In the midstof a whirlwind Saratoga summer, it can be tough to carve out an hour or two to hit the spa for some TLC (or a very necessary pedicure). Heck, it’s often impossible just to find time to eat! But Complexions’ new Sunday brunch add-on combines pampering and a well-balanced meal for the ultimate self-care time-saver.
“Summer in Saratoga is always an exciting time,” says Complexions Spa for Beauty & Wellness owner Denise Dubois. “But it’s also so busy. So on Sundays, we are now offering a brunch box for you to enjoy along with your favorite spa beverage.”
The $18 Sunday Wellness Brunch is served from 10am to 2pm and includes a quiche (Lorraine or veggie), fresh seasonal fruit and a split of Prosecco. Says Dubois: “We wanted to offer something simple and healthy.”
Nutrition is on the forefront of Complexions’ myriad offerings, and the spa has introduced RN-administered IV nutritional infusions in time for summer. “The many options,” Dubois says, “include allergy and headache relief, fat loss, rehydration after a long night out, performance recovery, immunity boosting and energy.”
Mark your calendars, Saratoga racing fans! Saratoga Living is teaming up with NYRA analyst and Racing for Home founder Acacia Clement—our most recent cover star!—to host an elegant cocktail party at Panza’s Restaurant on Tuesday, July 25 from 6-9pm. Wondering what to expect?
Exclusive meet-and-greet with our 2023 “The Races!” issue cover star, TV personality Acacia Clement!
Heavy hors d’oeuvres by Panza’s
Complimentary prosecco and red and white wine by Freixenet and Mionetto, proudly featured at the track this summer!
Cash bar for cocktails
Silent auction
Free gift for attendees, courtesy of our friends at NYRA
Meaningful change comes to fruition only after a person chooses to care. For the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF)—the oldest and largest organization of its kind—four decades of systematic change in the way that Thoroughbred aftercare is approached can all be traced back to one woman’s deliberate choice to care about the fates of other beings.
More than 40 years ago, a young advertising executive from New Jersey had an experience that we are all familiar with: She picked up a magazine and read an exposé that roused her empathy and indignation. The scoop? Trainer Daphne Collins was vocalizing the neglect and abuse that Thoroughbreds often face when they are no longer able to race.
Most people have felt enraged in a similar way at one point or another in their lives after discovering great injustices. Monique Koehler, however, was not “most people.” Though it would have been easy to resign to a sense of helplessness and defeat in the face of such a large issue, she did not. Instead, she chose to care deeply—and take actions to match. She resolved to give the horses a better fate.
Since Koehler founded the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation in 1983, the Saratoga-based national nonprofit organization has never wavered from its mission: “To save Thoroughbred horses no longer able to compete on the racetrack from possible neglect, abuse, and slaughter.”
TRF founder Monique Koehler visiting Wallkill in the early days of the organization. (Mary Ratcliffe)
If the word “slaughter”in a nonprofit’s mission statement makes some uncomfortable, then TRF’s plan is working. When the pioneering organization was founded, horse racing was in its heyday. While today there is a whole industry of organizations dedicated to maintaining the wellbeing of Thoroughbreds in retirement, this has not always been the case. For Koehler, getting the public to care about the fates of the horses also meant not being afraid to talk about uncomfortable realities. Her boldness shapes the organization to this day.
“We have to say that,” says Kim Weir, TRF’s director of major gifts & planned giving, of the organization’s blunt mission statement. “That’s why we’re here.”
When Weir says “we,” she is talking about the foundation, but she could just as well be talking about its staff—a small but mighty collective of folks whose lifelong passions for horses and horse racing have instilled in them a reverence and responsibility to their equine friends. Fittingly, there’s a saying that peppers conversations with the TRF staff like a musical refrain: “Come for the horses, stay for the people.”
While TRF’s genesis was in the mind of one firebrand woman, the organization has always been inextricably part of a wide web of generous and helpful people. “It’s a whole cast of people who said, ‘yes,’” says Weir as she reflects on the organization’s serendipitous history, something she and her colleagues are doing often these days, as the organization celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Benny Vazquez and Davis Hudson of Wallkill Correctional Facility with retired racehorse Créme de la Fete raising awareness of TRF’s work at Saratoga Race Course in 1989.
Weir knows that being able to tell someone “yes” is a gift—that the word yes possesses a certain magic that unleashes far greater creative possibilities than one person could ever make happen on their own. While there have been thousands of “yes” moments that have helped TRF grow over the past four decades, one of the most seminal came from the New York State Corrections Department.
While Koehler had been exceptionally successful in raising the required funds to start making a difference in the lives of horses, she didn’t have anywhere to house them once they were rescued. Fatefully, the New York State Corrections Department had just acquired an old dairy farm in Wallkill to serve as a land buffer. There were no other plans to utilize the land. Thus, the two unlikely partners joined together, and TRF’s flagship Second Chances program was brought to fruition as a result.
Second Chances—which currently exists in eight states—is an innovative program where inmates participate in vocational training and life skills–building as they provide care to retired racehorses.
“This model of being in the prisons has really been successful,” says Executive Director Kelly Armer. “They’ve found that folks working with the horses don’t return [to prison], because they’ve found purpose.”
Indeed, the men who participate in Second Chances often make the same profound discovery as Koehler, Weir and Armer all have during their time with TRF: What starts as a sense of service and responsibility to the horses eventually turns into a lesson in humanity and connection.
A graduate of Maryland Correctional’s Second Chances program with the horse Merrywinds.
Armer recalls a moment that has stayed with her since a recent trip to Wallkill: “A big man came up to me and goes, ‘I have to tell you, I was afraid of these horses. I’m a big guy, and I was afraid of them.’ The biggest thing for him was that he overcame his fear.”
On the other side of his fear was a sense of pride and purpose that he had been missing for so long. Armer and Weir bestow all credit to the horses.
“While the [ex-inmates] may be scared, the horse is looking at them with zero judgment,” says Weir. “That’s when it sort of cracks the door open because the horse doesn’t know where they came from and doesn’t care what they did five years ago or five minutes ago.”
Horses place their trust in their caretakers no matter their personal history. When given the chance, people will rise to become the version of themselves that the horses see.
“We’re finding,” Armer says, “that we can’t keep up with the correctional facilities that want to open a site.”
It’s a problem that she and the rest of the TRF staff are happy to have. Currently, the organization is establishing a site in Washington; Maryland is next on the horizon.
When asked what the next 40 years look like for TRF, Armer’s answer is growth, growth, growth. They’ll keep doing as they’ve done, which is tapping into the magic of a yes and the grit of those who choose to care.
Just in case anyone had forgotten, Javier Castellano served some notice this spring that he remains a force to be reckoned with on the racetrack.
A 2017 Hall of Fame inductee and four-time Eclipse Award winner, Castellano has battled injuries in recent years and a decline in business, but those tough times appear to be a thing of the past, as the Venezuela native is once again riding at an elite level. Never was that more evident than during this year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Aboard 15-to-1 longshot Mage, Castellano won the Run for the Roses for the first time in his illustrious career. Five weeks later, he piloted Arcangelo to his first victory in the Belmont at 8-to-1 odds.
The Derby and Belmont were among only a few missing checkmarks in a brilliant career. Since making his debut in 1997, Castellano has won more than 5,600 races with purse earnings of more than $383 million—but prior to this spring, Castellano was a combined 0 for 29 in the Derby and Belmont.
“I never give up,” Castellano said after the Derby. “I always try hard to do the right thing. It took me a little while to get here, but I’ve finally got it. I’m very blessed.”
Prior to the May 6 race, Castellano was watching television coverage of the Derby card in the jockeys’ room and saw his 0-for-15 record highlighted on the NBC broadcast.
“At that moment it gave me so much inspiration and I thought, ‘This is the year,’” he said. “I’m going to break it here and win the race. I have a lot of confidence in myself. I only needed a little opportunity to get it done.”
Through Belmont weekend, Castellano ranked fifth among all North American riders in purse earnings this year with more than $8.4 million. Among the 10 top-earning jockeys, Castellano is the oldest at age 45, but he’s riding with the same vigor as his younger competitors. A two-time leading rider at Saratoga, Castellano arrived this year having finished seventh in the standings at the Spa last year with 25 wins.
Mage and Arcangelo, meanwhile, will be top contenders for this year’s Travers Stakes, a race Castellano has thrived in, having won it a record six times. Can he make it seven? If his performance in the first half of this year is any indication, he very well might.
When it comes to finding the right person for the job (and finding the right job for the person), the Capital Region trusts Reneé Walrath. With more than 20 years of experience in staffing services and executive search, her Walrath Recruiting firm helps local employees and businesses find their perfect matches.
“We provide executive search, recruiting and staffing for organizations in the Capital Region and beyond,” Walrath says. “Seventy percent of our clients are in the Capital Region, and 30 percent are elsewhere—including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and New York City.” Word of her expertise has even crossed state lines. She serves clients as far away as Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Texas, California and Tennessee.
Walrath encourages anyone looking for a job or a company looking for a job candidate to give her a call, as her team covers a more diverse range of industries than many people realize. “I have recruiters who specialize in medical, legal, engineering, construction, manufacturing, accounting/finance and sales,” she says. “We’ve placed nurses, PAs, social workers, attorneys, paralegals, legal secretaries, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, CFOs, controllers, accountants, financial analysts, sales engineers—you name it! We work with so many types of businesses, from small mom and pop organizations to Fortune 500 companies.”
For potential employees, Walrath has one important reminder: “The best thing about working with a recruiter is that it is free to the candidate,” she says, emphasizing that the company looking to fill roles pays the fee, and all candidates’ information is kept strictly confidential. “It’s a job to find a job, so why not let us help you?”
Walrath brings to her job an unbreakable commitment to the Capital Region and a genuine joy for helping others, which she has carried with her since her earliest days on the job. “I grew up in Glenville, graduated from Niskayuna High School, and have degrees from Maria College and Siena College,” she says. “I’ve lived here all my life and love it! I opened my business in 2010 in a one-room office—smiling and dialing.”
Her passion and resulting success have earned her an award-winning career. Walrath Recruiting has been named one of Albany Business Review’s Top 5 Executive Search Firms, taking the #1 spot in 2020 and 2021. And in 2022, Walrath herself was named to the Albany Business Review’s Power 50 honoring the Capital Region’s most influential leaders.
These accolades motivate her even more to continue her work changing people’s lives by finding them their perfect job opportunity, even offering convenient virtual interviews as well as face-to-face meetings in either her Albany office or her Saratoga location. “Since we thoroughly understand our clients’ needs and culture, we align our candidates with them appropriately,” she says. “We keep in constant contact with our clients on the progress. We can’t guarantee that we can place all the candidates that we interview, but we pride ourselves on working diligently for everyone.”
The firm’s two offices, which are open by appointment only, are located at 3 Winners Circle, Albany, 518.275.4816; and 511 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, 518.886.8860.
Horses have been a fundamental part of Acacia Clement’s life since before she can remember. But one childhood memory she does recall—being placed atop a retired racehorse named Siren when she was 8—is what she considers her “love at first sight” moment.
“She was a fast horse and no one really wanted to ride her because of it, but I loved being up there right away,” Clement says. “It was so exciting, such a euphoric experience. I felt like I was flying. My mom was a remarkable horsewoman, and she believed in me. That gave me the confidence I needed to be comfortable around horses and to want to learn everything I could about them. They’re simply magnificent. I’ve always felt that way.”
Growing up in Connecticut, Clement was encouraged through her riding lessons by her mother, Sherrie Courtney, whose passion for horses she inherited. As she honed her skills, Clement started competing in hunter/jumper and dressage events. She began to diversify her interests as she grew up, showing an affinity for classical dance and pageants. Named Miss Connecticut’s Outstanding Teen in 2009, Clement studied with the prestigious Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.
Even with other activities demanding much of her time and focus, horses were always a major part of the equation for Clement. At just 17, she got involved with racehorse retirement. With interest in adopting a Thoroughbred, Clement visited Suffolk Downs, a since-shuttered racetrack on the outskirts of Boston.
Acacia Clement, about 2 years old, aboard a horse for the very first time, with Mom controlling the lead line.
“I adopted a mare named Palace Diva, who really started me down a path,” Clement says. “I went back [to Suffolk Downs] a couple of months later and came home with two more horses. It was at that point we made a family decision to do this seriously and decided to start Racing For Home.”
Clement’s passion had become purpose. Established in 2011, Racing For Home, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission of providing aftercare for racehorses once they are retired from the track. The organization focuses on retraining Thoroughbreds for second careers and connecting them with prospective future homes. Based at the DeCarli Equestrian Center in Ellington, CT, Racing For Home is one of only 74 organizations in the country accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA). Clement is Racing for Home’s founder and CEO; her mother runs the day-to-day operations, overseeing the care and progress of each retiree; and her father, Brian, is an attorney who tends to legal matters and also spends time doing barn chores and grooming the horses.
“A lot of thought and planning went into getting Racing For Home off the ground,” Clement says. “I did all of the paperwork to get us established as a 501(c)(3) and that was a big deal. I was right out of high school and it was a challenge, but I was determined. I’m proud I took that leap. I owe so much to my parents for their support and involvement. It’s absolutely a family affair and that’s one of the most rewarding aspects of it.”
Racing For Home’s mission? “To provide a safe haven for horses and to help them successfully transition into a second career when possible,” Clement says. “They are all deserving of that opportunity. If a second career isn’t a viable option, our efforts are geared toward finding a forever home that is safe and appropriate. What we do is very different and specific for each horse.”
Clement graduated from Fordham University with a degree in communications, which she has put to good use by developing into one of racing’s most recognizable and respected broadcasters. After stints working for the New York Racing Association (NYRA)’s community relations department, the Horse Racing Radio Network and the Stronach Group, Clement is now a host, analyst and reporter for NYRA. She hosts the popular America’s Day at the Races and is a fixture (as paddock reporter) on Saratoga Live, two programs broadcast on FOX Sports.
“I absolutely love working for NYRA,” Clement says. “Everyone on camera and everyone on the production team loves racing and are such talented professionals. Our goal is to deliver the best television product in the sport, and I think we’re doing that.”
Racing for Home graduate Burning Bluegrass with Acacia’s mom, Sherrie.
On the air, Clement is clear, concise and confident. She is exhaustive in her preparation, has a commanding knowledge of the subject matter, and exudes a vibe that she is doing exactly what she is meant to do. Her reporting and analysis resonate with both veteran horseplayers and newcomers to the game.
“A lot of people would be surprised to know that I’m shy by nature,” Clement says. “I describe myself as an extroverted introvert. I really credit ballet and pageants for my being able to put myself out there in front of people. It’s taken work to get comfortable having a lot of eyes on me, but I’ve developed a pretty thick skin.”
Clement says one of her favorite aspects of the job is noticing details about horses and sharing that knowledge with racing fans.
“I love being in the paddock, up close to the horses, and seeing how the trainers and jockeys interact with them—how they’re working as a team and building trust before the race,” she says. “I want to try to pick up on nuances and elements you can’t get just by looking at a track program. I’d say I’m pretty good at seeing how horses change and getting a sense of how they are from a mindset perspective before a race. They all have unique personalities and mannerisms, and I try to convey that to the fans.”
The electric atmosphere at Saratoga and the quality of the racing at the historic track are among the most exciting things Clement has experienced in the sport.
“There’s nothing like Saratoga,” she says. “It brings out the best horses, jockeys and trainers. The competition is incredible. It’s world class and everyone wants to be part of it. You go anywhere in the country, and people know Saratoga as the racing town. There is such amazing energy throughout the entire meet. I love every day of it.”
Clement with Teddy, a graduate of Racing For Home who now resides at the Clement stables at Saratoga Race Course. (Dori Fitzpatrick)Last March, Clement married her husband, Miguel, who works as an assistant trainer to his father, Christophe Clement. (Dori Fitzpatrick)
Being involved in racing led Clement to meet her husband, Miguel, an assistant trainer to his father, Christophe Clement, one of the most accomplished horsemen in the sport. The trainers are mostly based in Saratoga during the summer, rooting Clement in the Spa City, too. (The couple married last March in Jupiter, FL, where the family spends their winters.)
“We’ve had an amazing journey together and I couldn’t be happier,” Clement says. “Miguel and I complement each other so well and support each other in every aspect of our lives and careers. Being a trainer is all day, every day…early mornings, dealing with unexpected challenges. It’s not something that everyone can do. I’m so proud of Miguel and his family. They’re amazing and I’m so thankful to call them family.”
One star-studded outcome of their hard work came after Christophe Clement trained a horse named Pizza Bianca for Bobby Flay. Pizza Bianca became the first Breeders’ Cup winner for Clement, and Flay thanked him in the way only a celebrity chef can.
“Bobby Flay cooked us dinner,” Clement says. “How cool is that? It was one of those amazing and surreal experiences that I’ve been fortunate to have been a part of.”
One of Clement’s great talents is effectively balancing her flourishing broadcast career with her family—especially her husband’s grueling schedule—and Racing For Home. Oh, and don’t forget about the all-encompassing pageants she was winning on the side early on in her broadcasting career. Three years after founding Racing For Home, Clement was named Miss Connecticut 2014 and finished in the top 16 in Miss America. In 2019, she was chosen Miss Connecticut USA.
Clement is often asked whom she’s named after, but “Acacia” was simply a name her mom thought was pretty. (Dori Fitzpatrick)
“I’ve always had the mindset that if I love something I want to give my best to it,” Clement says. “Ballet and pageants both taught me that you have to be all in with your work ethic, but also that if you love what you’re doing it’s a passion and not a job. I’ve been fortunate to have some great opportunities professionally that have tied into or complemented the things I care about.”
Clement credits NYRA for embracing racehorse aftercare and promoting it in a variety of ways.
“Being able to talk about Thoroughbred aftercare and highlight all that has been done, as well as provide awareness of what still needs to be done, is something I’m so proud NYRA emphasizes and supports,” Clement says. “We reach a lot of people on television, at the track, on social media…It’s a tremendous platform and opportunity to make a difference for horses.”
NYRA supports the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance with a $10 contribution per racehorse start and contributes to the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association’s Take the Lead program by helping finance retraining efforts and veterinary expenses. Clement says she will never tire of advocating for the horses: “It absolutely is my calling.”
While it may look like Nick Martinez’s yearly paintings of Saratoga Race Course are “just” a collection of eye-catching scenes from the track, there’s more to them than that. “As I go through the years here, I’m documenting Saratoga Race Course evolving,” says the artist. “Last year I showed a little bit of the 1863 Club and there were a lot of people who didn’t even realize that the 1863 Club was a place.”
In similar fashion, for this year’s piece Martinez chose to depict The Wilson Chute, a configuration that allows one-mile dirt racing that was dismantled in 1972 but reintroduced for the 2022 meet. Once he had his concept, the former jockey took pictures of the Chute both in summer and winter (when there weren’t leaves on trees blocking the view of the grandstand), and then started filling in horses and jockeys. “They’re small portraits of specific jockeys,” Martinez says. “So starting with the seven, that’s Luis Saez, then Jose Ortiz and Joel Rosario and then Irad Ortiz.” And the jockey that’s furthest away?
“About a month ago Mr. [John] Hendrickson purchased five large pieces for the medical center he built on the backstretch,” Martinez says. “He’s looking at all the images and says, ‘They’re all very nice, but, Nick, we don’t have our colors in any of these.’” Martinez just so happened to have one horse and jockey left to paint in his 2023 piece, so, naturally, he chose Julien Leparoux wearing the colors of Marylou Whitney Stables aboard Bird Song—a fitting tribute to the Queen of Saratoga herself.
You can purchase prints of “The Wilson Chute” online at nickmartinezart.com or at the artist’s tent at Saratoga Race Course this summer.
Before he was 10, renowned track announcer Frank Mirahmadi was already hooked on the Sport of Kings. “That’s all I wanted to do on the weekends,” says Mirahmadi. “I always hoped that my mom or dad would take me to the track.”
In the last five years, Mirahmadi has had the kind of career boom that most professional track announcers dream of. In 2018, he became the official announcer at Santa Anita Park in California, and this summer he joined NYRA full-time to call races at Saratoga Race Course, taking over for retiring announcer John Imbriale.
“I’ve been a Saratoga fan for as long as I’ve been a racing fan,” says Mirahmadi, who previously called at the track as a backup. “I remember walking into Saratoga for the first time in 1997, and the feeling was so clear that it was a special place well before I could even see the racetrack. You could just feel the history and tradition.”
Raised in Beverly Hills, Mirahmadi had access to a west coast mecca of horseracing, growing up a short drive from Hollywood Park and Santa Anita and just two hours from Del Mar. It was, however, more than just his love of the sport that led to the California native’s incredible success in the booth. Mirahmadi is also a master of celebrity impressions. “The first impersonation I remember was of Tom Jones singing ‘Delilah’ because my mom kept listening to that song,” says Mirahmadi, who would perform his impressions around the family dinner table.
That knack for imitating others led a young Mirahmadi to impersonate the distinct voices of southern California race callers. One day in 1992, on a total “instinct move,” he called for the president of Hollywood Park and said he could imitate the track’s announcer who was on vacation. So Mirahmadi sent a cassette calling a fictitious sprint race.“When I called to follow up, the lady who answered in the executive office kinda giggled and I could tell that they liked the tape,” Mirahmadi says. “The track president said, ‘Frank, I gotta hand it to you. I like your impersonations.’”
That very year, on Christmas Eve, Mirahmadi made his announcing debut, calling two closing races at Hollywood Park. He returned in 1994 to call four races, and after that got written up in the Los Angeles Times. That was the start of a long career or “quest,” in Mirahmadi’s words, calling tens of thousands of races at 20-plus courses across the country and still busting out the occasional celebrity impersonation during a meet.
For Mirahmadi, however, Saratoga remains the “pinnacle of the sport.” “To be at Santa Anita and Saratoga combined is a beautiful thing, but Saratoga is definitely where the racing world is focused during the summertime,” Mirahmadi says. “I’ve loved the sport my entire life. To be able to now work in it and have the privilege to describe the action of these great Thoroughbreds, it’s a dream come true.”
Cody’s Wish is arguably the best racehorse in America right now. A 5-year-old bred and owned by Godolphin and trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Cody’s Wish is riding a six-race win streak and has lost only once in his past 10 starts. The current string of victories features four consecutive Grade 1s: the Forego last August at Saratoga, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland, the Churchill Downs Stakes, and the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park. The Forego was one of the highlights of the 2022 Saratoga meet. At odds of 8-1, Cody’s Wish defeated the heavy favorite Jackie’s Warrior, the only horse to win a Grade 1 at Saratoga in three consecutive years, by 1¼ lengths.
Sired by Hall of Famer Curlin out of the Grade 1–winning Tapit mare Dance Card, Cody’s Wish was bred to be a star. After beginning his career in 2021 by finishing third in three consecutive races, Cody’s Wish has won all but one race since, compiling an overall record of 9-1-3 from 13 starts with earnings of $2,328,530. He has been training sharply at Saratoga since May, and his most recent performance—a brilliant 3¼-length victory June 9 in the Met Mile—sets him up as the horse to watch at Saratoga this summer. Mott said Cody’s Wish is under consideration to stretch out in the Whitney Stakes and could also take aim at another victory in the Forego.
Trainer To Watch: Wesley Ward
As of May, trainer Wesley Ward had won 30 percent of his races in 2023. (Brien Bouyea)
A former champion jockey, Wesley Ward has emerged in recent years as one of the top trainers in the sport. After winning 749 races in the saddle and the 1984 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice, Ward transitioned to conditioning racehorses in 1991. He has steadily climbed the ranks while winning more than 2,200 races as a trainer. Ward has enjoyed success both in the United States and England, where he has won a dozen races at the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting, more than any other American-based trainer. Ward has also won nine training titles at Keeneland and has six Breeders’ Cup wins to his credit. At Saratoga, he finished in the top 10 in both wins and earnings in 2022.
Ward’s best horse to date has been two-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Golden Pal, who won stakes races three consecutive years at Saratoga. Last year, Ward won his first Saratoga Grade 1 with Chi Town Lady in the Test. He also won the Grade 2 Honorable Miss with Kimani and the Grade 3 Troy with Golden Pal. Ward is having another exceptional year in 2023. Through May, he is winning a career-best 30 percent of his races, the highest rate among the top 25 trainers in the country.
Jockey To Watch: Jose Gomez
Jose Gomez was the leading apprentice rider at NYRA tracks in 2022. (Brien Bouyea)
With riders including the Ortiz brothers, Hall of Famers John Velazquez and Javier Castellano, and standouts such as Joel Rosario, Luis Saez, Flavien Prat, Manny Franco, Tyler Gaffalione, Junior Alvarado and Dylan Davis, among others, the jockey colony on the New York Racing Association circuit is generally considered to be the best in the country. None of that intimidated young apprentice rider Jose Gomez last summer at Saratoga.
Gomez, a 22-year-old native of Michigan who grew up in Pennsylvania, finished 2022 as the leading apprentice rider at the NYRA tracks and was ninth in the overall jockey standings. He won 98 races in New York last year, including 11 at Saratoga, with total purse earnings of $5.8 million. Gomez won three stakes in New York, including the Statue of Liberty aboard Golden Rocket in August at Saratoga, the first black-type stakes victory of his career.
Gomez is quick to give significant credit for his success to agent and mentor Angel Cordero, Jr., the Hall of Fame jockey who won 14 riding titles at Saratoga, as well as trainer Kelly Breen, who has also been a big supporter. In early 2023, Gomez was rewarded for his success by being honored with the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. Having proven himself capable of competing successfully on the big stage at Saratoga, the future appears bright for Gomez.
You’ve probably heard whispers throughout town about The Coat Room, a new speakeasy-style bar and restaurant that was rumored to be opening on Broadway this summer. But where is it? Is it open? And how do you get in?
Without ruining the mystique of the place, we can tell you it’s on the first floor of 385 Broadway and opened in late June. As for how you get in? Our lips are sealed.
We can tell you what to expect if (or when?) you do get in. “Our inspiration came from the fact that 385 Broadway is literally the center of where the original United States Hotel was,” says Managing Partner Mike Phinney, whose idea it was to turn what was supposed to be a self-storage locker for residents of the apartment building into a semi-secret Saratoga hangout. “We thought it would be interesting to really pay respect to that, so a lot of the décor is of that era—black and white photographs, walnut, brass, gold, black, industrial accents, saddle leather.”
As for the menu? Chef Dominic Colose, most recently of Amuse, says it’s all about familiar ingredients prepared in unfamiliar ways. “People are not generally inclined to try new things, but if we can build trust by showing that not every menu in Saratoga has to be the same, we can evolve into some eclectic selections,” he says. Those selections include a Syrian curry Colose says has the “deep flavors of common Indian curries but has an identity linked to Middle Eastern cooking,” flatbreads, and a “special” orange tart for dessert.
Beverage Director Justin LaViolette has a similar philosophy for behind the bar. “As far as our beverage program goes, I wanted it to be unique and noteworthy, but at the same time approachable and familiar,” he says. “The menu ranges from an Earl Gray–infused Bees Knees—a riff on a classic—to something that’s basically a caprese in a cup.” Yup, you read that right: a caprese martini topped with a burrata cheese foam.
But back to the main question—getting there. “The code really is word of mouth,” LaViolette says. “Saratoga’s a place where everybody talks. You’ll know how to end up here if you know the right people.”
