She’s also served as the President of Saratoga’s racing museum.)

(1, 4, 5) MARIA MCBRIDE BUCCIFERRO; (2, 3, 6) LAWRENCE WHITE

Day luncheon in 2001, her husband John told me he had high hopes for the new venture. (Ian Wilkes is its trainer today; Nick Zito held the position back then.) “We have 25 two-yearolds in training,” said John. “With Nick’s talent and Marylou’s money, we should have some luck.” As of July 2018, in 1431 starts, Marylou Whitney Stables has 183 wins, 180 places and 191 shows. If you were at Saratoga last summer, you’d have seen the Whitney Stables’ Quick Quick Quick come in second on August 6 and log a win on August 27. The Stables will no doubt have contenders at this year’s Saratoga meet, and, as always, Marylou and John will be there to present the trophy at the $1.2 million Whitney Handicap on August 4, a race named in her family’s honor—and the second richest race at the meet (just behind the Travers).

Now, if a horse has a bird in its name, odds are good it’s a Dear Birdie foal. Marylou, a familiar face in the foaling shed, was there when Birdstone was born. (Birdstone, half sister Bird Town and their mother, Dear Birdie, reportedly recognize Marylou’s voice and look for her in the barn.)

In 2004 Birdstone smashed the hopes of Triple Crown contender, Smarty Jones, at the Belmont Stakes. Marylou seemed more upset than Smarty Jones’ owners, Roy and Patricia Chapman. “I’m sorry we beat you,” she told Mrs. Chapman, who graciously said the better horse had won. Her husband, John, called Birdstone “the little horse who could.”

Fresh off his spoiler-maker victory at Belmont, Birdstone came to Saratoga and won the Travers, crossing the finish line as the dark sky opened with apocalyptic thunder, lightning and pelting rain. Standing in the Winner’s Circle with other reporters and photographers, I saw Marylou beaming, but soaked—electric and energized. The successful bird-named bloodline would continue its winning ways, with Birdstone’s daughter, Stone Legacy, coming in second in The Kentucky Oaks in 2009. That same year, Birdstone’s colts Mine That Bird and Summer Bird won the Derby and Belmont, respectively.

At that point, Saratoga Race Course had reached a nadir, and a relations executive, and his wife, Maureen, come to mind. In proposal had been made to shutter it. “They wanted to close the late ’70s, LA County’s Santa Anita Park and NYRA were the the racetrack at the time,” says Thayer. “Thank God they didn’t only racetrack associations to have marketing departments. do it. Now it’s the most popular [racing] venue [in the country].”

NYRA reached out to Ed Lewi Associates for help. “Both the Speaking of the Whitneys, Thayer tells me: “Marylou does things track and the city were very depressed when we first came with enthusiasm, grace and dazzle,” having supported countless here in the ’70s,” says Maureen Lewi, Co-owner of the firm, charities and the racing museum, first with Sonny, and then with which also did PR for SPAC, the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake John. (Marylou’s husband is the current President of the racing Placid and Coca Cola, among others. “Marylou was game for museum, by the way.) “They’ve done so much for Saratoga, both all of Ed’s ideas to promote Saratoga. Saratoga became so past and present, through thick and thin.” ingrained in our hearts. It became our (Sonny, Marylou, Ed and Certainly, Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s construction my) mission in life to catapult Saratoga to fame, and Marylou of the Northway, which reached Saratoga in 1963, and the was the star. The media found her fascinating.”

Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), which he supported, Ed came up with the phrase “the August place to be”—which in 1966, were keys to the city’s resurgence. Also, the latter Marylou tweaked to “the summer place to be,” when racing was wouldn’t have been possible without extended into July. The Lewis’ plan Marylou and Sonny’s generosity; was simple: “to depict Saratoga as they were among the founders an experience; show that it was more of SPAC and helped finance the than a wonderful, historic racetrack; racing museum and the National it was a place for fun; a place to be Museum of Dance, which has a Hall seen,” Maureen says. “NBC Nightly of Fame that bears their names. But News came to spend two days the city and the track’s turnaround shooting a racetrack story and stayed were still a long time coming in the for almost a week after they met 1970s. One positive result of the Marylou,” she tells me. Vanity Fair, city’s neglect? The historic racetrack New York magazine and other national wasn’t torn down or redeveloped, publications caught on and did stories, but rather, stayed the way it was, as did East Coast newspapers, and frozen in time. Oversized wooden broadcast and cable TV networks.

Victorian structures—old-fashioned “Nothing was too much for Marylou firetraps with spires, uneven floors, to do for her beloved Saratoga. She constricted Clubhouse boxes with invited celebrities to Cady Hill, hosted creaky chairs—certainly would’ve a grand ball, dazzled the crowds at been replaced if the money were myriad events and fundraisers and royal box Marylou, sitting beside her there. Surprisingly, it wouldn’t be mingled with all the fans at the track. husband, John, waves to the crowd from the until the 1980s that Saratoga Race She rode in carriages, in a hot air Winner's Circle at Saratoga Race Course.

Course finally started beating out balloon, on the back of an elephant its Downstate cousins, Belmont and in Greta Garbo’s Duesenberg—all Park and Aqueduct Racetrack, on an annual basis. Saratoga to put the spotlight on Saratoga,” Maureen says. “She certainly attendance rates soared in 1983, and the lead soon widened. earned her title ‘Queen of Saratoga.’”

“Saratoga was bucking the trend when it took off in the 1980s When Marylou was inducted into the Walk Of Fame at the and 1990s,” Gary McKeon, NYRA President from 1982 to 1994, track in August 2015, everyone from Hall of Fame jockeys has said. “No one else was growing, [and] Saratoga took off Angel Cordero, Jr. and Jerry Bailey to longtime track like a rocket.” As the Saratoga meet was extended from announcer Tom Durkin and her former horse trainer Nick 24 days in 1962, to 30 in 1991, to 34 in 1994, to 36 in 1997, to Zito, paid tribute to her. “You hear so much about people, and 40 in 2010, where it has stayed, the upward trend continued. some of it is built up,” Zito said at the event. “This is the real deal. There’s no hype. There’s no build-up. Marylou Whitney y 2017, Saratoga had a total paid attendance is a pillar of the sport of racing, a pillar of our community of 1,117,838 for the meet. Saratoga’s handle in Saratoga and one of the great ladies that I’ve met in my for all-source wagering hit a record-breaking entire life.” NYRA CEO and President Chris Kay says: “Her $676,709,490. Marylou didn’t earn her honorary generosity is unparalleled. I’ve spoken to many people in title, “Savior of Saratoga,” for standing by idle. That Saratoga Springs. They all tell me the same thing. Marylou said, she and Sonny, (and later John) had a lot of help along Whitney saved this town since the moment she arrived nearly the way: Their good friends, the late Ed Lewi, famed public seven decades ago.” That she did. And how.

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racing pre-dated Thoroughbred racing in Saratoga Springs by more than a decade-and-a-half.

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SAR ATO G A OWES A MA JOR D E B T TO T HE SPORT. I T R E A LLY D OE S.

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or most of my childhood, the harness track in Saratoga Springs was the only track that mattered. Before we moved here, my family would spend summer weekends in the Spa City, and nearly every weekend was spent at Saratoga Raceway. Before John Morrissey brought Thoroughbreds to Saratoga in 1863, the town was known for Standardbreds, and that first summer Thoroughbred meeting took place on the trotting track, which dates to 1847, on what is now the Oklahoma training track. It’s possible that without Standardbreds, Saratoga Race Course wouldn’t exist.

As the fortunes of the flat track have risen, harness racing has experienced a decline, saved by the infusion of gaming revenue from the casino that opened in 2004, the first “racino” in the state. Many Saratogians who went on to work with Thoroughbreds—including Charles Simon, Joe DeSantis and Chad Brown—got their first racetrack jobs at the harness track, where you can watch the trotters and pacers go at it for ten months a year. Harness horses race nearly every week,

unlike Thoroughbreds, who may race once a month—or even less frequently than that. “There’s something to be said for live racing,” says George “Skip” Carlson, Vice President of External Affairs and Signature Service at what is now known as Saratoga Casino Hotel. “People still love to come here, sit trackside and watch live racing. We have a good number of locals who enjoy that.” He pointed to higher purse money, and the full fields of horses that run in a dozen races per night, four days a week, with two night cards and two matinees, as positive indicators for the sport.

The Noble Animals, written by the late Landon Manning, the Turf Editor of The Saratogian, details the history of horse racing in Saratoga, and his research has revealed that harness racing had a 16-year head start on the Thoroughbreds. Its history is inextricable from that of the city of Saratoga, and it continues to boast a hometown crowd. These days, I may spend more time at the flat track, but the harness track is where I caught the racing bug, thanks to my parents, who brought me there before I was in kindergarten. And as so many of us know, you never quite get over your first love.

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few years ago, I was obsessed with the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Set in the 1920s, the show featured several of the Prohibition Era’s most notorious gangsters, gamblers and bootleggers, who were looking to strike it rich in some corrupt industry, all the while avoiding prison time (and enemy gunfire).

The series showcased the historicalfiction-y likes of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, but my favorite was the cerebral Arnold Rothstein, known as “The Big Bankroll.” I knew of Rothstein for his alleged role as the architect of the 1919 World Series fix, better known as the “Black Sox Scandal.” What I didn’t know was that Rothstein had his hands in Thoroughbred racing as well. On occasion, Boardwalk Empire made reference to Saratoga Springs, and when one of the scenes featured Rothstein in the stable area at an unidentified racetrack with Hall of Fame trainer Max Hirsch, I had to know more about Rothstein’s connection to the sport and the Spa City. Turns out Rothstein was a player in the racing game for a time, and Saratoga was one of his playgrounds. He owned some horses, manipulated races, cashed enormous bets and drew the ire of August Belmont II and The Jockey Club for his presence at the track.

But one of his most nefarious plots occurred in 1921, when Rothstein masterminded a major betting coup on the Travers Stakes with the colt Sporting Blood, one of his own, thanks to some valuable inside information and an assist from a trainer and horse that didn’t even participate in the race. At the conclusion of a whirlwind series of events, Rothstein walked away with $450,000 on top of the $10,275 winner’s share of the purse (more than $5.8 million in 2018 terms).

At the ’21 Travers, Harry Payne Whitney’s superb filly, Prudery, was widely regarded as a sure bet. She’d won the Alabama Stakes with ease and defeated Sporting Blood by four lengths in the Miller Stakes. No one figured Prudery could be beat in the Travers, so no other horses of note were expected to be entered and the race figured to be a walkover. Rothstein had other ideas. To the surprise of many, he entered Sporting Blood, under the name of his own Redstone Stable, to face Whitney’s filly. Bookmakers were offering Prudery at 1-4 odds with Sporting Blood at 5-2. Why would Rothstein enter Sporting Blood, for just a meager second-place finish? Rothstein, as always, had an angle. His sources within the Whitney barn relayed to him that it was unlikely that Prudery could deliver a top effort in the Travers; the filly had lost her appetite and had missed some training time.

Rothstein saw an opportunity to stir the pot even more by adding a chaotic element to the betting. He sought a distraction to aid his plot and got one: On race day, Belmont Stakes-winner Grey Lag, generally regarded as the best horse in the country at the time, was unexpectedly entered into the race. It turned out that the horse’s trainer, Sam Hildreth, was friends with Rothstein.

Suddenly, Sporting Blood was the afterthought Rothstein wanted him to be. Grey Lag had already beaten him in the Belmont and a pair of other races that year. The Travers, however, wasn’t part of Grey Lag’s expected schedule, as it was assumed he was being prepared for a race at Belmont in September after a grueling schedule of six races in July. When Grey Lag was entered in the Travers on the morning of the race, he replaced Prudery as the favorite, and that day, there was little talk of Sporting Blood or any Arnold Rothstein element of manipulation.

T H E N — N O W

How Arnold Rothstein, one of Prohibition’s most infamous gangsters, fixed Saratoga’s 1921 Travers Stakes. Or did he?

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

! s r e v a r T e h T t A l a d n a Sc

—

∑ ∑ BY

N E X T

A

OUYE

NB BRIE

gangster rap Arnold

Rothstein, known as “The Big Bankroll,” reportedly fixed the 1921 Travers Stakes.

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the races!

TO SERVE

TO C R E AT E

BECAUSE WE LOVE FOOD

TO SHOW

LOVE blood sport

That’s when Rothstein unleashed his true ruse. He ordered his “betting commissioners” throughout the country to wager heavily—to the tune of $150,000 (about $2 million)— on his horse, which was now the third choice with the trackside bookmakers. At the time, horses could be entered to run the same day until noon. They could also be scratched by a trainer up to 30 minutes before post time, without cause or explanation. Rothstein was well aware of this. Hildreth, of course, scratched Grey Lag at the last possible minute. At the track, the Grey Lag money shifted mostly toward Prudery, while Rothstein’s money was elsewhere, secured at generous odds of 3-1. Whenever word got around that Rothstein was placing bets, it caused an uproar and led to odds being altered dramatically, but it was different offtrack, with the bets spread far and wide to provide the cover of anonymity.

In the race itself, Prudery led for the first mile but never by more than a length. When the horses hit the quarter pole, the filly was spent, and Rothstein’s scheme was about to bear fruit.

Sporting Blood was a capable runner and cruised past the exhausted Prudery to win, easily, by two lengths. As was the

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case with the World Series and numerous other shady events involving Rothstein, there was plenty of speculation about the circumstances of the race after the fact, but no one could ever link Rothstein to the scam. There was also a considerable amount of hearsay that Hildreth received a cut of the action for the Grey Lag diversion, but that, too, was never substantiated.

That Travers was Redstone Stable’s biggest moment in racing, but Rothstein didn’t seem to have any interest in the prestige of his horse’s victory. Following the race, Rothstein sold Sporting Blood for $60,000 (about $760,000 today) and announced that the rest of his horses were for sale as well.

By the end of October, he’d dissolved Redstone Stable and moved on to other illicit endeavors.

Rothstein was a presence in Saratoga for quite some time before and after his Travers caper. He married former showgirl Carolyn Greene in a house on Washington Street in 1909, opened The Brook casino here in 1919 and was regularly accused of bribing public officials and being involved in everything from insurance fraud to race fixing. His luck finally ran out when he was shot and killed in New York City in 1928 at the age of 46, supposedly because he refused to pay a gambling debt.

I couldn’t imagine Rothstein going out any other way.

TO C E L E B R AT E

TO EXPLORE

TO BE AN ARTIST

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KEN GRAYSON COLLECTION

Arnold Rothstein’s horse, Sporting Blood, was part of an elaborate ruse to throw off bettors at the 1921 Travers Stakes in Saratoga.

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the races! twinning (from left) José and Irad Ortiz have been killing it in the win column since leaving their native Puerto Rico.

T H E N — N O W —

brothers, where art thou?

N E X T

P H E N OM J OC K E YS — A N D BROTH E RS— JOSÉ AND I R AD ORTI Z A RE TO H ORS E R AC I N G W H AT V E NUS AND SE RE NA WI LLI AM S A RE TO TE N N I S . I S N’ T I T TI M E E V E RYBODY KNE W TH AT ?

{exclusive}

BY TERESA A. GENARO

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY

SUSIE RAISHER

E X C L U S I V E LY F O R

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jockey club Irad Ortiz putting in some winning work at Long Island’s legendary Belmont Park.

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remember the first time I saw Irad Ortiz, Jr., when he wasn’t on the back of a horse. It was opening weekend of the 2011 Saratoga Race Course meet, and the New York Race Track Chaplaincy was holding a fundraiser at the Saratoga Strike Zone on Ballston Avenue. Irad was there with his agent at the time, not so much to show off his bowling skills, but to show his face and support the cause, just two months after he’d begun riding in New York. He looked impossibly small and young; he was 18 years old, and any bouncer on Caroline Street would’ve laughed if he’d attempted entry at a local watering hole. He was quiet, too; not entirely comfortable speaking English, the Puerto Rico native was respectful and amiable, communicating often with the warmth of a smile that’s no less genuine today, as he’s at the top of the New York jockey colony, than it was then, when he was an apprentice, or, as it’s known around the track, a bug. Ortiz had made his New York debut earlier that year at Aqueduct Racetrack on April 22, finishing fifth on a horse named Straddler in a low-level claiming race. He then returned to riding at Hipódromo Camarero in Canóvanas, Puerto Rico, before coming back to New York in May to ride full-time at Belmont Park. At first, he rode only a few races a day—sometimes just a single one—but it didn’t take him long to get his first win: That came on May 18, 2011, four days after he set up shop there, on his fourth mount, Grande Roja.

By the following spring, José Ortiz had followed his older brother—José’s 14 months younger— north from Puerto Rico, arriving at the end of the Aqueduct winter meet. He won with his first mount in North America, Corofin, on March 21 there. Thus began the brotherly rivalry. Since then, the brothers have racked up a combined 3500 wins, 22 riding titles, 2 Belmont Stakes wins and 5 Breeders’ Cup victories, along with spotless reputations. At ages 24 and 25, the Ortizes are poised to inherit the mantle of Hall of Fame riders such as Angel Cordero, Jr. and John Velazquez. So why doesn’t anybody outside the Thoroughbred racing niche know their names?

They should be a marketer’s dream come true. They’re brothers who’ve come to the US to fulfill the American Dream, succeeding by dint of an unbeatable trifecta of character, effort and talent. It’s impossible to find anyone on the New York backstretches who has a bad word to say about them. They’re family men, close to their parents, with long-term partners and soon, each will have a couple of kids (Taylor Rice, also a jockey and José’s wife, is expecting their second child later this year). Irad met his partner, Meliza Betancourt, seven years ago while he was in jockey school in Puerto Rico, making them the racetrack equivalent of high school sweethearts.

They have two daughters.

T H E N — N O W — N E X T

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the races! brother have been known to get into arguments after they’ve raced against each other. “Nothing serious,” José said with a smile. “Right now, he’s No.1 in New York. I want to win and I don’t want to be mad when he wins. I’m really proud of him. I want him to win the Eclipse Award this year.” Then he corrects himself—sort of. “I want to win it, but I want him to be in the mix,” he says. “I’m really proud and happy for him.”

José’s used to being interviewed, and saying the right thing to the media is part of the early training of any elite athlete, but it’s nearly impossible to be cynical around either brother. Talking about the highlights of his career, José talks frankly about this year’s Preakness, after which trainer Chad Brown spoke heatedly, openly critical of José’s ride on fourth-place finisher Good Magic. “I wish I could take that back,” says José, more than a touch WHEN SERENA AND VENUS WILLIAMS of the politic in his comment, given play each other, no matter the stature that his immediate post-race remarks of the tournament, it’s a major tennis suggested that the horse hadn’t run event. When Peyton and Eli Manning to expectations. “I didn’t want to be faced off on the football field, the where I was. It wasn’t the plan.” He interfamily rivalry was the main media does acknowledge Brown’s criticism, story. Consider, then, how often the though. “It’s hard when trainers Ortiz brothers head into the starting criticize, but we understand,” he says. gate for the same race—and how “They work as hard as we do, and little the national spotlight is trained they want to win, and [running on the on them. For example, on the day lead] wasn’t the plan. I’m still riding for of the Belmont Stakes—the biggest day in New York racing and one with him, and that means a lot to me. Turn the added bonus of a Triple Crown the page and keep going.” potentially falling—both had mounts Brown—whose name at this time in 9 of the 13 races on the card. Irad of year is unfailingly followed by, got bragging rights that day, with two “from nearby Mechanicville”—was wins; José had to settle for a trio of also responsible for putting Irad on second-place finishes, including a one of the best horses he’s ever stunning one in the Belmont Stakes ridden, the champion Lady Eli. As easy rider Irad Ortiz on one of his rides aboard Gronkowski, who nearly obstreperous as she is talented, she at Belmont Park; (top) Irad and his older beat out eventual Triple Crown didn’t need a jockey to coax the best daughter, Sarai; (opposite) Irad Ortiz, winner Justify. His brother finished out of her. “She needed to be calm 14 months older than his brother, José, right behind him in third place on and collected, to have someone that is engaged in a competitive, brotherly rivalry in the jockey standings.

Hofburg. As of mid-June, the brothers she trusted on her back,” says Brown. are also neck and neck in the “I thought she and Irad would be a national jockeys’ standings, with José just getting the good match.” And he was right: Irad was in the saddle for better of his brother, leading by less than $1 million in purse all 14 of her lifetime races, resulting in 10 wins and 3 runnerearnings. They are, in more ways than one, inseparable. up finishes. It’s also clear that Brown has mutual respect for Part of the story of the Ortiz brothers is that, rather like the Ortiz brothers and what they’re accomplishing in horse Serena and Venus, the younger sibling has—pardon the racing. “They have a great appreciation for the horse, no pun—eclipsed the elder one. In 2016, José led all North matter what level it is,” says Brown. “They pet the horses, American jockeys in wins with 1563; his brother was right they try to get constructive feedback, they take their time behind him with 1504. In 2017, José won the Eclipse Award for bringing the horses back after a race. They put a lot of effort Outstanding Jockey, and he acknowledged that he and his into trying to get along with a horse. They’re real horsemen.”

Ordinarily, jockeys begin their careers on lower-level tracks, where they’re more likely to get rides and the experience and education that comes with them. Irad came straight to New York, and, predictably, family played a major role in that. His grandfather, who, like one of their uncles, was also a jockey, worked the New York tracks. So, Irad came to where he had family. Now the Ortizes’ parents are both here, their father working in one of the barns at Belmont.

Perhaps as a direct result of their success, most of José and Irad’s family are on the US mainland with them and were, fortunately, largely unaffected when Hurricane Maria hit last fall. Of a recent visit to their native island, Irad said, soberly, “It was very different after the hurricane. The trees—they were all down. It was really sad.”

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T H E N — N O W — N E X T

WITH

THE

BELMONT

STAKES

behind them, the Ortizes are looking ahead to Saratoga, where the pace both on and off the track accelerates, and where the demands on their time increase significantly. At Belmont, they ride five days a week; at Saratoga, it’s six, and the brothers seldom get a morning off. While during the spring and early summer, they might head to Belmont a couple of mornings a week, at Saratoga they’re out every morning except Tuesday (dark day at the track)—and sometimes even that day too. They’re familiar faces on the backstretch, hanging out and driving around in golf carts, with or without their agents.

Last summer, José’s daughter, Leilani, was an infant, adding a whole other dimension to the always-demanding summer meet. “It was a little rough in the beginning,” he says. “She

park and recreation (from left) Irad and José Ortiz even compete off hours—at the ping pong table at Belmont; (inset, from left) José and Irad Ortiz have quickly become two of the top jockeys on the New York Racing circuit.

woke up a lot, and even though Taylor was the one feeding her, I still woke up when I heard the baby. And the mornings are so busy—you hardly ever get both a Tuesday morning and afternoon off. There are so many horses up there, and trainers need us.” Like any successful athlete, José is aware of his body’s limitations—and what he needs to do to power through. “I’m human, I get tired,” he says. “It’s such a short meet, but you have to be on your toes. You can’t give anyone else an advantage. I’ve been the leading rider two years in a row, and I want to keep that title.”

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“I got here a year before José, so I had some experience.

Now, looking back, I know I was way behind. But we both learned more and more, and now I don’t have to teach him anything.”

T H E N —

–IRAD ORTIZ

N O W

“I learned everything I know from him. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here. I was always chasing him, and I wanted to be just like him.

Now we’re about even.”

— N E X T

–JOSÉ ORTIZ

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josé, can you see?

For José Ortiz (No.3), it’s not always a brotherly rivalry on the track; here, he faces off with a good friend and fellow jockey Manuel Franco (No.4) in a live race at Belmont.

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His brother might have something to say about that. “I want Manning brothers have throughout their career in the whiteto win the standings again,” says Irad. “That’s the goal.” He hot spotlight of the sports world. Pletcher says: “They’re not points to famous jockeys, such as Cordero, Jr., Velazquez up-and-coming; it’s no secret that they’ve arrived.” and Edgar Prado, as the riders he’s learned the most from; It’s no big secret within the racing community, for sure.

Cordero won 14 Saratoga titles, Velazquez 5 and Prado 1.

But even those of us who love horse racing have to admit When José joined him in New York, he passed on what he that it’s a small community, that our biggest stars could sees now as his limited wisdom. “I got here a year before walk down Broadway in Manhattan—or even along Broadway José, so I had some experience,” Irad says. “Now, looking on a busy summer night in Saratoga—with no concern about back, I know I was way behind. But we both learned more and being recognized. Whether you’re the Oritz brothers or a more, and now I don’t have to teach him anything.” José begs Hall of Fame jockey, racing just never hit the American to differ. “I learned everything I know from him,” he says. “If mainstream like baseball or football—or even tennis. it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be Fifteen years ago, jockey here. I was always chasing him, Gary Stevens made his movie and I wanted to be just like him. debut in Seabiscuit, becoming Now we’re about even.” one of the very few racing Another trainer who has a figures to achieve household history with, and mounds of name status as a result of the respect for, the Ortiz brothers movie’s popularity and Oscar is seven-time Eclipse winner buzz; he also starred in the for Outstanding Trainer Todd short-lived HBO series Luck.

Pletcher, who’s wreaked havoc But he’s an anomaly in this at Saratoga, having won 13 great sport of racing. That titles there (including runs said, the prevalence of Latino from 2002-06 and 2010-15). jockeys like the Ortiz brothers “They’re both willing to listen and the prevalence of Hispanic and trying to improve all the workers on the backstretch time,” says Pletcher, on whose creates a stark contrast with horse Tapwrit José won the the rest of the sport. Spanish is 2017 Belmont Stakes. “They’re ubiquitous on the backstretch, assets to the business.” but not so much in clubhouses In addition to the tough and advertising. If José and schedule on the racetrack, Irad were athletes in a more jockeys at Saratoga are also in popular sport—say, baseball or high demand for the season’s football—we’d likely see them many charity events, many of featured more prominently which support jockeys and in advertising. Their rivalry other backstretch employees. would be emphasized and One annual highlight is encouraged. Their senses of no way, josé José Ortiz has been eclipsing his older the jockeys versus trainers humor and love of family and brother in the national jockeys’ standings, much like Serena Williams has surpassed her older sister, Venus. basketball game to benefit the kindness to animals would New York Racetrack Chaplaincy, be part of more national and while the Ortiz brothers might be small, they’re quick broadcasts. While the Ortiz brothers were the focus of a and have serious game. “I like to play,” says José. “I learned major feature in The New Yorker late last year, you’ll be hardin Puerto Rico. I had knee surgery in December, so I don’t pressed to find any other national media outlets—with the know if I can play as hard this year.” (That sound you just heard? exception of those that have a racing focus—covering the The trainers’ collective sigh of relief.)

Ortiz brothers’ successes in any demonstrable way.

Look, here’s the bottom line: I can think of no better IF IT’S NOT ENTIRELY OBVIOUS AT THIS POINT, the Ortiz exemplars of sport and character than Irad and José Ortiz. brothers are top-level riders. They’re attentive fathers, loving Still in their mid-twenties, the talented brothers figure to be partners, mature and professional. They love horses. They’re around for at least a couple more decades, giving the rest of selfless and generous with their time. They don’t let their the world plenty of time to discover them. I sure hope they do, professional rivalry get in the way of their family relationship. because they’re both something truly special and, yes, the The Ortizes share every trait that the Williams sisters or very embodiment of that still elusive American Dream.

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despacito José and Irad Ortiz should be a marketer's dream—but outside of the niche world of horse racing, they're largely unknown.

T H E N — N O W — N E X T

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10 the races!

Questions WITH

Bob Baffert The two-time Triple Crown-winning superstar trainer talks Saratoga.

BY MIKE K ANE

M

■

JOHN DALY saratoga living

i l l u s t r at i o n b y

e x c l u s i v e ly f o r

ost summers, Bob Baffert makes the crosscountry trip from SoCal’s lovely seaside track at Del Mar to Saratoga Springs during the racing season. America’s most famous, successful and recognizable Triple Crown-winning trainer doesn’t travel 2839 miles for our mineral water—but he certainly appreciates the atmosphere. Baffert comes for the big races or to check out a hot prospect at the Fasig-Tipton yearling sale. In 2009, he was in town for his induction into the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Racing.

Baffert knows Saratoga and Saratoga knows the white-haired superstar, who grew up on a chicken ranch in Nogales, AZ. He’s won the Travers Stakes three times—including with track-record-smashing Arrogate in 2016—and was part of a historic loss in 2015, when his Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, was dealt a major upset at the fabled “Graveyard of Favorites.”

During and after Baffert’s horse, Justify, swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes this year, giving him his record-tying second Triple Crown, saratoga living spoke with the trainer about a number of topics, including what it’s like bringing horses to Saratoga Race Course—and what he does in town when he’s not on the clock.

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1

You’ve been to plenty of tracks in your career. What makes Saratoga and its fabled racetrack stand out?

Saratoga is a horse racing town.

There’s so much history there, and you know when you go, you’re going to see top-class racing. The fans are so enthusiastic.

2

Is there a different feel to winning at Saratoga?

Definitely. When you win at Saratoga, you know you’ve beaten the best. It’s a big stage—the best trainers, best jockeys, best horses and biggest owners. Everyone wants to stand in the Winner’s Circle in Saratoga.

3

Do you remember your very first visit to Saratoga Springs?

Why were you here?

My first trip to Saratoga was with Silverbulletday in 1999 for the Alabama. She won the race.

4

“When you win at Saratoga, you know you’ve beaten the best. It’s a big stage— the best trainers, best jockeys, best horses and biggest owners.

Everyone wants to stand in the Winner’s Circle in Saratoga.”

8

What has been the most satisfying moment of your career as a horse trainer?

There have been so many, but I’d have to say winning the Triple Crown with American Pharoah. It was such a relief to get that monkey off my back.

Then to finish out the year with him winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

It was the perfect ending to his racing career. Winning another Triple Crown with Justify this year was unbelievable, too. And raising the Derby trophy is always satisfying.

Did you expect her to blow away the field by nine lengths?

We felt pretty confident going in after her poor performance in the Belmont Stakes [she ran seventh; she was beaten by 10½ lengths]. She had been working up a storm in Saratoga.

It was a great feeling to win in front of such a large and important audience.

Greatness is defined in Saratoga.

9

5

10

What do you do in Saratoga when you’re not at the track?

I love Siro’s. The food’s great, and it’s a fun place to go after a big win to “talk about it.” I also love the turkey dinner at Winslow’s. It was [HOF inductee trainer] Bobby Frankel’s favorite place, and he used to take me there.

6

What’s the best horse you’ve trained that won at Saratoga?

Arrogate.

7

What was your biggest disappointment at Saratoga?

American Pharoah. Obviously.

T H E N — N O W — N E X T

If you weren’t training racehorses, what might you be doing right now?

I’ve never wanted to do anything other than be around horses. I can’t imagine doing anything else.

What are your memories of being inducted into the Hall of Fame in Saratoga in 2009?

I remember looking out in the audience and seeing my mom and dad sitting there. I got so choked up thinking about them and everything they meant to our family and to my career. My wife and all of my children and siblings were there.

So many of my owners and friends made the trip just to be there beside me. It was one of the best and most humbling days of my life.

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WHO RUNS THE WORLD?

T H E N

Meet the 11 members who make up StarLadies Racing, a female-only horse ownership group that simply wins and wins.

—

BY K AREN BJORNL AND p o r t r a i t b y L AW R E N C E W H I T E

N E X T

I

N O W —

t’s 7am on a Monday morning in May, and my heart is thumping with excitement as I drive through the front gate of the Oklahoma track, the oldest operating horse training facility in America. Sure, I’d been to the Oklahoma on the guided tours before—but I’d forgotten what it felt like to be in such a historic place. In the peaceful early morning, when the air’s cool and the grass is still dewy, you can stand at the rail in awe, listening to the rhythmic explosion of breath as a Thoroughbred pumps its muscled body around the track. You walk on dirt paths that wind through a labyrinth of barns neatly arranged under towering pines and massive maples. During racing season,

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woman’s work

“I was attracted to StarLadies, because it was a bunch of very strong women who enjoyed horse racing as much as I did,” says Georgie Nugent, a partner in StarLadies Racing.

women’s track team StarLadies partners often get together at tracks where their horses race—such as Churchill Downs, where these women met at the 2015 Kentucky Oaks.

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S

when the horses cross the street to Saratoga Race Course, o what’s it like being a part of StarLadies? “I was traffic stops on Union Avenue and drivers can’t help but attracted to StarLadies, because it was a bunch of stare at the magnificent animals. very strong women who enjoyed the sport as much I got the invite to the Oklahoma from Georgie Nugent, one of as I did,” says Nugent, who bought in last year. “I 11 members of StarLadies Racing, a partnership made up of only love everything they stand for...the female aspect, women racehorse owners, who purchase only fillies (about five empowering women in horse racing.” The only female per year). Nugent, who lives a short walk from the Oklahoma, is member of the New York Racing Association board, Nugent similarly awestruck by what goes on inside its gates. She and grew up riding but didn’t fall in love with racing until she I watch as sunlight and water droplets dance on the strong moved to Saratoga a decade ago. A StarLadies member backs of three horses enjoying a post-workout bath. “I love this since 2015, Louisvillian Nixon worked on Thoroughbred farms part—the steam coming off their bodies,” says Nugent. Soon and at yearling sales during her college days. She signed up after, I follow her to the barn of seven-time Eclipse Awardafter retiring as an exec at Yum! Brands, because she wanted winning trainer Todd Pletcher, who trains the partnership’s to get back into horse racing and socialize with like-minded precious stock, and the stall of New York Charmer, a two-yearwomen. “Most of my career, I was pretty much surrounded old dark bay. The young horse by men,” she says. In Colorado pokes her head, marked with a Springs, Leigh Butler, an original small white star, toward us. “She’s StarLadies partner, has been a a sweetie,” says Nugent, patting passionate racehorse owner her mane. “You fall in love with for more than two decades. “I them, for sure. It’s like having one absolutely love attending the of your children race.” Nugent, races, and StarLadies fillies run at who’s an environmental engineer, the best, most iconic racetracks visits New York Charmer and Orra in the country: Saratoga, Belmont, Moor, another StarLadies filly at Keeneland, just to name a few Saratoga Springs, at least once a of my favorites,” she says. “Last week before work. year I was able to attend 22 While the number of partners races, including the Breeders’ in StarLadies shifts from year Cup at Del Mar.” to year, this racing season, While StarLadies is certainly the core includes Nugent and a business partnership—at the girl trip StarLadies partners, past and present, Diana Ryan, both from Saratoga end of the day, racing’s about take an annual trip in February to see their fillies at Springs; Barbara Lucarelli from winning and making money—it’s Payton Training Center in Ocala, FL. Duanesburg; Mary Nixon from also become a social setting for Louisville; Leigh Butler from the mothers, grandmothers and Colorado Springs; and six other members hailing from career professionals who comprise it. The members get to places such as Florida, Georgia and Ohio. StarLadies was know one another at yearling sales and training facilities, and launched five years ago as an offshoot of Starlight Racing, then meet up at the racetracks during racing season. “We all a separate partnership founded by Jack and Laurie Wolf in join together and cheer on the horses together. It’s exciting,” 2000. In 18 years, Starlight has won 69 races (24 of which says Nugent. Wolf concurs. “There’s not a get-together were Grade I), 3 Eclipse Awards and a Triple Crown, courtesy that we’re not laughing about something or raising a glass of Justify. (Partnerships own percentages of horses they to cheer. Even though we don’t always win, we still have a acquire together.) With a few partners, Laurie launched good time.” In fact, many of the women in the partnership StarLadies in 2013. “There are a lot of ladies who are in the have become really close. “We have barbecues together, horse business and who love horses, and I thought it would we get our kids together,” says Nugent. For Nixon, her be fun to get a group of women together who have the same participation in StarLadies helped draw in her entire family. passion,” says Laurie. “What we do that’s a little different In 2017, her husband and father-in-law bought into Starlight is, when you buy into StarLadies, you own a piece of all of and its minority interest in Justify. This year, three generations them.” The Starlight partners purchase fillies at yearling sales cheered him on as he won the Triple Crown at Belmont at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington and Saratoga and at Keeneland, Park on June 9. “It’s one thing to go to the races,” says Nixon. and that’s followed by a good deal of companionship, “It’s a whole different feeling when you have part ownership enjoyment and well, winning. In 2016, for example, of a horse.” Watching Justify run “was so surreal, I didn’t even the StarLadies partnership won 25 percent of its races, get nervous,” she says. “I just sat there like I was having and the following year, 27 percent. some sort of out-of-body experience.”

The StarLadies partnership is all encompassing in the sense that its members not only own an interest in each horse, but also take part in the duties of a single owner—such as naming their fillies. Nugent dreamed up the moniker New York Charmer, while Butler came up with five names, including those of current runners Stainless and Makealittlemischief.

It’s also educational. “It’s about having the opportunity to interface with an incredible trainer like Todd Pletcher,” says Nixon.

“And the mentality of buying the horses.

It’s a whole other layer of learning for me.”

Donna Barton Brothers, a former jockey and NBC Sports reporter, is Starlight’s Chief Operating Officer, and is married to Frank Brothers, its bloodstock agent. “She is so well-versed in the sport,” says Nugent of Brothers. “When I have a question, especially from a business perspective, I’ll call her. The same with Laurie.” And perhaps most important to its membership, StarLadies has become a means by which to support other women in the horse racing community. “Maybe it seems like it’s male-dominated, but from the top to the bottom, we’ve got women that own farms, do breeding, do consigning, work the sales companies, are owners, trainers or assistant trainers,” says Wolf. “There are so many women in this industry. We’re here and we all know we’re here. It’s like the outside world doesn’t really notice that. We are trying to get that across to the next generation—helping them, giving them a leg up, giving them contacts.”

Here at the Oklahoma, it’s easy to dream big, with Saratoga Race Course so close by. The impact StarLadies has had on Nugent isn’t lost on her. “Here at the track, even if you’re a spectator or walking around in the backstretch or here at the barn, you’ll learn something new about this sport every day,” she says.

By the time I drive back out of the gate, I’m promising myself that I’ll return here for another guided tour. We’ve got family from Las Vegas traveling here for the races in August, when the horses’ bright-colored leg wraps hang on the fences and the air is sweet with the smell of hay. The Vegas people will love the tour. And I will, too.

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TRAINING

5:17am

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DAY

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A DAY ON THE JOB WITH AWARD-WINNING HORSE TRAINER

ERIC GUILLOT

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STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOE ‘WOODY’ WOOD

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6:31am

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raining racehorses isn’t an easy job. At all.

Some trainers do it for the love of the sport or the money, while others do it for the fame and glory and horses (or all of the above).

It’s a sport and a game and a hobby to those outside the barns, but beyond the fences and security, it’s a taxing job that’s accompanied by the highest highs and lowest lows—not to mention pressure, especially to succeed, and succeed now, as owners often get in the game to win and only win. It takes up all of a trainer’s time, and a trainer gives up everything in his or her life to do the job successfully. It’s a mission and a goal that demands excellence, patience and stick-to-it-ive-ness beyond one’s common imagination. It’s a tiresome sevenday-a-week responsibility that requires you to be a master of everything horse-related, including having an abundance of medical and psychological expertise, as well as being a management guru to your staff. Because let’s face it, without a great staff, any attempt at success would be futile. Sure,

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magic man Eric Guillot is often

portrayed as using voodoo to conjure up wins. Truthfully, everyone knows he’s just a skilled horseman.

most trusted staffer, Sixto, who’s been with him for the last dozen years. They go over the day’s preplanned schedule for each horse (it’s set days in advance) and talk about what may have been going on in the barns or with the horses’ health, then break the huddle to get it all going. Next, Eric takes me to each stall and introduces me to every horse, walking me through their backgrounds.

Currently, all of Eric’s horses are part of Southern Equine Stable LLC, which is made up of Eric and his best friend, Mike Moreno. Yes, he’s the namesake of the horse Moreno, who won the largest payout in Saratoga racing history—sorry, Secretariat—in the $1.5 million Whitney Handicap in 2014, with an upset of the great racehorse Palace Malice. No other trainer in the history of Saratoga can make that claim, and deservedly so, he’s damn proud of it. Moreno also missed winning the Travers Stakes by a nose at 30-1 odds in 2013. So close.

It’s now 5:45am, and we’re ready for the first two horses to hit the training track. Exercise riders Alex and Riccordo get their final instructions from Eric about what they need to accomplish, and we slowly follow the horses across the

(Guillot) MARTIN BENJAMIN

6:39am

you ultimately want to win and produce winners and make money, but in reality, nothing matters more to a horse trainer than his horses’ well-being, and that’s especially true of trainer Eric Guillot.

Eric’s a client of mine at Woody’s Barbershop near Downtown Saratoga Springs, and I met him many years ago before he swashbuckled his way into the Saratoga Race Course history books (I’ll get to that in a minute). We’ve developed a great admiration for each other. In fact, I was even lucky enough to walk his horse, Laoban, down the shoot and into the paddock, prior to his major victory at the 2016 Jim Dandy Stakes (the horse has since retired, and is now an outstanding stud at Sequel Stallions in Hudson). Eric’s a trainer who’s often portrayed as having an outlandish personality and using voodoo dolls to conjure up wins. But truth be told, he’s an amazingly skilled and impressive horseman. (In other words, he doesn’t need the dark arts to succeed.)

Intentionally, Eric only has a limited number of horses in his barn—just 11— and cares for them every day, all the time, usually from their birth on the farm to their first step on the track (if they end up competing). That sort of barn management can have its advantages.

Plus, he literally trains every single horse himself. OK, so he may not ride his horses around the Oklahoma training track physically, but he watches their every step, monitors their every breath and observes their every thought and physical tendency and always considers what’s best for them. He’s so knowledgeable about each individual horse that he can often address issues before they even happen.

Generally, trainers arrive at the track every day of the week around 5am— some earlier, some later—and I meet up with him for my horse trainer-shadowing session, at 5am sharp. At the barn, his eight staff members are already in full working mode (their days begin even earlier, between 3:30-4:30am), each with his own individual responsibility.

Eric meets with his longtime friend and

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with jockey José Ortiz and his wife, Anna, along with writer Joe “Woody” Wood (far right) on the day Laoban took the 2016 Jim Dandy.

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street. All the while, Eric’s watching their every step, while sharing some inside tips and training secrets with me. Then he says they’re ready to go. From my vantage point, the horses gallop well, running fast and finishing out strongly.

They’re just physically beautiful, and both look like sure winners—but not to Eric just yet. He’s a little disappointed that one of them didn’t really show enough effort today, unlike the horse’s last bullet work (i.e., the best workout time for that specific distance). He explains that this isn’t out of the ordinary, though, and like people, horses sometimes have bad days: General soreness from a workout or a sudden mood swing could affect the way they perform. But he assures me he’ll double- and triple-check them when we return to the barns.

After asking Eric a plethora of crazy questions, he shares with me the importance of knowing every detail about every horse, including each horses’ medical history—from the daily aches and pains to the slightest change in step, stride or mood. He even knows

his horses’ complete breeding records by heart. “Every little bit of knowledge is imperative in knowing how each individual horse should be cared for,” says Eric. “Each horse’s well-being is dependent on this knowledge because nothing is more important than the horse’s health. Not even winning.” This reminds me of the 2014 Whitney, when Eric not only earned the greatest victory of his career with Moreno, but also suffered its most tragic loss, when his promising twoyear-old colt, Sir William Bruce, died right after his debut race. Watching a grown man cry is never fun. Eric was devastated by the loss. He loves his horses. While losing a horse is not the part of the sport anyone likes to hear about, that day showed me just how much these trainers really care for their horses.

Having spent the entire day shadowing Eric, I came away with this big lesson: Being a trainer isn’t as easy as it looks, and in order to be a successful one, you have to make a ton of sacrifices. It’s your full-time job and lifestyle. If you happen to run into Eric at the track this summer, don’t hesitate to say hello and ask him a friendly question or two. He’s easygoing, loves to impart racing knowledge and is truly an expert in his field. Simply put, he’s a proven winner.

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the races! high horse

Funny Cide, who won two legs of the Triple Crown in 2003, and pal, Smokey, nibbling on some in-flight snacks.

ER HOW D N O W EVER DS GHBRE U O R O TH D FROM N A O T URSE? O C GET E C GA RA SARATO O. , TO WE DID LAND E

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WHERE FUN LIVES

E ndle s s exci temen t i s w ai t ing for y ou a t S ar a to g a C a s ino Ho tel w i t h 1, 7 0 0 o f t he ho t te s t s lo t s and ele c t r onic t able g ame s . P lu s , enjoy deliciou s dining a t Mor ton’s ® T he Ste ak hou s e, t he he ar t- pou nding ac t ion o f li ve h ar ne s s r acing , and t hr illing li ve en ter t ainmen t a t Vapor. St ay a t our F our-Di amond lu x ur y ho tel and do i t all o ver ag ain . Go S ar a to g a .

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go

W

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hen I travel by plane, I snack and drink and pray for a bump-free ride. What about the horses that fly in to compete at Saratoga Race Course? Apparently, they don't have to do much praying. “We avoid turbulence at all costs,” says Greg Otteson, Sales Manager for H.E. “Tex” Sutton Forwarding Company in Lexington. “We’ll fly a long ways around a storm just to avoid it.” On the company’s Boeing 727 cargo plane—a.k.a. Air Horse One (ha!)—up to 21 equine passengers stand close together in stalls, so the jet ascends and descends more slowly than on you-and-me-type flights. Horse ears are also more sensitive to changes in air pressure—but they experience something IN THE OLDEN similar to what humans do with DAYS, RACEHORSES shifts in altitude. “You quite WERE WALKED TO often see them, when you get THE TRACK FROM up to altitude or when you land, kind of adjusting their SANFORD STUD FARM jaws. I think they’re popping IN AMSTERDAM, NY, their ears,” Otteson says. And 30 MILES FROM like me, horses enjoy in-flight SARATOGA. FOR snacks. “We put a hay bag or DECADES, UNTIL net in front of them, just to give THE LATE 1960S, them something to munch on.”

Countless of Thoroughbreds THEY CHUGGED have come to town since IN BY TRAIN. Saratoga Race Course opened LAST SUMMER, in 1864. In the olden days, AIR HORSE ONE racehorses were walked to the TOUCHED DOWN NINE track from Sanford Stud Farm TIMES AT ALBANY in Amsterdam, NY, 30 miles away. For decades, until the INTERNATIONAL late 1960s, they chugged in by AIRPORT. train. Last summer, Air Horse One touched down nine times at Albany International Airport.

Each landing is carefully choreographed. After the plane gently lands, a special ramp with five-foot-tall sides is put in place. That’s when the horse vans drive onto the airfield. The horses are led off the plane and down the ramp onto more ramps that connect to trucks. “They never touch ground,” says Nicole Pieratt, President and CEO of Sallee Horse Vans Inc. Sallee, also based in Lexington, carries hundreds of horses to Saratoga each year, not only from the airport, but also directly from racetracks and horse farms all over the East and South, in 48-foot-long trailers with cameras that keep an eye on each horse. “Most of them come from the Belmont-Aqueduct area or the different Kentucky tracks,” Pieratt says.

While most Air Horse One landings are off-limits to the public—except on rare occasions, such as the arrival of Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah in 2015—the Sallee trucks are always an exciting sight in Saratoga. “When [locals] see

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the horse vans rolling in, it’s a sign that the season’s almost here,” Pieratt says. The August Crown winner American yearling sales at Fasig-Tipton Pharoah arriving at are especially nostalgic, Albany International Airport in 2015—to she says. “It’s a foggy, early a sizable crowd of Saratoga morning, and here onlookers and fans. comes a caravan of 20 horse trucks from Kentucky.”

I hear you, Nicole. When the trailers clatter into town, they remind me that Saratoga’s a special place. Sometimes, I lean out my car window and talk to the traveling horses. “How was your trip? Where do you come from?” I say. But these animals are neigh-sayers. Not one has answered me yet. something special in the air Triple

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I

SARATOGA RACE COURSE,

BY DESIGN

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remember the first time I went to Saratoga Race Course. It was with John “JW” Witt, a true Saratogian, who seems to know everything there is to know about the racetrack. It was a hot day, and I vividly recall running after JW to keep up with BY B E V E R LY his fast stride in my tight sundress and strappy sandals. We parked in someone’s TRACY yard, ran through tall grass, jumped over a bunch of fences and found our way to the entrance of the track. I felt like a veteran Saratogian! From that point onward, it was a blur of dresses, hats, a bit of alcohol, lots of new faces and names and a bit more alcohol. It was, after all, summer in Saratoga, and every gathering was a party. We applauded as graceful horses walked past us along the white fence-lined path toward the paddocks, and we made $2 bets on the ones whose names we liked. Walking through the Grandstand felt spectacular and gave me an incredible sense of the track’s history; I instantly imagined all the fancy people who’d stood there before me. And as I looked upon the dirt track, watching the stunning horses and jockeys circle the path, time stood still for me, and it could’ve been any year in the 150-or-so-year history of the majestic place. JW taught me everything I needed to know about Saratoga, and this was no exception to the rule.

The perfect day at the track just got a little better.

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NYRA

horse town

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photograph by

LAWRENCE WHITE

Saratoga Race Course’s design includes the colorful jockey statues, roofline and awning, which are as much a part of Saratoga as are our springs, horses and parks; (right) a rendering of The Stretch’s new boxes.

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The Townsend Collection by American Standard.

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design within reach (clockwise, from top left) A vintage illustration of Saratoga Race Course; a rendering of the racetrack’s new dining area along The Stretch; spectators’ vantage point along the new Stretch boxes at the track; a vintage view of Saratoga Race Course’s Grandstand.

Architects & designers are encouraged to visit frankwebb.com/professionals.

NYRA

aratoga’s track is famous, and for good reason. Built in 1864, it has survived the Civil War, gambling gangsters and two world wars, and has been built, expanded and improved upon. It’s also the reason millions of visitors flock to Saratoga every summer for racing, eating, drinking and partying. Some people go there to win lots of money, but that day, JW and I were there solely so that he could show it off to me, and that he did.

When I was asked to write about the racetrack’s evolving design for saratoga living, I instantly thought about its iconic structure, colorful jockey statues, roofline and awning, which are as much a part of Saratoga as are our springs, horses and parks. And now, with its recent major capital improvement project, Saratoga Race Course is about to get even better. I turned to the New York Racing Association’s (NYRA’s) President and CEO Chris Kay to learn more about what we can expect this summer when we visit the track.

“Over the past five years, we’ve placed a tremendous emphasis on enhancing the guest experience at this much-beloved sporting venue,” says Kay. “We first made a commitment to expand the number of free picnic tables in the backyard with improved sound, video and Wi-Fi, and then made a day at Saratoga more affordable than ever with our season pass and season perks programs,” he says. “We’ve also dedicated significant resources to showcase the history of this grand place, from the Whitney Viewing Stand to the Saratoga Walk of Fame, to the restoration of the paddock mutuel building. Now, for the first time in many decades, we are creating new boxes for people of all ages to enjoy a day at historic Saratoga Race Course.”

With the excitement of Opening Day quickly approaching, I’ll be reserving a seat at The Stretch, that all-new private hospitality area Kay’s referring to, featuring modern and upscale amenities in the Grandstand at the top of the stretch.

I hope to bump into JW there, perhaps win a $2 bet and experience what I’m sure will be a great day at the races!

the races!

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riddle me this Rood & Riddle is world famous for its surgery and medical treatment of horses.

Saratoga’s own equine Mayo Clinic, ROOD & RIDDLE, is where racehorses go to get well.

BY K AREN BJORNL AND p h o t o g r a p h y b y L AW R E N C E W H I T E

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’ll never be able to watch Grey’s Anatomy or Mister Ed the same way again. Sure, they’re only TV shows, but the other day, in Saratoga Springs, I watched a live horse surgery at Rood & Riddle, Saratoga’s Mayo Clinic of equine hospitals. While I was touring the Henning Road facility, a mare with a bellyache, referred to as “colic” in the horse world, was rushed in for emergency care. The doctor decided she needed surgery, and before I could get out of the way, the horse was anesthetized and prepped by an ultra-calm staff in blue surgical scrubs. When I saw her, minutes before surgery, the gigantic sleeping beauty was lying on her back; her hooves, each capped with a sterile blue bootie, were

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poking straight up into the air. Cradled in a big blue TempurPedic mattress, the mare had an IV line inserted into her neck and a breathing tube stuck between her teeth. It was intense.

As I stood a few feet away, the team shaved and scrubbed the horse’s belly, then pushed the horse-sized gurney into the operating room and shut the door. Through a viewing window, I watched Dr. Brett Woodie, a renowned veterinary surgeon, work his magic. I’ll spare you the gory details.

Moment to moment, from what I could see, the care of the animal was not unlike that for a human emergency. “This is like the pit crew for the Daytona 500,” says Laura Kestner, Rood & Riddle’s Practice Manager. “Everyone knows what they have to do.” Named for the two veterinarians who launched the original hospital in 1986 in Lexington, Rood & Riddle is world famous for its surgery and medical treatment of horses. Before Saratoga Springs’ Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital opened in 2013, valuable racehorses were sometimes flown directly to the Lexington hospital. Now, after a $3 million expansion project completed in 2016, everything can be done here, less than a mile from Saratoga Race Course. Patients are referred by a vet at the track or other hobbled horse vets from all over the Northeast. (clockwise from top If some of its Saratoga left) A horse in surgery patients are famous, Rood & at Rood & Riddle; the Riddle isn’t saying. “We do keep facility also has a breeding that confidential,” says Kestner. program, which requires “That’s one reason that people designated mating areas come here: for the privacy.” And like this one; Rood & racehorses aren’t their only Riddle provides foals patients. “Eleven percent are horseshoes like this one; sport horses,” she says. “We’ve the facility also provides got a lot of quarter horses.

X-rays for horses.

Backyard pony, rodeo horse… we’ll take what you’ve got.” Rood & Riddle is open year-round and available 24/7 for emergencies, with 11 vets on staff and 12 support personnel. And about that mare with the bellyache?

After an operation that took more than an hour, she’s doing fine and recovering back at home in her own barn.

As for me, a cancer patient, who like the mare, has been under the knife before, watching this surgery reminded me of how thankful I am for surgeons and modern medicine. Like the mare, I wouldn’t be here without them.

I’m sure she’s grateful, too.

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the races!

Behold, the future of the ‘Sport of Kings.’ It’s a bright one.

BY BRIEN BOUYEA T H E N — N O W — N E X T

georgia reach The

POPULOUS

Georgia Horse Racing Coalition is trying to bring horse racing to Atlanta.

Here, it's offering up futuristic renderings of what a racetrack might look like decades from now.

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Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. You only see those kinds of elevated numbers, annually, for those three races, of course, but they verify a continued healthy interest in racing. I say the future’s bright.

So what will the sport look like in 20 years? My crystal ball doesn’t predict many changes to the actual races (robot horses and jockeys aren’t on the horizon anytime soon), but I envision that the experience of going to the track will continue to evolve for the betterment of racegoers. After all, could anyone have imagined just 20 years ago that all you would have to do to place a bet at the track—or anywhere, for that matter—is press a button on your smartphone? Or that social media would create such a huge network of racing fans and industry professionals while introducing new people to the sport? These advances in technology and accessibility have benefited racing and will continue to do so. The tech is advancing rapidly. We’ve seen it impact the sport more in the past five years than anyone could’ve ever imagined. Expect more of the same and new interactive opportunities we haven’t even dreamed up yet.

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states to determine, individually, whether or not to permit a potentially lucrative revenue stream at racetracks could impact racing in a positive way. Delaware Park wasted no time getting in on the sports betting game, while Monmouth and several others are expected to follow suit as soon as this summer.

One of my personal wishes for the sport’s future is modernized facilities throughout the country, including the New York tracks. This is long overdue. Racetracks need to be more inviting and tech-friendly to draw in new fans and make them want to come back. In our own backyard, that wish includes NYRA understanding and protecting the historical integrity of our American landmark here in Saratoga and legitimately taking into consideration the public’s input on such issues before moving forward with any renovations.

It matters. The New York tracks (my crystal ball doesn’t see Aqueduct as part of NYRA’s long-range plans) have been grand, showcase palaces for the sport since 1864 (Saratoga) and 1905 (Belmont), respectively. I envision them, with the right upgrades, maintaining that role for a long time to come.

POPULOUS

often hear people say Thoroughbred racing’s Iconic venues such as Saratoga Race Course, Keeneland glory days are long gone or that the sport Race Course, Oaklawn Racing & Gaming and Del Mar “needs to be fixed” to remain viable. I beg Thoroughbred Club will remain the heartbeat of the sport. to differ. Is racing perfect? Certainly not.

Located in great racing towns, these spectacular and historic Are there aspects of the sport that can be tracks will continue to feature the best horses, jockeys and improved? Without question. Racing, however, trainers against the backdrop of a festive fan experience doesn’t need some massive overhaul, and I’m that can be enjoyed by everyone from the $2 bettor to the confident the sport will be an important part millionaires and billionaires in box seats. That won’t change. But of our culture—both in Saratoga what about tracks that are at the crossroads, like Advances in and nationally—for generations Belmont Park, Monmouth Park, Arlington Park technology and to come. That’s right, I’m a perpetual optimist, and others? With the recent announcement accessibility have and I see a prosperous future for this great that the National Hockey League’s New York benefited racing game. It won’t be all puppy dogs and rainbows, Islanders would eventually share space on and will continue but there’s much to look forward to. the Belmont property, the New York Racing to do so. Expect The recently concluded Triple Crown series Association (NYRA) has a historic opportunity to more of the same offered ample evidence that Thoroughbred build its brand as part of a unique entertainment and new interactive racing remains a vibrant American sport. destination. Other tracks that need a shot of life opportunities Television ratings were strong, on-track betting are hoping to secure a strong future through we haven’t even totals were at near-record levels and more the addition of legalized sports betting. The dreamed up yet. than 380,000 people attended the Kentucky landmark 2018 Supreme Court decision to allow

Jennifer Steinkamp (American, b. 1958), Rapunzel (detail), 2005. Video installation, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong, and Greengrassi, London

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JENNIFER STEINKAMP: BLIND EYE JUNE 30–OCT 8 Williamstown, Massachusetts clarkart.edu Generous contributors to Jennifer Steinkamp: Blind Eye include Maureen Fennessy Bousa and Edward P. Bousa and Amy and Charlie Scharf.

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RIDING INTO THE SUNSET

T H E N

THESE THREE UPSTATE CHARITIES, PROVIDE THOROUGHBREDS A DIGNIFIED RETIREMENT.

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By Natalie Moore

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Saratoga WarHorse founder Bob Nevins hugs a veteran graduate of the program— one of the 900-plus who have completed it; (opposite) New Vocations in Ballston Spa retrains racehorses, like King Cupid, pictured here, for new careers.

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his winter, Susan Wagner heard from a neighbor about a nine-year-old donkey that had been locked in a stall for almost his entire life. His owner, unfathomably, had 60 acres of land.

Why he had a donkey in the first place, if he was going to keep him locked away, was a mystery to Wagner. She started trying to get the donkey away from the owner, and when she succeeded, sent

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him to Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine for two weeks to be gelded and treated for various stages of neglect. When he was released, he went straight to Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary, a 140-acre facility in Columbia County, NY, owned and operated by Wagner. “He had no clue about anything,” Wagner said about the donkey’s arrival. “I call him the boy in the bubble—he doesn’t even know how to walk. These are the kinds of animals that we take in.”

Just talking to Wagner, I can tell Equine Advocates, the foundation she started in 1996, and her sanctuary, which opened in 2004, are her life. With 83 equines—horses, ponies, donkeys and mules—in her care, it has to be. Wagner started Equine Advocates after she rescued her first horse, Gandalf, from slaughter. Since then, she’s rescued thousands of equines, and now brings her rescues to live out the rest of their lives in the sanctuary. Most of the equines Wagner rescues are, like Gandalf, headed to slaughter; they’re either already in a kill pen, or about to go to auction, where they’ll likely be purchased by kill buyers—middlemen looking to sell the animal to a slaughter plant.

Others come directly from racetracks because of on-track injuries, or, like the donkey she rescued this winter, from situations of neglect.

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SARATOGA WARHORSE

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n college, I did my senior thesis on childhood trauma— specifically on children placed in out-of-home care. I was interested in how early childhood events (like being removed from one’s parents) could manifest in such a defining way, even in adulthood. Throughout my research, I came across many organizations, family service professionals and counselors working to help children who had what are called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and though these organizations were certainly making a difference, it’s often not enough. However, I’d never heard of any trauma programs involving horses. Until now.

Saratoga WarHorse is a three-day experience for war veterans who are struggling to adjust to life after military service. The program, started in Saratoga by Bob Nevins, a veteran himself, is an interactive experience between offthe-track Thoroughbreds and veterans. “I don’t do therapy,” Nevins says. “And I’m very clear with the veterans that we don’t do therapy; we don’t do touchy-feely.” Instead, Nevins teaches veterans how to “transcend the language barrier” with the horses, which are, by nature, flight animals. When the horse realizes the veteran knows its language, it asks for protection. “It asks you: ‘Can I bond with you? Will you become my new herd leader? Can I trust you?’” he says.

Nevins explains trauma like this: When a normal human being is exposed to a traumatic event, it’s like an emotional circuit breaker pops in order to protect them and get them through the crisis. But if the circuit breaker doesn’t reset, the person starts developing symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress, because they’re still in survival mode. And

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(VETERAN) SHELLY SCHMIDT

EQUINE ADVOCATES

Equine Advocates mares Rose (left) and Kelli; (inset) Equine Advocates has children’s programs for every grade level.

(previous, King Cupid) TRACEY BUYCE; (previous, Nevins) SHARON CASTRO; (horses) ELLEN RLYNCH

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n the beginning, Saratoga Springs owed its status as a luxury vacation destination to the mineral-rich waters flowing beneath its surface. Now, more than a century later, though the spas still hold their magical appeal, we truly owe it all to the horses. Without the Thoroughbreds that live, train and compete at Saratoga Race Course each summer, our city would have become a forgotten gem from an earlier era. To give back to the horses that have given so much to our city, many organizations in Saratoga and beyond are working to provide happy lives for Thoroughbreds and other horses after they retire. Here are three nonprofits that are proving a horse’s last lap isn’t the end of the line. It’s the beginning of a new, exciting chapter.

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Horses go to auction because they can no longer do the work they were raised or trained to do, whether that was racing, working on a farm or pulling buggies. “Just because a horse goes from being a racehorse to a show horse doesn’t ensure that they won’t end up falling through the cracks once they can’t be a show horse anymore,” Wagner says.

“Let’s face it: Everybody gets old.” But that’s where Equine Advocates comes in—a horse’s age and abilities don’t matter at the sanctuary. “Last year, a Thoroughbred named Rose came here,” Wagner says. “She’s only 11 years old. For racing, that’s old, but for us, that’s pretty young.”

Each year, Equine Advocates hosts an annual gala to raise funds for the organization and to honor individuals doing admirable work to benefit equines. One of last year’s honorees was legendary New York City socialite, humanitarian, actress and saratoga living contributing editor, Cornelia Guest, who was honored for her work to bring an end to horse slaughter. “Susan Wagner has such incredible knowledge,” Guest tells me. “I think to have someone with such an incredible understanding fighting for horses is fantastic. She walks the walk and talks the talk. Most people are simply not like that.” I agree—she’s the real deal.

war and peace At Saratoga

while that’s a good place to be WarHorse, veterans are shown how in life-or-death situations, such to “transcend the as the ones a soldier might language barrier” experience on the battlefield, with a horse. it’s not good for everyday life.

When a horse gives the person permission to “join its herd,” it triggers a re-regulation of the autonomic nervous system. “Neuroscientists are telling us what we’re doing is exactly what needs to happen in order to reset,” Nevins says. “But we know we can’t do this without the horse, because the horse is so unconditionally accepting.”

This year, Saratoga WarHorse is set to graduate its 1000th veteran since the program was founded in 2011. Jen Ormiston, a veteran from Ballston Spa who was deployed in Iraq in 2004, completed the program this March, and says it has given her her life back. “When I left the military, everything just kind of exploded,” she says. “I wasn’t sleeping well, I wasn’t eating.

[I was having] nightmares and flashbacks, and was drinking— [doing] anything to avoid what I was feeling.” Ormiston tried traditional counseling, but it didn’t work for her. Saratoga WarHorse, she says, was a last-ditch effort. “I didn’t believe this was going to work for me. I was going to try this guy’s snake oil, and if it didn’t work, I was checking out. I was done.”

It turns out, the program was exactly what she needed. “I can say for certain that nothing has helped in the way WarHorse

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Family Fu

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SUN. MORN

(Must begin

did,” says Ormiston. “I can’t explain why or what happened.

It’s truly like a switch was turned off. I just have this peace about me that I haven’t felt in a long, long time. And I really don’t think I would be around anymore if it hadn’t worked.”

It’s because of veterans like Ormiston that Nevins started Saratoga WarHorse. “It’s a national shame that more veterans die by suicide than in combat,” Nevins says. “We’d all do it again if we had to, as veterans, but man, I’m not a throwaway after I get hurt. These horses are not throwaways after they’re no longer able to compete at the highest level. There’s plenty of work for them to do.”

Thinking back to my senior thesis, I can’t help but wonder if Nevins’ methodology could be applied to victims of childhood trauma. “Absolutely,” he says when I ask him. “That’s what I’m trying to do: I’m trying to elevate this to a scientifically validated procedure that could benefit thousands of children, thousands of sexual assault victims. But I’m perfecting it here. And once it’s perfected, it can be duplicated.” For the sake of the hundreds of thousands of children who are born into situations that expose them to traumatic events, I can’t wait for that day to come.

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hug it out New Vocations trainer Leandra Cooper

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hugs Standardbred Tobins Fusion.

Besides the Lexington and Ballston Spa locations, New Vocations has an outpost in Pennsylvania and three in Ohio. Last year, the organization had a total of 1000 adoption applications come in. Of those 1000, 400 horses were adopted out. “The reason why we didn’t adopt out 1000 is because there’s a lot more interest in the horses that aren’t limited in what they can do, and the majority of the horses we’re getting have some type of limitation,” says Anna Ford, New Vocations’ Thoroughbred Program Director. That limitation, she says, is usually a physical injury sustained during the horse’s racing career.

These racing-related injuries (and fatalities) have obviously been a topic of much controversy in recent years at Saratoga.

For this reason, organizations like New Vocations are imperative to the racing industry, Ford says. “New Vocations helps draw more fans to the industry,” she says. “One of the biggest concerns of people outside of the racing industry is what happens to the horses. So the more we can spread the word that there are programs out there like New Vocations, the better.” She’s right. As someone not directly involved with the racing industry, it warms my heart to know that we’re taking care of the horses that make Saratoga what it is, right here in our own backyard.

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hen I interviewed Saratoga Springs-based photographer Tracey Buyce for “The Saratoga 20” feature in saratoga living’s 20th Anniversary Issue, I remember two of her most memorable answers: She can make the best horse noises, and she takes “glamour shots” of retired racehorses to help them get adopted. While I was certainly impressed by her whinny, I was more interested in her work with New Vocations, a racehorse adoption program in Ballston Spa. New Vocations, which has its national headquarters in Lexington, takes in retired Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds and trains them to be something other than racehorses. The number one discipline the horses are retrained for is pleasure trail-riding, followed by eventing, hunting and dressage. “We call it transitional training, because it really is like getting a completely new job,” says Leandra Cooper, the Thoroughbred Trainer at New Vocations’ Ballston Spa facility. “The horses are generally really young when they come in, so they need a little bit of help to adjust to the new lifestyle.” While racehorses can live to be between 25 and 30, they usually retire—and come to New Vocations—at only a few years of age.

The Ballston Spa location is a one-woman show put on by Cooper. She does all the training, managing and paperwork required, from accepting “donations” (i.e., racehorses) to getting the horses adopted. Typically, she has between 10 and 15 horses at a time, which usually stay at New Vocations for 40-60 days. “I have this short, intimate time with the horses,” she says. “But I’m never sad when they go. I’ll miss them, and I care deeply about every single horse, but I’m usually really excited to see what they’re going to do, because I know that I’ve given them these tools to be successful in another job.”

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Is HBO’s smash, WESTWORLD, leading the wave into tomorrow?

P phony express

One of Westworld’s main characters, Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood), riding a “robot” horse; (inset) Dolores and Teddy Flood (James Marsden) are often seen on horseback in HBO’s Westernthemed hit series.

BY WI LL L EVI T H Back when Saratoga Springs’ Arts Center was still the public library, I remember piling into a room one evening with a bunch of families and watching The Black Stallion on one of those rickety, old-school projectors. The late great film critic, Roger Ebert, may have cooed about it in his four-star review—but it scared the living crap out of me! (I think it was the storm scene.)

That’s just one of many Hollywood films that have made horses into stars. Here are the five (well, technically eight) most iconic horses in cinematic history, according to saratoga living.

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Antares, Rigel, Altair and Aldebarán

THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) How can you not include The Horse of a Different Color from the Emerald City scene in the Oscar-winning Wizard Of Oz? According to film lore, the scene required multiple horses, each of which was given its own coat of a color powder made largely of Jell-O. Director Victor Fleming eventually got his shot, but not before the horses tried licking themselves clean!

BEN-HUR (1959) OK, so Charlton Heston got four horses for the price of one—but he needed them all to pull off the climactic chariot sequence in 1959’s epic BenHur, which won an astonishing 11 Academy Awards. And if you’re wondering, in the majority of the scenes, that’s actually Heston steering the chariot. It took him weeks to master the feat.

HBO

FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ TO SEABISC UIT, TINSELTOWN SURE LOVES ITS PONIES.

The Horse Of A Different Color (poster) HERITAGE AUCTIONS, HA.COM; (Dolores) HBO

5

ICONIC HOLLYWOOD HORSES

icture this: A plague has killed all the world’s horses. How will the “Sport of Kings” go on? Two words: robot horses. I’m not talking about metal ones with BY grinding gears inside; I’m talking about actual, realer-than-real, N AT A L I E flesh-and-fur horses. You know, MOORE the kind you see in Westworld.

The hit HBO series is set in the Wild West, except that it’s not the actual Wild West—it’s a futuristic Wild West-themed park, named, fittingly, Westworld, where the globe’s richest people can live out their cowboy fantasies (think shoot-outs, brothels and fantastical quests). It’s all made possible by the “hosts”—robots virtually indistinguishable from humans—who are there to be the humans’ playthings (unbeknownst to them). But enough about human hosts (Spoiler Alert: They’re more conscious than they’re supposed to be)—I’m interested in the host horses.

It would be pretty nice, having a robot horse. You’d definitely save money on food, and it probably wouldn’t ever need to use the bathroom. If the horse got hurt, you could just repair it, and it would never die, since you could always reactivate it. But what would it be like if horse racing was made up entirely of robot horses? Hmm… For starters, trainers would certainly become obsolete, replaced by coders. If a horse could be coded to run fast, what’d be the use of exercising it? Jockeys, too, probably wouldn’t be needed, as they would just interrupt the horses’ preprogrammed run. The outcome of a race, then, would become much easier to predict, as the physical state of a horse wouldn’t differ from day to day, effectively putting an end to betting. And it seems the focus of horse racing would shift from the horses themselves to the coders, who would really be the ones competing. And if that were the case, why watch the horses race? Why not watch the coders code? Mind. Blown. Kind of.

Because watching coders code would be terribly boring. I think it’s safe to say, as the administration of Westworld is slowly figuring out in the show, the novelty of lifelike robots isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s as Westworld’s host, Peter Abernathy, says: “These violent delights have violent ends.” Or boring ones.

Zip Cochise

The Black Stallion

Seabiscuit

EL DORADO (1967) Any movie that stars John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and James Caan is bound to be gold, but major props (no pun intended) have to be given to the horse Wayne rides in on, an Appaloosa (or spotted breed) that went by the name of Zip Cochise.

THE BLACK STALLION (1979) That movie about a boy stranded on a desert island with a big, black horse that frightened the younger version of me? The star of the show was a horse named Cass Ole, a Texas-bred Arabian stallion that won more than 50 championships in his horse show career. He was so good, he starred in the inevitable sequel.

SEABISCUIT (2003) Unlike The Black Stallion, it required ten horses to “play” Seabiscuit in the eponymous 2003 film (portions were shot in Saratoga Springs, by the way).

And work-wise, it wasn’t all that strenuous a role, as none of the horses ever had to race past three furlongs (0.38 miles).

Talk about an easy gig.

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AFTER 73 YEARS, SIRO’S IS STILL THE PLACE TO BE AFTER A DAY AT THE TRACK. AMAZING. BY LIZZIE HUNTER

iro’s cannot be explained; it must be experienced,” says Michael Stone, who’s been the General Manager and Maître d’ at Siro’s for all of three decades. His words ring true when talking about Saratoga Springs’ most famous racingseason restaurant and bar. First opening its doors in 1945 and named for The Waldorf Astoria’s Maître d’, Jimmy Siro, the fabled hotspot is located just steps away from Saratoga Race Course and is only open during track season (July 20-September 3).

With its timeless elegance and customer-first service— whether it’s a random night or Travers Day, “You’ll always get the Siro’s treatment,” says Stone—it has and will always be the place to go after the track lets out.

While there’s certainly no “Members Only” sign hanging out front—anybody can walk in—historically, it’s been a mainstay for the highest of rollers. I’ve been there after a fun day at the races for the live music or to sip a cocktail on the patio with friends. But my favorite part? The people. Always. You never know who you’ll run into at Siro’s. I’ve seen The Grand Dame of Saratoga, Marylou Whitney, there, as well as Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Bill Parcells. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Stone tells me he and his fellow staffers have waited on everyone from celebrity chef Bobby Flay, HOF horse trainers D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert, New

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York Yankees great and HOFer Mariano Rivera, movie star Cameron Diaz and The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon. The spot even has some Hollywood pedigree of its own: Actor Kevin Dillon, who played Johnny “Drama” Chase on HBO’s hit, Entourage, is a Siro’s investor.

“We cater to this crowd,” says Stone. “We’ve become synonymous with Saratoga Race Course, and Siro’s has always opened its arms to anyone that’s at the racetrack and wants to experience it.”

Siro’s isn’t just the trendiest place to hang out after the races; it’s also a place to put your winnings to good use, with a full bar-and-restaurant menu, heavy on the Italian fare and surf-and-turf. “We have one of the greatest chefs in America in Tom Dillon,” says Stone.

Dillon, Siro’s current Executive Chef, was Siro’s chefowner for decades beforehand and the man behind the venue’s resurgence in the early ’80s—right around when Saratoga’s racetrack had its own comeback. “The contemporary version of Siro’s is a product of Tom’s vision, talent and ability in the kitchen,” Stone says. So, of course, I had to ask: What should I order on Opening Day? Says Stone: “The lump crab cakes and lobster from the Siro’s menu of old will be back this summer!”

A little advice? Track season comes and goes more quickly than you can imagine. So do whatever you can to add Siro’s to your itinerary. It simply can’t be missed! Ask anybody.

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Mary McCartney’s new White Horse photography book is everything.

WHITE MAGIC

“Alejandro is well aware of his own beauty,” says photographer Mary McCartney, of her white Andalusian stallion/model.

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BY K AREN BJORNL AND

didn’t grow up around horses. On the gritty streets of Buffalo, the only animals in my social circle were badass junkyard dogs and scruffy, one-eyed cats. Now I live at the edge of Saratoga Springs, and my country road, five miles from Downtown, is horse heaven. From my back door, I hear the snorts and whinnies of my neighbor’s horses, and when I walk past their corral and into the woods, I always stop by and say hello. Down the road,

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“He is the viewing platform that offers me a constantly new perspective of English landscape,” says McCartney of Alejandro.

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a pair of white Percherons, mighty draft horses, tall and big-boned, live at Loon Meadow Farm. French knights once rode these majestic mounts into battle, man and beast cloaked in heavy armor, clink-clanking with every step.

Call me a romantic, but it was a beautiful new book of 150 color photographs that spurred my visit to the Percherons. The White Horse (Rizzoli)

by Mary McCartney magically captures one year in the life of Alejandro, her beloved white Andalusian stallion. The stunning book, with its introduction by film director and writer Simon Aboud, hits the streets at the tail end of August.

Mary, if you haven’t guessed by now, is the daughter of The Beatles’ Paul McCartney and his late wife, Linda, and like her mum, she’s a highly regarded British photographer and passionate animal rights activist. Shot in the Sussex countryside where Mary grew up, the images uncover her private world, the freedom and joy that she feels when she goes riding and the unique personality of Alejandro. Her elegant Spanish stallion is as ethereal as a white horse can be, pictured in

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“The light is everything,” says Mary McCartney of her work as a photographer. “Dappled sunlight, the longest shadows, the last light of day, the moonlight, the freezing winter dawn as I crunch my way to him in the stable.”

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“Looking at the finished edit, the images are less about horses and landscape than the horse becoming part of the landscape,” says film director Simon Aboud in his introduction to Mary McCartney’s new photo book.

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fields and forest, by dark and day, in brassy autumn and sultry summer. In a close-up, a wild white mane falls across his face, curtaining a big dark eye. In another, Alejandro’s long white tail, shimmering in the sunlight as it brushes the ground, is a waterfall of snowy hair; in a third, Mary shows off his Rocky-like muscled neck.

But all is not fairy-tale noble and pretty. We also see Alejandro, dirtsmeared and lying on his back, hooves turned up to the sky. And, oh my, there’s a nighttime image that’s pure Blair Witch Project, as a ghostly horse slips through shadowy trees. As for Mary, you might remember her from her father’s first solo album, McCartney.

Flip it, and you’ll see a picture of a wee babe peeking out from inside Paul’s fur-lined leather jacket. Linda took that photo of the former Beatle and his little girl. I remember that album. Teenage girls in Buffalo—and every other city on the planet, for that matter—loved that picture of Paul. But now Alejandro’s giving him a run for his money.

ALL PHOTOS BY MARY MCCARTNEY

white beauty Mary McCartney, daughter of Paul and Linda, is set to publish her ethereal photo book, The White Horse, at the end of August.

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A

BACK IN THE USA The World Equestrian Games are touching down in the US for just the second time ever this September.

Make plans now.

B Y K AT I E N AVA R R A

lords of leaping

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FEI

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The World Equestrian Games includes eight disciplines, including the jumping skill set.

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ttending the Summer Olympics to watch the equestrian events ranks in the top five on my bucket list. I’ve ridden horses since I was eight, and have always eagerly awaited the Olympic horse coverage, however sparse it may be—and however hard to locate on TV. The fact that the Olympics are only held once every four years, often in far-off places, makes my goal a lofty one.

But luckily, horse lovers like me can catch Olympic-caliber horses and riders in open competition right here in the United States this September 11-23. Enter the Fédération Equestre IInternationale’s (FEI’s) World Equestrian Games (WEG), where elite competitors from around the globe will gather at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Tryon, NC, for a veritable worldwide—and epic— equestrian clash of the titans.

WORLD Like the Olympic Games, EQUESTRIAN the WEG also only takes place GAMES every four years—usually in The World Equestrian Games Europe—and it includes eight has been held in seven different disciplines: dressage, driving, countries—including the US endurance, eventing, jumping, twice—since its inception in 1990: para-dressage, reining and STOCKHOLM (1990) vaulting—each of the equestrian THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (1994) world’s top competitive skill sets.

ROME (1998) Eight years ago, the Games JEREZ, SPAIN (2002) were held for the first time in AACHEN, GERMANY (2006) the US—in Lexington—and as LEXINGTON (2010) a longtime rider and member NORMANDY, FRANCE (2014) TRYON, NC (2018) of the equestrian media, I was lucky enough to land a THIS YEAR: coveted spot in “Ride A Reiner,” NUMBER OF HORSES: 839 a noncompetitive event where NUMBER OF RIDERS: 849 the reining discipline’s top COUNTRIES trainers let riders like me lead REPRESENTED: MORE THAN 70 world champion horses through Stats as of June 10, 2018, and a series of dance-like spins are subject to change and stops. I also had a chance to watch an endurance race— basically, Le Mans for horses. The total race spans nearly 100 miles, and as horse and rider teams crossed into designated veterinarian checkpoints, the horses’ muscles rippled under a sheen of sweat. It was breathtaking.

When I head to this year’s WEG, I’m looking forward to all the top-notch equestrian action—and getting to meet the Games’ mascots, miniature horses Star and Huck. (The pair was adopted by Mark and Katherine Bellissimo, Co-founders and Managing Partners of Tryon Equestrian Partners.) We’re still a few months away from the Games, but if you’re like me and like to plan ahead, visit tryon2018.com to find a complete schedule of events. I, for one, can’t wait.

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the races!

Wow! Skidmore’s The Best In The Nation college game days A scene from the 2018 Skidmore College Saratoga Classic Horse Show, which will launch the third leg of its series August 15-18.

DID YOU KNOW T HAT T HE S K I D M O R E C O L L E G E WO M E N ’ S R I D I N G T E A M H AS WO N EIGHT NAT I ONA L CHA M PI ONSHI PS? YES , EI GHT. T I M E TO TA KE A BOW.

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JEFF DINGLER

CREDIT

introduction by

CREDIT

BY WILL LEVITH

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hen you think of the best colleges for athletics, you probably picture Division I schools such as Notre Dame or the University of Florida.

A passing thought isn’t usually even given to Skidmore College.

(I went there for its arts program—not to sit in the nonexistent football stands). However, there’s one sport that Saratoga Springs’ liberal arts powerhouse has excelled at for years—and, dare I say, dominated in. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that in a horse town such as Saratoga, Skidmore’s got the sport of riding down pat—and the Thoroughbreds (yes, that’s the team’s name) are the reigning Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) national champions, one of eight total titles they’ve won since 1990! Just what is riding as a competitive, collegiate sport, and why should you care? Below, get to know it, inside and out, with the help of Skidmore’s Head Riding Coach, Cynthia Ford.

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the races!

THE BASICS RIDING VS. EQUESTRIAN It turns out that “riding” and “equestrian” mean the same thing when it comes to competitive collegiate sports, says Ford. “This also helps to avoid confusion as to whether Skidmore offers Equestrian or Equine Studies as a major or minor,” she says. (It does not.)

“Skidmore offers riding as a competitive women’s varsity sport and a physical activity class within our Athletic Department.”

RIDING DEFINED Skidmore’s team competes in eight Hunter

Seat Equitation classes over fences and on the flat. What does that mean? By means of an analogy, Ford says: “Many riders think that ‘equitation’ means having the correct body position on a horse. You hear folks describing equitation as form and function. This concept is the same as a golfer having a correct golf swing. Why, then, aren’t all golfers [with ‘correct’ swings] winning PGA events? An accomplished Hunter Seat Equitation rider must have a solid foundation, development of a feel for riding and an intellectual understanding of the art of riding. The ‘ride’ is more important than the ‘look.’”

TOUGH AS NAILS If, as you’re reading this, you’re thinking, “These students aren’t real athletes; they just let all the horses do the work,” think again. “It takes physical strength and stamina to ride well,” says Ford. “Team riders practice daily and work out at least two times a week at the Skidmore Sports Center. They’re scheduled for at least three formal practice times each week, generally in the evening. We’ve proven that the stronger riders are physically, the more confident they are as competitors.”

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BATTLE OF THE SEXES Skidmore’s Women’s Riding Team

competes on an intercollegiate level against some teams that are co-ed. For at least 15 years, though, the Skidmore riding team has been all-women; before that, it was co-ed.

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INTERCOLLEGIATE HORSE SHOWS ASSOCIATION’S (IHSA’s) NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS This is the riding team’s

equivalent to the World Series or Super Bowl. And yes, Skidmore’s is the reigning champ. Ford explains: “The IHSA represents 400 member colleges in 45 States and Canada, which encompasses 40 regions in 8 zones. In order to qualify for nationals, each high-point regional team must participate at their respective zone final. The top two teams from each zone then advance to nationals. Teams from across the country compete in nationals in early May of each year.”

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SKIDMORE COLLEGE SARATOGA CLASSIC (SCSC) HORSE SHOWS This year, the SCSC

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Horse Shows are taking place June 13-17, June 20-24 and August 15-18 (obviously, the first two have already occurred). Ford notes that the shows are separate from Skidmore’s riding program. They’re basically student scholarship ride of passage A rider from fundraisers. “The shows are run under the United Skidmore’s team competes at the States Equestrian Federation and the United Saratoga Classic Horse Show.

States Hunter Jumper Association governing bodies,” says Ford. “They offer [disciplines] in HUNTERS VS. JUMPERS Hunters and Jumpers are two types Equitation, Hunters and Jumpers. Juniors, amateurs and of jumping horses, each of which is judged differently. Jumpers professionals compete in their respective divisions.” are judged on athleticism, and only perform jumps, whereas The SCSC offers quite a bit of prize money to competitors: Hunters are judged both over fences and on the flat.

For example, the winner of this year’s Grand Prix event will take home $25,000. (Not a bad way to pay down your HORSE COURSE student loans!) And since the event is open to all types of riders, “our students compete in many of these horse shows, CLIP-CLOPPING FOR CREDIT Skidmore’s riding program is not as a team member, but as a horse owner or on a offered to students two semesters per year for four years.

Skidmore-owned horse,” says Ford. (All horses owned by There’s also that aforementioned “physical activity” class each Skidmore were donated to the college.) In fact, there are semester, for which students can actually receive academic thousands of other shows just like these offered throughout credit. Skiddies can take a range of classes in disciplines such the US. So participation in them could prove a highly as Hunter Seat Equitation, Hunters and Jumpers. Students can’t lucrative summer job for a student willing to travel with earn a degree in these areas—but many students who frequent the classes go straight to veterinary school postgrad, says Ford. horse in tow.

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hat happens when you combine the fancy hats of Saratoga Race Course and pink, the color of breast cancer awareness? The Sizzling Hot Pink Saratoga Hat Luncheon! A much-anticipated event for Saratoga’s leading ladies, the annual luncheon will be held August 9 at Saratoga Race Course’s At The Rail Pavilion. This year’s event will honor Vivien Malloy, a top Thoroughbred owner and breeder from Westchester County. Malloy was named top owner and breeder in New York State by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and 2010’s New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. Breeder of the Year.

The event kicks off with a champagne reception and vendor boutique at 11am, followed by the luncheon at 12:30pm, which will be highlighted by an open discussion with Larry Norton, MD, the Scientific Director of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Tickets start at $200 and are on sale now. saratoga living’s the presenting sponsor, so we’ll see you—and your sizzling hot pink hats—there!

pink ladies (from left) Joanne Nielson, Beth Smith, Kelly Lewandowski, Susan Wright, Renee Lane, Teddy Foster and Tammy Morgan at last year’s Hot Pink Hat Luncheon.

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7/6/18 9:02 AM

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E SAVE TH DATE Don’t Miss The Season’s Top Galas

BY PAYTON HUNTINGTON

A Red, White & Blue Triumph For ACS

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6TH ANNUAL HAY, OATS AND SPAGHETTI WHEN: July 23, 6-10pm WHERE: Saratoga Automobile Museum BENEFITS: The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation COST: $100

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THE ANNUAL STAR-SPANGLED GALA RAISED MONEY, AWARENESS AND SPIRITS.

BY PAYTON HUNTINGTON PHOTOGRAPHY BY DORI FITZPATRICK

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ed, white, blue and gourmet barbecue! (Yes, it rhymes.) Those were the secret ingredients at this year’s third annual American Cancer Society Red, White & Blue Party on June 29, at Saratoga National Golf Club—presented by saratoga living. The well-attended event, which was expertly organized by sl’s Nightlife Editor, Lizzie Hunter, featured a signature ’Merican Mule cocktail, food from Mazzone Catering and live music from Funk Evolution, with a spectacular fireworks display to conclude the night.

Honorees included Rising Star Award-winner Peter Gannon and Hero of Hope Award-winner Michael Anson, honored posthumously. The Red, White & Blue gala was an ideal way to kick off Fourth of July week—and gave the Saratoga community a common mission: to eradicate cancer.

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65 ROSES: THE OPENING DAY SOIRÉE WHEN: July 20, 6pm WHERE: Saratoga National Golf Club BENEFITS: The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation COST: $190; $150 (35 or under)

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1. (from left) Chelsea Moore, Garrett Cobb, Mark Wells, Becky Kendall; 2. the crowd at Prime at Saratoga National; 3. gift baskets decorated reserved tables; 4. Lizzie Hunter, Richard Pérez-Feria; 5. Lauren Childs, Nick Magina; 6. Hilary Morrison, Eric Huss; 7. Dave Bigler; 8. the party continued into the night, culminating in fireworks.

POLO BY TWILIGHT WHEN: July 24, 5:30-8:30pm WHERE: Saratoga Polo Association Fields BENEFITS: Joseph C. and Anne T. Palamountain Scholarship Fund COST: $150; $75 (30 or under), $100 (ages 31-40) AN UNBRIDLED AFFAIR GALA WHEN: July 26, 6:30-10:30pm WHERE: Saratoga Springs Holiday Inn BENEFITS: CAPTAIN Community Human Services COST: $125; $100 (30 or under) FASHIONABLE FILLIES LUNCHEON WHEN: July 30, 11:30am WHERE: Saratoga National Golf Club BENEFITS: The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation COST: $150

HEALTH, HORSES & MAKING HISTORY GALA WHEN: July 31, 6-10pm WHERE: National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame BENEFITS: Veterans, active military, Backstretch Employee Service Team and select nonprofits COST: $125 EQUINE ADVOCATES 17TH ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER & CHARITY AUCTION WHEN: August 2, 6-10pm WHERE: Canfield Casino BENEFITS: Equine Advocates COST: $250 9TH ANNUAL COCKTAIL PARTY “AFTER THE RACE” WHEN: August 5, 6:30-10pm WHERE: Saratoga National Golf Club BENEFITS: Retired Thoroughbreds COST: $100 (in advance); $125 (at the door) A BLUE SPANGLED EVENING WHEN: August 13, 6-9:30pm WHERE: Hall of Springs BENEFITS: Saratoga WarHorse COST: TBD 13TH ANNUAL NY CHAPLAINCY BRUNCH WHEN: August 15, 10:30am WHERE: Saratoga National Golf Club BENEFITS: Race Track Chaplaincy of America, New York Division COST: $120

HEALTH, HISTORY AND HORSES CHARITY GALA WHEN: August 16, 6-9pm WHERE: Longfellows Restaurant BENEFITS: Established charities in Saratoga and Warren/Washington Counties COST: $75 RACING FOR THE CHILDREN WHEN: August 22, 6:30-11:30pm WHERE: Saratoga National Golf Club BENEFITS: Belmont Child Care Association, Inc., and honoring Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Saratoga COST: $300; $225 (ages 18-30) 20TH ANNUAL TRAVERS WINE TASTING WHEN: August 24, 6-11pm WHERE: Saratoga Springs City Center BENEFITS: Saratoga Bridges COST: $140 SARATOGA BRIDGES ANNUAL TRAVERS DAY AT THE RACES WHEN: August 25, 11am (buffet open Noon-3pm) WHERE: The Easy Goer Restaurant at Saratoga Race Course BENEFITS: Senior Services of Albany COST: $160

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More Than 500 Honor Mary DeCrescente At Alzheimer’s Gala

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hail mary Angelo Michael Mazzone speaks at An Evening To End Alzheimer’s, which honored the late Mary DeCrescente.

BY MADELINE CONROY

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on June 16 at the Albany Capital Center. This year’s gala was held in memory of Mary DeCrescente. “The funds raised will allow the Alzheimer’s Association to provide programs and services to those affected

by Alzheimer’s in our community and fund critical research,” says Elizabeth Smith-Boivin, Executive Director of the association’s

Northeastern New York Chapter. Guests at the event enjoyed food and cocktails courtesy of Mazzone Hospitality and danced the night away to top local band, Soul Session.

Founded in 1980 by Jerome H. Stone, the Alzheimer’s Association has positively impacted millions through its volunteer work, support and research of Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.

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s everyone knows, Alzheimer’s Disease affects millions of Americans annually—so it makes sense that a sizable crowd of nearly 500 guests joined the Alzheimer’s Association, Northeastern New York Chapter, for its annual “An Evening To End Alzheimer’s” benefit

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1. (from left) Deborah Lanzillo, Jim Hurley, Dr. Kate Kennedy; 2. Honorary Committee Co-chair Marybeth DeCrescente, Carmine DeCrescente; 3. (from left) Stefanie Bastien, Dr. Dzintra Celmins, Dr. David Hart, Dr. Earle Zimmerman, Dr. Kate Kennedy; 4. Congressman Paul D. Tonko and Executive Director Elizabeth Smith-Boivin; 5. Honorary Committee Co-chair C.J. DeCrescente, Angelo Mazzone; 6. (from left) Elaine Bartley, Esq., Benita Zahn, Dr. Kate Kennedy.

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saratoga living

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Celebrates ‘Big Papi’ And ‘Saratoga After Dark’ Issue In Style

I BIGLER STUDIO

BY NATALIE MOORE

t turns out that an outdoor venue—with a miracle, rain-less forecast—a live band, a bunch of friends and complimentary wine make for a fantastic night.

(Who knew?) saratoga living celebrated the release of its ‘Saratoga After Dark’ (July) issue, fittingly, at Gaffney’s, a staple of Saratoga’s Caroline Street nightlife, on June 28, with the help of local band, The Wallies, and Arias Wine by David Ortiz (who also was the issue’s exclusive cover story). More than 100 guests braved 90-degree heat and spent the evening marveling over the Big Papi cover, taken by sl’s Senior Photographer, Dori Fitzpatrick, as well as the other amazing After Dark-themed features in the magazine. With ‘Saratoga After Dark’ behind us, the magazine now focuses on ‘The Races!’ (August).

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MINUTES FROM DOWNTOWN SARATOGA

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1. Jason Fitzpatrick, Dori Fitzpatrick; 2. (from left) Sharon Kendall, Becky Kendall; 3. (from left) Will Wurzburg, Richard Pérez-Feria; 4. the ‘Saratoga After Dark’ cover; 5. (from left) Ian Flacke, Jeremy Krupa, Molly McCormack, Natalie Moore, Chris Spoonogle, Mike Cyrus.

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the back Design ⁄ saratoga living’S DESIGN EDITOR TAKES ON ENTERTAINING DURING THE SEASON.

BY COLIN COWIE

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Taking Your Horse Racing Party Across The Finish Line

YOU’RE HOSTING A COCKTAIL OR LARGE HOUSE PARTY AT THE HEIGHT OF RACING SEASON. DO YOU THINK A HORSE-RACING THEME IS TOO CUTE OR KITSCH? I love a good theme—it allows you to have a big picture that will help you edit the final look and shape all your creative decisions.

Name tables after the toprated horses, use miniature

horseshoes as napkin rings, use silver trophy cups as floral vessels and, to really make it fun, have the guests arrive in glamorous horseracing attire: guys in ties, girls in pearls. For a daytime party, hats are mandatory!

And, your cocktail du jour is a fresh mint julep (yes, even in Saratoga).

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IF YOU’RE HOSTING A BABY SHOWER FOR YOUR SISTER-IN-LAW, HOW DO YOU MAKE IT MEMORABLE FOR HER? Take into consideration what she likes—her favorite colors, what she’s craving right now and, hopefully, if you know whether it’s a boy or girl, you can run

navigate the journey, alleviate stress, find the right creative partners for you, identify the venue and manage your guest list and most importantly— your budget!

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with a colorful theme. Ask her if she’d like it to be girls only or if it’s OK to invite the boys to join a little later for the stronger cocktails. Get creative and serve drinks out of baby bottles, fold a napkin like a diaper and use a safety pin with a label as guests’ name cards.

Perhaps you play a game of “guess the gender,” “guess the name” or some other fun baby trivia.

WHAT ARE THE LAST FOUR THINGS YOU SHOULD DO BEFORE YOUR GUESTS ARRIVE AT YOUR DINNER PARTY? 1. Turn down the lights and light the candles.

2. Crank up the music.

3. Put on a new outfit; freshen your makeup and fragrance.

4. Open the door with a smile wrapped two-anda-half times around your face—and, action!

〔3 〕 WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO ENSURE A MISTAKEFREE, COST-EFFECTIVE, MEMORABLE WEDDING? Hire a professional wedding planner to help you. You’re creating the single biggest event of your life and need to make sure you look good in the process. A trusted professional will happily and expertly help you

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Get Me To Saratoga!

HOW TO GET TO SARATOGA RACE COURSE FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD—IN STYLE.

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Miami

Looking to escape the midsummer Florida heat? Fly up to Saratoga by way of Privé Jets, an international private jet charter service with access to more than 6000 aircrafts worldwide.

With a simple phone call, the Privé team can have your aircraft ready for takeoff within four hours. Travel from Miami International directly to Albany International in less than five hours, and

arrange for one of Premiere Transportation’s private luxury cars to pick you up and deliver you straight to Saratoga. If you have a little more time to spare on your trip up from the Magic City, try chartering a yacht to the Big Apple along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, which provides a scenic tour north without the dangers of open-ocean travel. Try Prime Luxury Rentals for the boat of your choice.

You can’t go wrong with a scenic train ride along the Hudson River. Relax on an enhanced rail travel experience in Amtrak’s business class seating for the two-and-a-halfhour trip to Albany. After arriving Upstate, hop in a luxury car provided by Premiere Transportation.

If you’re looking to make your journey into a proper, multiday road trip (be sure to stop in the beautiful Hudson Valley), opt for a private car from Automotive Luxury Limousine & Car Service.

The company, based in Manhattan, provides upscale travel options for groups of all sizes, and allows you to tailor your

experience by choosing from a fleet of luxury vehicles such as Bentley sedans and Cadillac limos.

Hollywood

Certainly, the most efficient way to close the 2800-plusmile gap between Hollywood and Saratoga is on a commercial airliner. But the most luxurious way? Charter a private jet via V2 Jets, which offers super-high-end, customizable luxury charters to fit your Hollywood-sized lifestyle. (The company has been known to fly in customers’ favorite dishes from top restaurants to take the place of its own in-flight meals.) Fly direct from Los Angeles to Albany, where one of Royale Limousine’s Presidential Sedans, which

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seat six, will be waiting to take you from the airport to your hotel—or luxury rental— in Downtown Saratoga Springs, just minutes from the Saratoga Race Course.

Dubai

Sure, you could easily charter any number of

high-end private jets from Dubai to the US, but we’d suggest traveling in the lap of luxury aboard Emirates Airlines, which perennially makes a host of best-of air-travel lists. Fly from Dubai International Airport direct to JFK in first-class—complete with

a bar and lounge area, Bulgari amenity kits stocked with skincare products and white-tea perfume, and an onboard shower spa. (The luxury airline also spent $500 million developing its wine list, so there’s that, too.) Once you land in New York City, why not kick it up a notch and rent one of a number of supercars from Gotham Dream Cars?

You’ll turn more than a few heads rolling down Broadway in Saratoga in a Lamborghini Huracán or Ferrari 458 Italia Spider.

London

Make the most of your summertime getaway to Saratoga by traveling on a luxury cruise ship: specifically, the majestic

Queen Mary 2. During your seven-night voyage between Southampton (UK) and NYC, enjoy fine dining; onboard shopping; its oneof-a-kind planetarium; live music by the ship’s resident pianist; a variety of bars and lounges; spa relaxation; and a masquerade ball. After arriving in NYC, class it up a bit and rent a vintage luxury automobile to drive up to Spa City via Imagine Lifestyles Luxury Rentals.

We’d suggest the 1965 Shelby Cobra 427, which can be scooped up for the day, week or month. You’ll zoom into Saratoga in style in less than four hours, with the summer’s most anticipated 40 days in plain view: track season!

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the back Calendar ⁄ photo finish Bob Tabor’s stunning horse image, from the Emmanuel Fremin Gallery, will be on display at Saratoga's REVEAL Art Fair.

Saratoga Race Course, the exhibition delves into man’s relationship and long history with the horse. It’ll feature sculptures, paintings, prints and photographs by worldrenowned artists including Edgar Degas and Frederic Remington, photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington. Highlights of the exhibit include four studies of a jockey Degas produced before painting his Racehorses Before The Stands (1872), as well as his Horse At Trough, which was cast in bronze after the artist’s death.

Skidmore College’s “Polo By Twilight” (JULY 24)

On Tuesday, July 24, Skidmore College will host its 39th annual Polo

By Twilight gala at the Saratoga Polo Association in Greenfield Center.

Beginning at 5:30pm, guests will take in a competitive polo match, which is played horse to water Edgar Degas’ Horse At Trough, a sculpture cast in bronze after the artist's death, will be part of The Hyde’s exhibit.

Saddle Up! SOME OF THE B EST EQUINE EVENTS COMING TO SARATOGA THIS SUMMER.

BY JEFF DINGLER & WILL LEVITH

The Hyde Collection’s “Horse And Rider” Exhibit (JULY 20-SEPTEMBER 9)

From July 20 to September 9, The Hyde Collection

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Art Museum & Historic House in Glens Falls will present the “Horse and Rider” exhibit in its Rotunda Gallery. Timed to coincide with Opening Day at

⁄ AUGUST 2018

for the Palamountain Cup, followed by dinner prepared by Skidmore’s award-winning chefs. Also included in the evening of activities is the Palamountain Scholarship Benefit, featuring both live and silent auctions. All proceeds from the benefit and polo match go to the Joseph C. and Anne T. Palamountain Scholarship Fund, created in honor of Skidmore’s late president and his wife.

ESPN’s “Live At The Post” (JULY 26-AUGUST 30)

Every Thursday during racing season—beginning on July 26—The Parting Glass will host a live radio show, ESPN Live At The Post, featuring the New York Racing Association’s TV Analyst and Handicapper, Andy Serling. The 8pm show is broadcast directly from the bar’s taproom and features interviews with and commentary by the biggest names in horse racing.

While the show’s going on, patrons can enjoy dinner and drink specials. Tune (and eat!) in.

willie maze Andy Warhol’s Willie Shoemaker (1978) will be at the REVEAL Art Fair August 3-5.

EDITOR’S PICK

Horse Art at the REVEAL Art Fair (AUGUST 3-5)

On August 4, the $1.2 million Whitney Handicap will be running at the Saratoga Race Course. Horse art-lovers will also have a reason to be across town at the Saratoga City Center, which will be hosting the inaugural REVEAL International Contemporary Art Fair August 3-5. “We’re thrilled to be exhibiting a wonderful and diverse spectrum of art, including extraordinary works celebrating the horse, across various mediums including sculpture, photography, painting, print and mixed

media,” says Jacquie Grande, Fair Director and Founder of the REVEAL Art Fair. The equine-forward artists whose works will be on display at the fair include Bob Tabor, known for his horse portrait photography; Deborah Kay Butterfield, a renowned

horse sculptor, whose primary medium is bronze; and even prolific pop artist Andy Warhol, whose portrait of Willie Shoemaker will be on display. In all, about 200 artists will be represented at the fair, and it kicks off on Friday, August 2, with a VIP celebration and preview night.

Man o’ War Spotlight Tour (AUGUST 7) For fans of horse racing history, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is hosting a special guided

tour at 11am, digging into the legacy of legendary horse Man o’ War. The tour hinges on an exhibit, “Man o’ War At 100,” which honors the 100th anniversary of the horse’s purchase at the Saratoga yearling sale in 1918. Over his incredible career, Man o’ War went 20-for-21 between 1919 and 1920, losing his lone race at—you guessed it—Saratoga Race Course in the 1919 Sanford Memorial Stakes.

Painted Pony Championship Rodeo (AUGUST 21) Get your spurs ready for the Painted Pony Championship Rodeo, coming to the Washington County Fair in Greenwich, NY, on Tuesday, August 21.

the back Calendar ⁄ byrds nest The Byrds are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their album, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, at The Egg in September.

The Painted Pony Rodeo’s home base is in nearby Lake Luzerne, and it’s been bringing Western-style rodeos to Upstate New York since 1953.

This year’s show will include roping, bareback bronc riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing, bull riding and more. The Washington County Fair runs from August 20-26.

20th Annual Travers Wine Tasting (AUGUST 24)

The popular Travers Wine Tasting will be celebrating its 20th anniversary at the Saratoga City Center on Friday, August 24. Held the night before the running

from the event go to Senior Services of Albany, which works to improve the lives of the elderly in the Capital Region. General admission tickets cost $140 per person. of the Travers Stakes, the tasting will offer attendees the opportunity to sample 100-plus varieties of fine wines, craft beers and spirits, sample gourmet foods, and take part in auctions, raffles and other attractions. Proceeds

50th Anniversary Of Sweetheart of the Rodeo (SEPTEMBER 18) For a different kind of rodeo fan: Two founding members of the formative folk-rock band The Byrds, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, are celebrating the 50th

anniversary of their highly influential country rock album, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, with a multi-city tour, which swings by Albany’s The Egg on September 18.

Supporting the Byrdmen’s flight of fancy will be Grammy-winning country hit-maker Marty Stuart, along with his band, the Fabulous Superlatives. Released in August 1968, Sweetheart was a commercial flop for the band, which had been best known for its 12-string Rickenbacker-laced folk covers of Bob Dylan and sonic journeys into psychedelia. Years later, it finally received the respect it was due: In 2003, the album was named one of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

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the back Road ⁄ Trip

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heaven can’t wait The iconic Gurney’s Montauk is where Americana meets the Riviera, a.k.a. heaven.

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(sign) D RAMEY LOGAN; (jumping) SHAWN MCMILLEN

THE PERFECT DAY ON LONG ISLAND’S EAST END: HORSES AND PAMPERING.

BY MARCO MEDRANO

there are eight days of f it’s late August, and action. Many people either I’m within three hours bookend The Hampton of Long Island’s fabled Classic with a pre- or (and glamorous) East post-salon and/or spa End—which I’m apt experience, or choose to be as often as to arrive earlier or depart possible—of course later, even staying in The I’m going to be at The Hamptons past Labor Day Hampton Classic. But for to really have time to get many, looking like you were their pampering on. born swathed in Hermès First off, what I want and as an equestrian blueblood what’s available in The may require a few Hamptons are two different appointments prior to hitting things. Yes, it’s all there— the red carpet. As one in spades. The Classic is of the most revered and also known as the largest respected outdoor horse black card shows and convergence competitions on record, in the world, meaning “The Classic” spa/salon is not only availability may the highbrow be scarce. So, high point of book now! But the equine before you do, season in The take stock of Hamptons, your needs but also puts world pool Gurney’s and the show a satin bow Montauk has the world’s schedules. of refinement only indoor ocean Is having a on the end of saltwater detox pool. pro blowout the posh Long before every special dinner Island area’s high-stakes a requirement? Or can you social summer. So, whether extend your great coif with your goal is to trot in like a Oscar Blandi Dry Shampoo show horse or arrive like Invisible Spray? A lot of you’ve already won a blue people like massages at the ribbon, looking good is a end of the day’s festivities, must. Plus, you need to due to long periods of feel great too! The reason? sitting and posture fatigue, The multitude of shows and but most spas are wrapping competition categories is up between 6-8pm. This is vast and jam-packed with where having a reputable horses, trailers, people, mobile masseuse is a cars, valets, commotion, wonderful idea. A few reservations, concierges, options: SpaFinder.com’s assistants and more. Also, Wellness App is reliable with Bridgehampton located and vetted, while Zeel’s in the western middle part Massage On Demand app of the Hamptons, expect— is more Hamptons-focused. you guessed it—a lot of Working backward from traffic getting there. From the extreme East End is August 26-September 2,

The Hampton Classic, Again

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he Hampton Classic, which will run from August 26-September 2 in Bridgehampton, NY, is one of America’s largest and most prestigious outdoor horse shows. “There are many factors that set the Hampton Classic apart from other shows,” says Marty Bauman, President and Owner of Classic Communications, which represents the Hampton Classic. “One major factor is the world-class venue with six competition rings, one of which is surrounded by grandstands, chalets and VIP tents, creating a stadium atmosphere unlike any other in the US.” The Classic, now in its third successful decade, will feature some of the world’s top riders, including two-time US Olympic Gold Medalists Beezie Madden and McLain Ward—and, as always, more than a few celebrity sightings. In years past, everyone from Christie Brinkley and Jimmy Fallon to Jon Bon Jovi and Jennifer Lopez have taken part in what The Classic has to offer.

It’s a definite must for all Hamptons- and/or horseloving revelers. Don’t miss it!

—SARAH MIDANI raise the bar Rider Brianne Goutal and horse NiceDePrissey clear a hurdle at The Hampton Classic.

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Mackenzie & Ben’s Hall of Springs Wedding

368 Broadway ste 10 Saratoga | info@davebigler.com | 518.290.0816

surely want to take in its prime beef and “summer lobster celebration.” It’s not to be missed. The Huntting Inn also boasts the popular wellness destination Naturopathica Healing Arts Center and Spa. Slick and modern is Naturopathica’s approach, coupled with an ancient healing philosophy. Truly results-oriented, I’d let this spa and wellness center do anything to any part of my body or face. Twice!

Add in its retail teas, herbal remedies and stellar namesake skincare line, and Naturopathica may be a part of your life for some time to come. The service menu is deep and well-rounded in anti-aging protocols, from enhancing

TOPPING ROSE HOUSE

the spa who loved me Many people bookend The Hampton Classic with salon and spa trips in the pampering capital of the Northeast.

Montauk, the easternmost point on Long Island.

If you’re more the spa, surf, beach and yachting type and really need a true chillax vacation, then Gurney’s Montauk is the perfect place to stay put. With its world-class, full-service spa and salon treatments and bragging rights to the only indoor ocean saltwater detox pool in the world, Gurney’s is my first choice. Americana meets the Riviera.…heaven.

Heading due west to East Hampton, The Huntting Inn, a casual/elegant spot, is beautifully preserved and has hosted some of the most powerful people on the planet. It’s also home to the fabled Palm Restaurant, where you’ll

GURNEY’S MONTAUK

the back Road ⁄ Trip voluptuous cheekbones (LED light therapy and microcurrent) to pain management. A variety of male-focused treatments are available as well.

Now, if your Hampton Classic dance ticket is legitimately full of horse show events, you may want to call the posh Topping Rose House your temporary HQ, as you’ll be a stone’s throw from the event center. I’d want to stay there, regardless.

With a perfectly appointed massage and facial spa, plus a gym, it’s also home to what could be your favorite Jean-Georges restaurant location, with a foodie haven actually right downstairs. Topping Rose is pretty much one-stop

open house The luxurious Topping Rose House is a stone’s throw from The Hampton Classic event center.

shopping. If hair and nails are the only thing keeping you from total fabulousness, dial it in or walk over to Valery Joseph Salon’s Hamptons outpost, where you’re sure to get the Madison Avenue blowout and spa manicure or event makeup you’re accustomed

to—possibly on the way to the horse stadium.

If going to the beach is on your list (and it should be, at any hour, here), then I suggest you book yourself a room at the Southampton Inn, which is elegant, generous in hospitality, and provides free round-trip

transport to the picturesque (public) Coopers Beach, which is a big plus here, even while the Inn’s proximity provides a robust Main Street shopping and dining experience once back in town, minutes away. Some of your best boutiques are off Jobs Lane (pronounced “Jōbz”), such as The Kevin Maple Salon, a full-service salon and day-spa lite. A few blocks over are two of my favorite haunts for beauty, glam grooming and wellness.

One is 27 Hampton Salon, a full-service salon-plus,

the back Road ⁄ Trip more is more The fullservice 27 Hampton Salon has top-shelf everything.

We’re talking, everything.

where I find the owners to be the most industryinvolved in presenting topshelf everything, including serving as hosts to top hair artisans who don’t own a Hamptons salon. It has the global know-how and just happens to prefer the beach. And a tidy, handpicked retail lineup of skincare and haircare, not to mention a bevy of assistants and staff to take care of you. Want your real, hardcore well-being taken seriously? So does Geomare Wellness Center & Spa, my other fave. You’ll know it the moment you roll up in your car. I love

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COMING SOON their use of Russian steam, endermologie (natural, connective-tissue toning and sculpting), acupuncture, reflexology and laser treatments. Short of surgery,

this is the closest you’ll get to Switzerland in the Hamptons. The question poses itself: Are you going to witness horse-jumping for sport, or write a check

FALL 2018

and opt for the best in-room Shiatsu, Hampton Classicstyle? Decisions, decisions…

I know what I’m going to be doing—yep, the adorable horses can wait.

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the back Over ⁄ There audi visual Audi is one of four teams that will compete for the Perry Cup at the famed East Coast open this summer.

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Connecticut: Polo Elite Face Off

CHICHI UBANI

C

alling all polo fans!

The prestigious East Coast Open will take place August 24-September 10 at the Greenwich Polo Club in Greenwich, CT, a stunning competition venue that’s only a three-hour drive from Saratoga Springs. Four teams—Audi, Postage Stamp Farm, Hublot and reigning champion, GSA—will be vying for the Perry Cup, and the absence of powerhouse White Birch will make it

anybody’s game. Guests can begin arriving at 1pm, and matches run from 3-5pm. A variety of ticket options are available, for everyone from casual spectators to the most devoted polo fanatics.

Aficionados: Go with The Players’ Lounge Exclusive Suite ticket, which offers the ultimate polo experience— full access to the Players’ Lounge, VIP parking, fieldside suite seating for ten inside the VIP tent, a full bar, catered lunch and meetand-greet opportunities with players. Dress is summer picnic-appropriate and leashed pets are welcome, so grab your sunscreen and go spend an enjoyable day outdoors with your entire family—furry friends included!

—SARAH MIDANI

daily double Twelve horse racing lovers will get a behind-the-scenes tour of Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ, on both August 5 and September 2.

New Jersey: Get An Insider’s Look At Horse Racing

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ave you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a racetrack?

Kenwood Racing, a leading East Coast Thoroughbred

racing stable, wants to show you. Kenwood will be hosting a Business Of Thoroughbreds seminar at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ, August 5 and September 2, featuring

daylong insider sessions on racehorse ownership, including exclusive opportunities to meet leading owners, trainers and jockeys and tour the paddock, backstretch and racing office. After a morning of mingling with horse owners, guests will be able to enjoy a day of Thoroughbred racing from premier seating and get tips from pro handicappers.

Tickets are $60 per person and each seminar is limited to 12 people, so book now!

—PAYTON HUNTINGTON

the back Drink ⁄ MIXOLOGIST:

Siro’s Gets Earnest With Hemingway Hat-Tip

FOR THIS ISSUE’S “NEXT GREAT SARATOGA COCKTAIL” ENTRY, THE HOTTEST POST-TRACK SPOT GOES CUBAN. P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y D O R I F I T Z PA T R I C K

Michael Stone* BAR:

Siro’s Restaurant & Bar COCKTAIL:

Siro’s Ginger Mint Mojito

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he delicious rum-based concoction, the Mojito, was first served in Havana, Cuba’s picturesque capital city. The cocktail was also said to be author Ernest Hemingway’s favorite drink. With racehorses and, I suspect, more than a few saloons named after him, it seemed to me an appropriate inspiration for a feature cocktail at Siro’s.

I chose the Ginger Mint Mojito not only because it’s a perfect summer refreshment, but also, specifically, because of the crispness the freshly muddled ginger adds to the summertime drink. Whether you took a beating at the track or are celebrating a big score, this libation will be a welcome prelude to dinner or just a great way to beat the heat of a Saratoga summer. *Michael’s been the General Manager and Maître d’ at Siro’s for 30 years and says he’s just filling in for their regular bartender.

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SAR AH MIDANI

Dunning Street Station

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ocated about ten minutes from Downtown Saratoga Springs on Rt. 9 in Malta, Dunning Street Station, with its various soups, entrées, desserts and drinks (including 16 beers on tap), is a prime location for a hearty meal, slightly outside the bustle of the Spa City’s nexus.

Bob McKenna and Chef Scott Ringwood purchased the restaurant in 2015, and despite its laid-back environment, take pride in maintaining high-quality dining and customer service standards, having won multiple awards for the restaurant, including Best Newcomer at the 2017 Saratoga Chowderfest. Can’t-miss dishes include the lobster mac, salmon (served with jasmine rice) and generous variety of steaks, burgers and wings.

2853 STATE RT 9, MALTA

518.587.2000

Gaffney’s

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longtime Saratoga Springs staple, Gaffney’s is a local favorite for casual American dining and bar fare. Its Caroline Street location in the heart of Downtown Saratoga solidifies its status as a go-to spot for late-night dining, drinking and dancing. Patrons can enjoy regular DJ and live music performances, as well as half-priced beers on Tuesdays beginning at 4pm. In addition to the burgers, wings, nachos and specials available on its dinner and late-night menus, Gaffney’s offers its Belvedere Brunch from 9am–3pm on weekends, featuring eggs, sandwiches, pancakes, waffles and other griddle confections.

518.587.7359 JACOB WEAKLAND

16 CAROLINE ST, SARATOGA SPRINGS

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Osteria Danny

un by Executive Chef Danny Petrosino and his wife, Patti, Osteria Danny specializes in Italian-American cuisine with an emphasis on simplicity and creative development. As such, the menu is updated frequently to encompass new culinary concepts and locally sourced ingredients when they’re available. Although the menu is continuously evolving with the creative will of Chef Danny, original recipes remain a pivotal influence in the dishes that Osteria Danny produces. For example, there’s a simple dish

called “Shrimp the way my father liked” on the menu, which is accompanied by lemon risotto, butter garlic and “a bunch of other stuff,” and all pastas and desserts (mmm...coconut cream pie and pistachio cheesecake) are made by Danny himself. Osteria Danny also offers a variety of wines to complete a truly Italian meal, including Zenato Amarone and J. Christopher Pinot Noir. Open seven days a week, the restaurant’s located at 26 Henry Street, within walking distance of Broadway, and has ample off-street parking.

26 HENRY ST, SARATOGA SPRINGS

518.423.7022

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Saratoga City Tavern

Kings Tavern

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ituated directly across from Saratoga Race Course— and less than a minute’s walk from the main gate— Kings Tavern has a welcoming environment where its staff “treats tourists like locals and locals like royalty.”

Kings Tavern serves a full menu of tavern fare all day, seven days a week, including breakfast starting at 10am on weekdays and 9am on weekends. It also offers an extensive selection of Bloody Marys, as well as six-packs of beer in coolers, whimsically shaped like arrow quivers, and bags of ice, both of which can be brought to the track. As an added bonus, if you drive by and honk your horn, everyone inside the restaurant drinks, a policy appropriately dubbed, “You honk, we drink.” —Madeline Conroy

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ocated on Caroline Street in the heart of Downtown Saratoga Springs, “The Tavern,” as it’s affectionately known to local bar-goers, has an extensive menu of classic pub fare and more than 100 beers on tap. Owners Pat, Adam and Jason Fitch are is well acquainted with timehonored tavern meals but not afraid to explore creative ways of enriching an already well-loved cuisine, such as the Beer Cheese-Burger (a burger topped with beer cheese, onions, bacon and jalapeños). In addition, the Saratoga City Tavern boasts five floors of restaurant space, including its rooftop, a signature Saratoga nightlife hotspot, as well as beautiful views of the city and live music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s also open seven days a week (weather permitting).

—Madeline Conroy

19-21 CAROLINE ST, SARATOGA SPRINGS

241 UNION AVE, SARATOGA SPRINGS

518.581.3230

Prime at Saratoga National

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422 Broadway, Suite 203 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

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ocated on Union Avenue near Lake Lonely and Saratoga Lake’s north shore, and headed by Angelo Mazzone, Prime at Saratoga National is one of Saratoga’s top upscale dining venues. The restaurant, open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, as well as for jazz brunch on Sundays (think omelettes, pastas and carving stations), offers indoor and al fresco dining, overlooking the 18th hole of the beautiful Saratoga National golf course.

Besides regular daily seatings, Prime is also the perfect setting for weddings, anniversary parties, corporate events and galas, such as UPH’s annual Shaken & Stirred Celebrity Bartender Party, which took place there this past May. 458 UNION AVE, SARATOGA SPRINGS

518.583.4653

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Saratoga Stadium

F

rom its Broadway locale, Saratoga Stadium is arguably the city’s finest sports bar, providing televised coverage of a range of top sporting events. Saratoga Stadium offers patrons a casual atmosphere, with a menu full of all the traditional favorites—burgers, hot dogs, nachos and wings—as well as an all-you-can-eat fried shrimp special available on Friday evenings from 6-9pm. Saratoga Stadium also offers a diverse range of seasonal drinks (such as spiced apple punch), wines by the glass and by the bottle and housemade sangria. To finish things off, the dessert menu displays some tempting treats: fried dough and the “Junior’s Giant Cheesecake for 2.”

389 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS

518.226.4437

Max London’s

I

n its cozy yet sophisticated nook on Broadway, Max London’s sits beside its sister shop, Mrs. London’s Bakery, a local favorite known for its delicious pastries and baked goods. Max London’s uses locally sourced ingredients, including fresh-squeezed fruit juices in its cocktails and house-made mozzarella cheese, making it an appealing choice for those looking to support local farmers.

The menu contains several enticing items among its many culinary offerings, such as the “Devils on Horseback” appetizer (medjool dates stuffed with blue cheese and marcona almonds, accompanied by applewood smoked bacon and smoky maple syrup), and there’s a separate (delicious) menu for weekend brunch.

466 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS

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518.587.0505

Henry Street Taproom

W

ith its extensive selection of beers, whiskeys and cocktails, Henry Street Taproom in Downtown Saratoga Springs is a choice location for craft beer connoisseurs looking to try something different. This relaxed restaurant and bar not only has some of the best (most fun) servers, bartenders and hosts in the city, but also one of the best draft lists, as well as a wide selection of imported wines (including Sydney Ann Pinot Grigio, a white wine from Italy, and

Pie de Palo Malbec, a red wine from Argentina). In addition to its more traditional bar fare, the Taproom offers several charcuterie plates and imported cheeses, including Tomme Brulee, a soft French cheese made from sheep’s milk, and Roomano (not to be confused with Romano), a hard Dutch cheese made from cow’s milk. The Taproom’s cheeses are served with three special sides: house-baked sourdough bread, fresh fruit and house-made chutney.

86 HENRY ST, SARATOGA SPRINGS

518.886.8938

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Lake Ridge Restaurant

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onveniently located about 15 minutes south of Downtown Saratoga in Round Lake, Bob McKenna and Chef Scott Ringwood’s Lake Ridge Restaurant has been a local favorite for casual fine dining for 17 years. Lake Ridge specializes in award-winning New American cuisine, which it shows off on upscale lunch and dinner menus, highlighted by Herb Crusted Swordfish, Duck Breast, Filet Mignon and its Pecan Pork Chop. McKenna says Lake Ridge Restaurant, which operates under the slogan “simply the best and voted the best,” is proud of its “consistent greatness,” as it has been winning awards for over a decade, including Best Chef in the Saratoga Today Best of 2018 awards.

35 BURLINGTON AVE, ROUND LAKE

518.899.6000

Mama Mia’s Pizza & Cafe

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ust outside Downtown Saratoga, Mama Mia’s Pizza & Cafe, a family-run Italian restaurant, is situated in the Ballston Avenue Price Chopper Plaza. Mama Mia’s takes pride in the diverse range of Italian comfort foods that it serves, such as calzones, Italian meatballs, hero sandwiches, pasta dishes and hand-tossed wood-fired pizzas, as well as chicken, veal, salmon and vegetarian and gluten-free entrée options. While the restaurant has a relaxed, cozy vibe for dining in, Mama Mia’s also provides full-service catering, from food and tent set-up, to large trays of delicious food, for any event. Take-out is also a popular option for many of Mama Mia’s loyal customers.

185 BALLSTON AVE, SARATOGA SPRINGS

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518.583.7783

Harvey’s Restaurant & Bar

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ocated at 14 Phila Street, right off Broadway, Harvey’s is, for locals, a go-to restaurant and bar to watch a game, enjoy some drinks with friends or grab a bite to eat. It’s named after the good-natured Irish ghost, Harvey, who brings good fortune (or “pooka,” as the Irish call it) to all who visit. (That, and beyond good steak tacos.) It’s open until midnight seven days a week, with live entertainment every Saturday night, and is able to accommodate

weddings, cocktail parties, showers and other private events. The scenic rooftop patio is an added bonus: Customers can enjoy the beautiful view of the Saratoga skyline while sipping a Guinness and munching on corned beef and cabbage. Or, if you’re not particularly fond of Irish cuisine, Harvey’s has other mouthwatering dishes to pair with the drafts and cocktails on its eclectic menu. At Harvey’s no choice is a bad choice!

14 PHILA ST, SARATOGA SPRINGS

518.583.0003

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U P S TAT E NEW YORK

U P S TAT E NEW YORK

DOCS

DOUGLAS

HARGRAVE M.D.

specialty: PLASTIC SURGERY The Plastic Surgery Group 455 Patroon Creek Boulevard #101 Albany, NY 12206 (518) 438-0505 website: theplasticsurgerygroup.net

DOCS

STEVEN

An integral part of The Plastic Surgery Group in Albany, Dr. Douglas Hargrave is a board-certified plastic surgeon, who’s specialized in cosmetic and reconstructive procedures for more than two decades.

“I’m proud to offer an individualized approach to patients,” says Dr. Hargrave.

“I take the time to understand patients’ goals and use my years of expertise to deliver them results, time and again.” It’s as much about aesthetics as it is results for Dr. Hargrave. “As a plastic surgeon, I have the privilege of using my hands to effect positive change on a person’s appearance,” he explains. “My goal has always been to achieve an aesthetic balance with results that look natural.

In short, I prefer understatement to overstatement.”

YARINSKY M.D., F.A.C.S.

specialty: PLASTIC SURGERY, COSMETIC MEDICINE Saratoga Springs Plastic Surgery, PC 7 Wells Street, Suite 303 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 (518) 583-4019 email: sspsmgr@nycap.rr.com website: yarinsky.com DrYarinsky Education & Training undergraduate: Dartmouth College medical school: SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse general surgery: The Ohio State University Hospitals, Columbus plastic surgery: Medical College of Ohio, Toledo

DELUCA, JR. M.D., F.A.C.S.

specialty: PLASTIC SURGERY DeLuca Plastic Surgery 5 Ulenski Drive Albany, NY 12205 (518) 724-2444 email: info@delucaplasticsurgery.com website: delucaplasticsurgery.com

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With more than 30 years of experience, Dr. William DeLuca is a board-certified plastic surgeon, who specializes in surgeries of the face, body and breast. At his Albanybased practice, DeLuca Plastic Surgery, Dr. DeLuca has dedicated his career to helping patients achieve top results. “We put our patients first,” he says. “Think of us as a ‘concierge’ plastic surgical practice.” Dr. DeLuca received his medical degree from Albany Medical College, completed his plastic surgery residency at Eastern Virginia Medical School and did a cosmetic fellowship at the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital. DeLuca Plastic Surgery attracts patients from Albany, Saratoga Springs and New York City— and places as far off as Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

(Yarinsky) MEAGHAN ALDRIDGE; (Hargrave) JOHN RIPLEY

WILLIAM F.

Board-certified plastic surgeon Steven Yarinsky, MD, founded Saratoga’s first plastic surgery practice in 1989. He has become the Capital District’s “go-to” doctor for enhancing your body, breasts and face with cosmetic medicine and surgery.

Dr. Yarinsky is our region’s only New Beauty magazine-certified “Expert Injector” for facial rejuvenation. “I stay top in my field with continuing education from world experts to provide patients beautiful, naturalappearing results,” he says. Saratoga Springs Plastic Surgery, PC includes Saratoga’s first full-service medical spa and provides in-house cosmetic surgery for comfort, convenience, privacy and the highest quality of care.

It’s the Capital District area’s only office-based surgery facility accredited by the Joint Commission, the “Gold Standard” for safety and quality in healthcare. Plastic surgery is Dr. Yarinsky’s passion: “Combining my artistic ability and technical expertise with the science of medicine to help people look and feel special is my calling.” As you can see from his Google reviews, his happy patients agree.

Board Certification • Diplomate, American Board of Plastic Surgery • ASAPS Certificate of Advanced Education in Cosmetic Surgery Special Awards and Recognition • Voted “Best Plastic Surgeon” in region

by Saratoga Today readers for 6 years • Chosen by Consumers’ Research Council of America as one of “America’s Top Plastic Surgeons” Professional Affiliations • American Society of Plastic Surgeons • American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery • Fellow, American College of Surgeons • Office-Based Surgery Center accredited by the Joint Commission

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U P S TAT E NEW YORK

U P S TAT E NEW YORK

DOCS

DOCS

EDWIN

WILLIAMS M.D.

specialty: FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY Williams Center Plastic Surgery Specialists 1072 Troy Schenectady Road Latham, NY 12110 (518) 786-7000 website: WilliamsSurgery.com

KEIMUN

SLAUGHTER

A double board-certified facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Edwin Williams specializes in and exclusively performs facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. Founding the Williams Center for Plastic Surgery in 1992, Dr. Williams says from day one, he recruited only the best doctors and had them focus on just a few areas of expertise each. This made his practice an anomaly in the Capital Region—and beyond. “I don’t know if there are any other plastic surgery practices in the country that have it our way,” he says. Dr. Williams, a nationally renowned facial plastic surgeon himself, pins the Center’s success on teamwork. “We’ve built a culture of caring and excellence here,” he says.

Dr. Keimun Slaughter is board-certified in both head and neck surgery—and also specializes in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery and hair restoration. Dr. Slaughter works with many patients who’ve sustained life-changing events such as facial trauma or skin cancer, and he says his goal is to “allow people to live a normal life again.” Getting there involves building a level of trust and comfort with his patients. “You can’t trust a surgeon to do a good job if you don’t have good rapport with them,” says Dr. Slaughter. “I spend a lot of time explaining to patients what I’ll be doing. It helps put them at ease.”

ALAIN

Williams Center Plastic Surgery Specialists 1072 Troy Schenectady Road Latham, NY 12110 (518) 786-7000 website: WilliamsSurgery.com

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Saratoga Hair Transplant Center 60 Railroad Place, Suite 102 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Williams Center Plastic Surgery Specialists 1072 Troy Schenectady Road Latham, NY 12110 (518) 581-1872 website: saratogahair.com

Dr. Alain Polynice, a boardcertified plastic surgeon, who specializes in breast and body work, was trained at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic—and then traveled the world on a surgical fellowship to destinations such as Australia and South America. It’s given him a worldview unlike any other plastic surgeon in the region. “When you travel and meet different surgeons, you realize there could be a whole other way of doing your job,” says Dr. Polynice. This, and his ability to focus in on breast and body work, makes him a top choice for patients. “I feel if I focus on what I do best, I can only get better at it,” he says.

BEEHNER M.D.

FRANCESCO D’AMICO

specialty: PLASTIC SURGERY

specialty: HAIR TRANSPLANT AND RESTORATION, FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY

MICHAEL

POLYNICE M.D.

M.D.

Dr. Michael Beehner is a board-certified hair restoration surgeon, who’s been in practice since 1989. Providing a range of hair transplant services for women and men, Dr. Beehner actually became interested in the field after experiencing hair loss himself and seeking out treatment. “I’m glad I did it,” he says. “It made me want to bring that same good feeling to other people.” It’s also been Dr. Beehner’s sole focus; “I don’t dabble in anything other than hair transplantation,” he says. This, of course, has led, time and again, to the same rich reward: “To see the big smile on patients’ faces and the gratitude they show for my work.”

specialty: HAIR TRANSPLANTATION AND RESTORATION Saratoga Hair Transplant Center 60 Railroad Place, Suite 102 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Williams Center Plastic Surgery Specialists 1072 Troy Schenectady Road Latham, NY 12110 (518) 581-1872 website: saratogahair.com

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the end

The Stakes Are High!

BY N ATA L I E M O O R E ACROSS: 1. Speak freely 5. Tit for ___ 8. Info. coming soon 11. Narrow, rural road 12. URL starters 14. Feel unwell 15. “East,” in Barcelona 16. Great Lake bordering New York 17. Phone service abbr.

18. Saratoga race named for famous local family 21. Dog training command 22. Your (archaic) 23. 1963 Mona Lisa locale in NYC 26. Glee star Michele 28. High maintenance person

32. Saratoga race with highest purse 36. Wind indicator 37. Snacked 38. Subjs. of Alien 39. Hosp. workers 42. __ Wednesday 44. Saratoga race that shares name with southern state 51. Dance variety 52. Gadgets 53. Horse’s dad 54. Racing position next to inside rail 55. The opposite of young, in olden times 56. Foolish person, in London 57. Peak 58. TV screen option 59. 54-across in German

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1. What the wind did 2. Body part that flutters 3. Against 4. V8 ingredients

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Here are the saratoga living staff’s horse names: RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA (EDITOR IN CHIEF) Optimistic Saul BECKY KENDALL (PUBLISHER) Excited Olivia KATHLEEN GATES (CREATIVE DIRECTOR) Ambivalent Norm WILL LEVITH (EXECUTIVE EDITOR) Serious Fox NATALIE MOORE (MANAGING EDITOR) Amused Chandler LINDA GATES (DESIGNER) Calm Carrie CHELSEA MOORE (ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE) Lazy Phoebe

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5. President Trump, often 6. Turned to one side 7. Orange peel, in a cocktail 8. Discuss 9. One’s bark may be worse than this 10. Beers 13. Meyers of Late Night 19. It once ran red, with “The” 20. Robbie Williams’ wife/actress ___ Field 23. Jersey Shore network 24. Paleolithic, for one 25. Catch rays 27. Happy ___ lark 29. Likable Pres.

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30. Horse doc 31. Donkey 33. Part of speech 34. Stored 35. Student’s bane 40. Grp. of 29 member states 41. Sniff 43. Hurry 44. Molecule component 45. Lake Placid’s ___ Del Rey 46. Top 47. Classic rock band from Down Under 48. Fruit that’s also a bird 49. Fox NFL reporter Andrews 50. Groups of reps at the gym ANSWERS ON saratogaliving.com

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