You know when you finish your meal at a restaurant and the waiter—having just cleared your dinner plates—comes over to see if you’d like dessert? More often than not, you’re completely stuffed and can’t imagine ingesting another thing. But half an hour after you’ve left the restaurant, that sweet treat starts to sound pretty good.
“My wife, Jen, and I really enjoy getting a happy hour drink somewhere and then a bite to eat somewhere else,” says Saratoga’s Broadway Deli owner Daniel Chessare. “And then maybe walk around a little bit, and then dessert. But by the time we’re ready for dessert, it’s ice cream or nothing.”
While Chessare certainly isn’t knocking Saratoga’s robust ice cream offerings, he wanted a place where he could get a restaurant-worthy dessert without worrying that he was taking up a whole table at a restaurant just for dessert. So he and Jen decided to open one themselves.
Coming later this summer is Bibulous, a bar specializing in small bites—pâté, cheeses, warm olives—and desserts, located around the corner from Phila Fusion on Henry Street. That’s right: no entrées. The thought is that people can come in for a snack and a cocktail while they wait for their dinner reservation somewhere else, or come in after their dinner reservation for a slice of chocolate cake and an espresso. Chessare who, before opening the deli was the head chef at Merry Monk and sous chef at The Wine Bar, will oversee the bar’s savory options, while Jen, an experienced baker and former manager of Henry Street Taproom, will handle the sweets.
“We’ll have three or four staples, and then some rotating desserts,” Chessare says. “The whole menu will change seasonally. So in the fall, it’ll be a bit more cozy—apple and pumpkin—and in the winter, a little more decadent and rich. And summer’s more light and fruity.”
Where, you may be wondering, did the name Bibulous come from? It’s actually an adjective meaning excessively fond of drinking and eating. And if that doesn’t describe Saratogians, we’re not sure what does.
Before the 2022 Saratoga racing meet, NYRA found itself in a bit of a predicament. About a week before opening day, legendary bugler Sam Grossman, who’d played the “Call to Post” at Saratoga Race Course for some 25 years, backed out due to health concerns. Luckily, Grossman didn’t leave NYRA completely high and dry. He put in a call to his friend, Saratoga Lake resident and trumpeter Tony Gambaro, to see if he’d take over the iconic role: red vest, bowtie, top hat…the works. Gambaro considered the ask and said yes on one condition: He’d do it only if his son, fellow trumpeter and college student Carson, was involved, too.
While the initial stipulation was logistical—Tony couldn’t commit to all 40 days of the Saratoga meet and needed Carson to cover for him—it turned into a PR boon for NYRA. At a last-minute venue walkthrough the day before the track opened for the season, NYRA’s press team had each trumpeter play the “Call to Post” solo. Then, just for fun, they had them play it together. “Mark Bardack from Ed Lewi Associates said ‘I don’t need to hear or see another thing,’” Tony says. “‘I need both of your cell phone numbers. Be here at 6 in the morning for interviews with channels 6, 10 and 13.’ It just exploded.”
Two years later, Tony and Carson have made the Saratoga bugler post(s) more popular than ever, in large part thanks to the work they put in between races. While they need to be in the winner’s circle before every race to perform a certain 34 notes, they spend the rest of their day running around the track playing all sorts of tunes—“Happy Birthday” for a party in the 1863 Club, The Godfather song as a joke for some guy’s buddy from New Jersey, or a college alma mater for a horse owner and his friends. (Yes, they learned a college alma mater with only a day’s notice.) And while some days you’ll see only one of them at the track, more often than not, they’re performing together.
In fact, Tony and Carson are usually together, even off the track. When Carson isn’t announcing high school track meets (he recently graduated with a broadcasting degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and dreams of announcing track and field events at the Olympic level), he’s either helping his dad out with his boat detailing business or performing with him in the Ten Most Wanted Band, whose busy season just so happens to align with the Saratoga racing season. “The hardest part about working together,” Carson says, “is him having to get me out of bed to get to the track.”
For Tony, the track gig is a job, but it’s also an opportunity to spend quality time with his son. “He busts my chops here and there, and I tell him not to walk in front of me—it’s a pecking order,” Tony jokes. “We just have a lot of fun with people. People at the track are happy to begin with. We’re just making them happier.”
For most young entrepreneurs, the manufacture of jockey silks—those brightly colored uniforms jockeys wear to indicate which owner they’re riding for in any given race—is probably not top of mind as a potential business opportunity. But when you own a clothing company and your family owns a Thoroughbred breeding farm, breaking into the obscure business is almost a natural step.
That’s exactly how Saratogian Michael Borisenok came to found Saratoga Silks Co, a company that makes custom silks right here in the Spa City. It all started in 2012, when Borisenok, whose family owns the idyllic Old Tavern Farm overlooking Saratoga Lake, launched GTS Clothing, an activewear brand that originally manufactured overseas. A few years in, he made the decision to bring his manufacturing operation (much) closer to home, and figured out how to do it all—design, cut, sew and ship—in house. He rebranded the company as Greatly & Co., and now sells his made-in-Saratoga athleisure online at greatlyandco.com.
From all that hands-on work with nylon and spandex, it was a short jump to the world of jockey silks, which—surprise—aren’t made of silk anymore. “With my family being involved with the racing industry and with my experience with small-batch manufacturing, I started to see that there might be an opportunity, or even a need, to better the process for jockey silks for owners,” Borisenok says. “And so I started to dip my toe in two summers ago.”
Jockey silks are regulated, at least in New York, by the Jockey Club, which has strict rules about what can and can’t go on a silk. (For example, the dots on polka-dotted sleeves should be two-and-a-half inches in diameter, and navy blue is not a permissible color, because it looks too much like black from a distance.) There are some 30,000 silks registered with the Jockey Club, and each new silk design must be different than the rest. First-time silk registration costs $125, and owners must renew their registration annually.
But most of that is out of Borisenok’s hands; the horse owner gets their design approved by the Jockey Club, and then comes to him to create it. What he can control is the speed with which he turns a silk around. “When owners or trainers get word of their horse being in a race at a certain track, it’s not a lot of time [before the actual race],” he says. “What I’m finding is the importance of a quick turnaround. They might have someone running in Saratoga, but then someone might be running in the Finger Lakes, and they need a silk out there within a matter of five days.” Saratoga Silks Co’s standard turnaround time is four to seven days, but Borisenok also offers 48-hour expedited turnaround for such cases.
While you haven’t seen Saratoga Silks Co silks on any Triple Crown winners yet, that doesn’t mean you won’t. (Any last-minute Travers entries out there? Borisenok’s got your jockey covered—literally.) “We’re not necessarily high volume at the moment,” the entrepreneur says. “But we’re at a place now where, whether it’s this summer or the summers that come, we can really create a better experience for everyone.”
This year’s program for Philadelphia Orchestra’s summer residency has again proven legendary—as in John Legend-ary. (Sorry, we couldn’t resist.)
Tickets have been selling fast for EGOT-winning, multi-platinum singer John Legend’s debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC on Aug. 7. An Evening With John Legend–A Night of Songs and Stories with The Philadelphia Orchestrawillfeature Legend’s greatest hits (think “All of Me,” “Ordinary People” and “Tonight”), fascinating personal stories from his life and career, and selections from his 2022 album Legend. “First of all, he’s such an incredible musician,” says Anthony Parnther, the revered filmconductor who will be leading Legend and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Parnther worked with Legend on a similar (and sold-out) show at the Hollywood Bowl, with its orchestra and a full gospel choir. “He’s a terrific pianist, a terrific singer and a terrific storyteller,” says Parnther. “That show we did in LA was a compendium of his life story and background. He told a personal story about his upbringing in the church and details about his family. For instance, I didn’t know his name wasn’t John Legend until he told the audience that his real name was something else.”
Parnther played coy regarding Legend’s actual name (we’re shameless—it’s John Roger Stephens), having worked with a broad coalition of talented and privacy-minded stars, from classical icons like Joshua Bell and Jessye Norman to hip-hop titans such as Wu-Tang Klan and Rihanna. He’s also carved out a reputation as a premier conductor for many big-budget Hollywood films such as Dune: Part Two, Oppenheimer and Black Panther. “Regardless of genre, good and interesting music is good and interesting music,” says Parnther about his broad musical tastes and what drives him. “And getting to work with someone of John’s caliber is very alluring to me as an artist.” After Legend’s Philadelphia Orchestra debut, Parnther is scheduled to do several cross-country shows with him over the next few months.
In addition to Legend and Parnther, the world-renowned orchestra is bringing an impressive slate of fireworks-worthy headliners and performances to SPAC this summer. Highlights include five-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and Renaissance woman Angélique Kidjo (Aug. 2); a 100th anniversary celebration of Gershwin’s world-famous Rhapsody in Bluewith the Marcus Roberts Trio (Aug. 1); and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana(Aug. 10), which is returning to SPAC for the first time in more than 15 years, with Albany Pro Musica.
And let’s not overlook returning champions such as Yo-Yo Ma (a former cover star of this magazine), who will be playing an evening of moving, Romantic-era music by Dvořák with guest conductor Xian Zhang (Aug. 16). Philadelphia Orchestra Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will also return Aug. 8 to lead a program exclusive to SPAC, featuring Richard Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony (Eine Alpensinfonie), a tone poem celebrating the sublimity of nature, alongside the SPAC premiere of Robert Schumann’slively Konzertstückfor horns and orchestra.
As we said, SPAC’s 2024 season will go down as the stuff of legends.
The New York Racing Association will play host to a whopping 71 stakes races this summer at Saratoga Race Course with a combined $20.75 million up for grabs in those events. While most casual racing fans have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the iconic Spa races such as the Travers, Whitney and Alabama, there are dozens of stakes races at the legendary track with rich and interesting histories.
Here is a closer look at five noteworthy Saratoga stakes on the loaded 2024 schedule:
A.P. Smithwick Memorial Stakes (steeplechase)
Wednesday, July 17 Grade 1, $150,000 For ages 4 and up, 2⅜ miles on the turf
Named in honor of legendary jump jockey Alfred Patrick “Paddy” Smithwick, the race is one of two Grade 1 jump events at Saratoga (the Johnathan Sheppard is the other). Smithwick won 398 races in his career, ranking second of all time behind fellow Hall of Famer Joe Aitcheson. The race in his honor was first held in 1980, but it didn’t become a stakes race until 1996. It has since been won by several top steeplechasers, including Campanile and Divine Fortune, both two-time winners.
Birdstone Stakes
Sunday, Aug. 4 Listed, $150,000 For ages 4 and up, 1¾ miles
First contested in 2011, the Birdstone Stakes is a rare throwback to the days when distance racing was the rule instead of the exception. Several top trainers have enjoyed success in the Birdstone, including Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, who has won the race a record six times. Hall of Fame jockeys Javier Castellano and John Velazquez have four and three wins, respectively, in the Birdstone. Trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito for Marylou Whitney, Birdstone broke his maiden in his 2003 career debut at Saratoga and returned the following summer to win the track’s biggest prize—the Travers. (Flip the page for more on Birdstone.)
Saratoga Special Stakes
Saturday, Aug. 10 Grade 2, $200,000 For 2-year-olds, 6½ furlongs
Since 1901, the Saratoga Special has been a popular juvenile fixture at the Spa. Its winners include Hall of Fame legends such as Colin, Roamer, Regret, Top Flight, Whirlaway and Native Dancer. An interesting element of the race’s history is the fact that until 1959 the winner of the race received the entire purse under winner-takes-all conditions. Along with the Sanford and Hopeful, the Saratoga Special is one of the three key stakes for 2-year-old males at the Spa. Regret (1914), Campfire (1916), Dehere (1993), and City Zip (2000) are the only horses to have won all three.
Flower Bowl Stakes
Saturday, Aug. 31 Grade 2, $500,000 For fillies and mares ages 4 and up, 1⅜ miles on turf
For much of its history (1978 through 2020), the Flower Bowl was contested at Belmont Park; it shifted to Saratoga in 2021. The race has been won by legends such as Waya, Just a Game, Riskaverse, Stephanie’s Kitten, Lady Eli and War Like Goddess. Trainer Chad Brown has dominated this event in recent years, winning it seven times since 2011. The race’s namesake was a popular 1950s filly trained by Hall of Famer Preston Burch for Brookmeade Stable.
Spinaway Stakes
Saturday, Aug. 31 Grade 1, $300,000 For 2-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs
One of Saratoga’s oldest races, the Spinaway, which dates back to 1881, is named after a remarkable filly who won seven races—all against males—as a 2-year-old in 1880. Her legacy was cut short, however, when she suffered a foot injury and had to be retired early in her sophomore year. The Spinaway has been won by Hall of Famers such as Miss Woodford, Maskette, Top Flight, Cicada, Ruffian and Ashado.
Empire Media Network (EMN), the parent company of Saratoga Living, Capital Region Living, and Saratoga’s Best, announced this week that Director of Content Natalie Moore would assume the role of editor of the three storied publications. In this position, she will work closely with Saratoga Living Sales Director Annette Quarrier and Capital Region Living Publisher Teresa Frazer as well as EMN Chief Operations Officer Tina Galante to produce the top-of-the-line magazines upstate New Yorkers have come to know and love, in addition to ancillary print products for iconic local organizations such as Saratoga Performing Arts Center and Albany Symphony. EMN Owner Anthony R. Ianniello, Esq. will remain the company’s chairman.
A Ballston Lake native, Moore started with the company as a Saratoga Living intern in 2016 and has since served as editorial assistant, managing editor and director of content. Over the course of the last eight years, she has played a pivotal role in the production of dozens of publications as both an editor and writer. She also helped launch Saratoga Living After Hours, a wildly popular Substack newsletter for which she will remain the primary contributor. She looks forward to continuing to provide the Saratoga and Capital Region communities with both coffee table–worthy print products and boots-on-the-ground online reporting.
“There aren’t too many people who know Saratoga Springs and the larger Capital Region area better than this group of women,” Moore says of Quarrier, Frazer and Galante. “Both Saratoga Living and Capital Region Living have been around for more than two decades. I can’t think of better team to lead the brands into the next 20 years.”
Over the last year or so, Caitlin Clark has made women’s basketball front-page news, first as a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes, and now as point guard with the Indiana Fever. To fans of horse racing I ask, Is Brett Beckwith the Caitlin Clark of harness racing?
They are virtually the same age (Clark 22, Beckwith 21). They both participate in sports overshadowed by higher-profile, similar competition. They both set eye-catching records.
And the word on the backstretch at Saratoga Harness is that it’s only a matter of time before Beckwith has a national profile as a preeminent driver.
Beckwith grew up at the racetrack; his mother, Melissa, is a prominent trainer, his father Mark a successful driver. And the pedigree goes back even further: Melissa’s father, Jerry Silverman, is a Hall of Fame trainer, her brother a trainer/driver, and Mark’s father and grandfather were both harness horsemen.
Yet while growing up in Saratoga Springs, Beckwith showed little interest in joining the family business. He played basketball for the Blue Streaks and had an eye on college.
“I wanted to study computer science,” he says. “I was a little bit of a nerd.”
Photography by James Lisa
Beckwith’s career path shifted one night at the Meadowlands, the preeminent harness track in the United States, located in East Rutherford, NJ.
“I was watching my grandfather [Silverman] who was still training horses at the time,” Beckwith says. “All of a sudden, I fell in love with the sport and wanted to do something more hands-on with the horses. I also wanted to do something in common with my father—when I was growing up we had basketball.”
It was a good call.
Beckwith began driving professionally only three years ago, when he was 18, and in 2023 his purse earnings hit the $4 million mark, a remarkable achievement for someone at the start of his career. He also finished second in the drivers standings at Saratoga Harness that year and at the end of May, he topped the local leaderboard with 157 wins from 554 starts for a win percentage of 28.3. In Saratoga alone, he’s earned more than $1 million in purses. In both categories, he’s significantly ahead of his closest rivals.
And when I showed up one warm May afternoon to see the young, record-breaking driver, he had already ridden one of his parents’ horses in a qualifying heat and was two hours away from that day’s post time. The Saturday card was comprised of 13 races—Beckwith was competing in all of them. By the end of the night, he’d racked up three wins, three seconds and a third.
Four of those in-the-money finishes came with horses trained by one of his parents. “They have about 25 horses, and I drive all of them,” Beckwith says. “Sometimes I have to take off to ride a different horse in a race, but most of the time, I try to drive for them.”
He’s in a position to be selective; in addition to his parents, he also chooses to drive for local trainers Jackie Greene and Kevin McDermott—who, in separate conversations, used identical words to describe why Beckwith is so good on their horses.
Says McDermott, who’s been training horses for decades, “He doesn’t panic. He’s patient, and nothing seems to faze him. He just takes it all in stride.”
Greene and her family lived next door to the Beckwiths for a time, and her daughter used to babysit him. “He comes from a family of well-respected horsemen, and he’s so level-headed and patient,” she says. “That goes a long way, especially on a half-mile track like Saratoga’s.”
Last summer, McDermott’s daughter, Mary, was instrumental in creating an event that packed the stands and the apron at Saratoga Harness. Thoroughbred jockey Flavien Prat, whose father and brother train trotters in France, took on Beckwith in a match race to raise money for local nonprofits.. Beckwith took the tilt, and the event raised $15,000 that was divided between Faith’s House, a low-cost child-care and education facility that serves children of workers on the Saratoga backstretch, and the Franklin Community Center, which provides local residents with a food pantry, after-school programs and distribution center for clothing and household items.
“Brett was 100 percent for it,” says Mary. “He also donated his purse money.”
A horsewoman herself, Mary uses the same language that her father and mother did to describe the young driver. “He is so calm, cool and collected,” she says. “He drives one of our horses, Reign of Honor, and it’s a blessing when he’s on him.”
Another match race is planned for this summer, and the event will undoubtedly once again pack Saratoga Harness with people who don’t ordinarily cross the street from Saratoga Race Course. Beckwith hopes that promotions like this, and premier races like the Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Race on July 20, will expand the audience for standardbred races.
“I’m biased,” he says, smiling. “I like it here better than at the Thoroughbred track. There’s only 10 minutes between races, which is better for bettors, and the focus is really on the horses.”
While Beckwith is already a star in the world of harness racing, both McDermotts say it’s only a matter of time before he’s a household name as well.
“Watch out for Brett Beckwith,” says Mary. “He’s going to get bigger and bigger. We’re blessed to have him, but that won’t last. He’s going to go on the Grand Circuit and trainers will snap him up.”
Her father agreed.
“Brett’s got exceptional hands, and he’s going to end up at the Meadowlands and on the Grand Circuit,” he says. “The sky’s the limit for Brett.”
Life oftentimes comes full circle. That’s the case for Orange County–based painter Jessica Leonard, who grew up near Saratoga Springs and still comes back every summer to paint. And this track season, she’s having a bit of a moment, with an exclusive solo exhibition at Spa Fine Art Gallery July 26-Sept. 2. “The Winner’s Circle” exhibit celebrates equine culture with paintings on unique circular surfaces that have become Leonard’s signature style.
“I love exploring composition and seeing how different something can look on a circle than on traditional surfaces,” says Leonard, who went toSouth Glens Falls High School. “Growing up, I would walk through Spa Fine Art and think, ‘Oh my god, this is so amazing.’ Now I’ll walk by there and see my paintings in the window or on the walls.”
The exhibition, which opens with an elegant evening reception on July 26, evolved from Leonard meditating on connections between a winner’s circle and her round paintings. “The Winner’s Circle” will showcase many of her newer works: vibrant, photorealistic horse portraits on circular surfaces of varying sizes. A rising star in the local arts community, this is Leonard’s second solo exhibition at Spa Fine Art; she also recently sold out of her wildlife collection atLake Placid’s upscale Gallery 46.
The sudden success is well-earned. Leonard has a fine arts degree from SUNY Plattsburgh, but after graduation—like so many—she meandered away from painting into work, marriage and raising kids. Years passed before the homegrown artist found her way back to painting. “As my kids got a little older, I was drawn to doing something else,” says Leonard. “A lot of people in my life at that time, including my husband, didn’t know the extent of my artistic ability.”
Leonard started at craft fairs and by doing local commissions, including lots of pet portraiture. She got into painting horses after depicting famous Thoroughbreds for CAPTAIN Community Human Services’ annual summer gala in Saratoga. “That was my ‘in,’ into horse racing, and I started painting the horses every year for CAPTAIN,” says Leonard. It also became her “in” at Spa Fine Art, where she’s displayed work since 2018.
“It blows me away that I used to go there and look up to the artists,” Leonard says. Now I’m one of them.” Talk about being in the winner’s circle.
