Looking for the perfect plastic surgeon to meet your needs? Dr. Jeffrey Ridha, who owns Sanctuary Medical Spa & Laser Center in Saratoga Springs, is here to answer any or all of your questions. Take a look an exclusive Q&A with Dr. Ridha below.
The chemical peels I get during my facial don’t involve any “recover” time, but a friend just had one and her skin was red and peeling for almost a week. Why is that?
There are three types of chemical peels, based on their depth of penetration: superficial, medium and deep. Superficial peels like alpha- and beta-hydroxy peels are mild and may result in little or no peeling, which is most likely what you received. Medium and deeper peels result in more skin sloughing, which can require several days to recover from.
When is liposuction a better choice than non-invasive fat-reduction techniques?
Non-invasive fat-reduction technologies (CoolSculpt, SculpSure, UltraShape, Vanquish, Zerona) are one of the most popular and fastest-growing areas of aesthetic medicine. The results are subtle compared to liposuction or excisional techniques. The ideal candidate is a patient who is in good shape, has good skin quality and has specific problem areas of excess fat under the skin. Liposuction is far more effective, although it does require surgery, so it often requires downtime to recover and see results.
It seems like everyone is getting filler in their lips. How long does it last and are there any side effects?
Most of the fillers I use for lips are made of Hyaluronic acid gels (Juvederm, Restylane products). They are soft and pliable, providing a natural-appearing enhancement of the lips. The duration varies. Even fillers that are listed to last up to a year may require reinjection within six months. Lip fillers, when injected properly, should not cause any significant or harmful long-term effects.
Dr. Jeffrey Ridha, Sanctuary Medical Spa & Laser Center, 72 Railroad Place, Saratoga Springs. (518) 306-5466, drridha.com.
When I heard about the Custom Two-Hour Time Journey spa experience at Complexions Spa for Beauty & Wellness, it seemed made for someone like me, a busy woman with a “monkey mind” who needs serene surroundings and more than an hour to wind down.
On the day of my appointment, I was welcomed by friendly faces but not the pretention that sometimes accompanies high-end spas. After changing into a fluffy oversized robe and some sandals, I wandered into the Relaxation Lounge to await my massage. I was quite content to munch on the complimentary tropical trail mix, sip coconut/lemon water and recline in an ergonomically correct chaise lounge; but, too soon, my lovely therapist Evelyn arrived to guide me to the massage room.
To begin, I stepped into a shallow bowl of warm Saratoga mineral water mixed with salt, an experience that helps people transition from a world of stimulation to the candlelit spa room. As my feet soaked in the water, piped directly from Saratoga’s famed mineral springs, Evelyn had me inhale essential oil combinations, which are formulated by Complexions. I chose a blend of lavender, peppermint and arnica.
The first treatment was a full-body sea-salt scrub. As I laid on the heated massage table, Evelyn exfoliated and refreshed my skin. Once this cleansing was complete and the salt wiped away with a warm towel, Evelyn started my massage with shea butter and my selected essential oil blend.
After the 50-minute massage, I had the choice of an extended body massage or moving to a cleansing facial. I opted for the facial, which started with a sweet lupine cleanser followed by an cleansing facial polish enriched with aloe, rosemary, jojoba and oat flour. Evelyn then applied a small amount of a soothing carrot seed facial oil to calm and hydrate my skin before applying an aloe replenishing mask. While the mask, infused with black currant extract, pear and olive, worked its magic on my skin, it was time for my favorite part – the 10-minute scalp massage. By this point, I was so relaxed I could have melted into the massage table. Finally, the mask was removed with a warm towel, and the facial was finished with a beech tree moisturizer highlighted with orange peel and ginseng to both energize and quench my skin.
The journey was complete, and I left the room feeling calm and rejuvenated. In today’s fast-paced, electronic world, we all need and deserve some offline time to recuperate and reconnect our minds and bodies.
Complexions offers just the right escape, and the Time Journey is an excellent option for a more customized experience. I can’t wait to go back!
Michael Panza is a living and breathing example of the well-known phrase, “pay it forward.”
Many people are aware of Panza’s successes with his award-winning event- and wedding-planning business, Fine Affairs, as well as his dedication to Panza’s, his family’s restaurant on Saratoga Lake. However, not everyone knows about his single greatest passion, singing, which he pushed to the back burner. This past year, Panza brought his singing to the forefront, and Saratoga is experiencing a performer who truly understands how to connect to his audience.
Panza doesn’t come from a musical family, and as a kid he admits he “shriveled up in music class.” He was shy, had no voice training and ended up taking piano lessons as an adult. After two lessons, he told his teacher, Jeff Halstead of Saratoga Springs, “You know what I always wanted to do…I always wanted to sing.” His parents recognized their son had desires and talents outside of the demanding restaurant business, so they encouraged him to pursue these dreams. Of course he’d been around music his entire life, listening to the bands at Panza’s and learning all the standards. His professional connections in Saratoga, influential clients like Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson, and Barry and Sheryl Schwartz were instrumental in introducing him to the social scene.
Panza is most passionate about “songs that tell a great story,” and he can rattle off quite an eclectic list: tunes from The Great American Song Book, show tunes, Barry Manilow, Lionel Richie, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé, Tony Bennett, The Commodores, Stevie Wonder and Barbra Streisand.
Memories are what people respond to most, he says. “It has to do with memories, and people react to music that makes them feel good,” he says. Panza is fond of stirring up emotions by singing torch songs that make people cry. “They could be crying for other reasons,” he laughs, insinuating that his voice may be a source of pain. But when Panza sings alongside the Charles Cornell Trio on this night, to a full bar and restaurant, it’s obvious that his voice is a finely tuned instrument that blends effortlessly with the jazz keyboard, bass and drums.
“I haven’t sung this much in 10 years. They have been my rebirth in wanting to get out and sing,” Panza says, gesturing to the talented young men: Charles Cornell, pianist and musical director, and Matt Niedbalski, drummer.
Panza and this trio have an easy rapport on and off the stage, and he feels like he’s a big brother or an uncle to Charles, Matt and regular bass guitarist and sax player Steven Kirsty, all in their early 20s. Panza remembers when he first began singing 27 years ago, when he knew he had gotten a late start. His voice instructor, Patty Wilcox, told him it could take 10 or 15 years for his vocal chords to develop. He would head out to different clubs in Saratoga, and have performers like Al Bruno encouraging him to get up to sing. “So it’s very important to me to help new talent. They are going somewhere. Jazz is their thing,” he says about this virtuoso trio.
Panza nearly forgets to tell two incredible stories. “A big moment,” Panza admits. “Julio Iglesias did the opening night gala at Proctors several years back, and my band was playing at the post party. Concert’s over, I’m up there singing, and the people are clapping, and I’m like, wow … they really like me. My bass player taps me on the shoulder, and I turn around and Julio’s on the stage with a mic in his hand, and he sang ‘Summer Wind’ with me. He pinched my cheeks and told me he loved the way I sang.” Panza also mentions in passing that he played backup for The Pointer Sisters, as well as in front of an enormous crowd at Universal Studios, but these are not the stories he dwells on. His attention moves back to the trio.
“This is my passion, and it’s been a blast. They’ve changed things for me.”
If it’s your first time approaching Top Rail Farm, home of Burke Equine Veterinary Rehabilitation and Therapy, watch carefully for the unassuming turn-off, a meandering dirt road punctuated by a rustic swinging gate beneath a canopy of trees.
Soon you’ll catch a glimpse of a charming white Greek Revival farmhouse, with a front porch perfect for anyone with a penchant for long conversations.
But Top Rail Farm in Saratoga Springs, off Route 50 and south of Saratoga Spa State Park, is home to two thriving businesses. The farm is a little piece of heaven on earth for Dr. Stowe Burke and his wife Caroline, Saratoga mainstays who are raising their children, 8-year-old Minnie and 4-year-old Henry, on a 104-acre property that’s been in his family since his grandmother, Virginia Hayward Parker, purchased it in the 1950s. Though their farmhouse is a mere six years old, it speaks of another era and represents their love for classic elegance and modern convenience.
Minnie, the couple’s 8-year-old daughter, tacks up her pony for a ride. (Megan Mumford)
Here, Stowe runs his prominent equestrian therapy practice, and Caroline runs an interior design firm. There is an odd overlapping of their enterprises that adds humor to their days. Watching the recent Belmont Stakes, they cheered for different horses. Caroline’s client had a horse racing, another client was a jockey, and Stowe had a third client connection.
Stowe points to the little barnyard cottage just down the hill from the farmhouse, their main home. They lived on and off in the cottage since they were in their early 20s.
“Our cottage was very open,” Stowe explains, “but I wanted a more traditional house so we wouldn’t be tripping over toys all the time. That’s why we put a traditional farmhouse on the front and a barn-type style on the back. It works pretty well.”
Their home is a perfect blend of history, holding tight to tradition and family, and creating something contemporary with their unique stamp.
“It feels like the house is a second baby. We had our first child. Then we built the house,” Caroline says. “Then we had another child. It was that sort of a process.”
Lives, Spirits Intertwine
Years ago, Caroline was studying English at Skidmore College. Stowe was taking classes there too. They met on the polo field. Stowe had just moved into the rustic little cottage, a place his friends jokingly referred to as his bachelor pad, but then Caroline paid the cottage a visit. “Two weeks later,” Stowe laughs, “she moved in.”
Caroline graduated and took a local job in publishing, but soon felt she needed a more creative outlet. She decided on graduate school for interior design at the University of Florida while Stowe tackled veterinary school at Tufts. The cottage remained home base, but they spent years in different schools and different cities. Eventually Stowe took a job in Ocala, Florida – horse country – knowing all along he would be specialize in racetrack medicine.
The “new old house” is filled with equine artwork and other thoroughbred memorabilia. (Megan Mumford)
Stowe was certain he’d die with his boots on at the racetrack. “My family’s been into horses in one way or another – show horses, horse racing, harness racing – and I ended up on the circuit. My first job at Saratoga Race Course was hot-walking for (Hall of Fame thoroughbred trainer) Scotty Schulhofer when I was 18.”
Stowe’s family is originally from Boston. His grandparents met at the Norfolk Hunt in Massachusetts and were married when his grandfather was in the cavalry, the last one in existence during World War II. Their marriage didn’t survive; he left to ride steeplechase races in Canada.
Stowe’s grandfather, Bobby Burke, was a legendary horseman, inducted into the Virginia Hunter Jumper Hall of Fame, the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame and the National Show Jumping Hall of Fame. “Granddad just passed away this spring,” Stowe reflects. “I learned a lot from him. We would talk weekly about what horses I was having problems with…”
His grandfather’s career was illustrious. At one point, he was responsible for breaking 180 yearlings each season at Spendthrift Farm. One of these horses was multiple-stakes winner Lucky Lucky Lucky, as well as the 1985 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, Rainbow Quest.
In the 1950s, Stowe’s grandmother came to Saratoga for the Fasig-Tipton yearling sales and fell for the region, prompting her to buy the farm. Originally, the property included what is now the enormous Villa Balsamo house, where she and Stowe’s father rambled around – just the two of them.
Stowe’s father attended a one-room schoolhouse across the road, riding horses there as well. Stowe has quite a collection of stories and photographs to illustrate how different Saratoga was then – a far cry from how the city looks and feels today. For one thing, farms the size of the Burkes’ are now a rarity.
The Road, To And From Home
For a little more than a decade, Stowe and Caroline traveled back and forth from Florida to Saratoga. Caroline describes this point in time as grueling and intense; Stowe was working with the best Thoroughbreds in the world, preparing for Breeders’ Cup and Triple Crown races with trainers like Todd Pletcher, Kiaran McLaughlin and Nick Zito.
Having the two children made the constant moving more of a challenge. Caroline was fortunate to be working freelance for local architecture firm Phinney Design Group, and what she describes next was a “perfect storm of events.” Stowe’s grandmother, who remained on the farm, was not able to live on her own any longer and that situation coincided with the death of Stowe’s good friend, steeplechase trainer Tom Voss.
The family hangs their coats and stores their shoes in the thoughtfully decorated mud room. The herringbone brick complements the modern home and adds a reminder of what the barn used to be. (Megan Mumford)
Stowe had an epiphany. “I was at the Voss farm, attending the funeral, and I thought about how his kids had such a good life growing up on a farm,” he says. “I thought I wanted to bring my kids home, so we could just stay in one place for awhile and be near my grandmother.”
This was no easy decision. Stowe had such an incredible job, working the racetrack circuit with an excellent practice and clients. But it did not take long for Stowe to hit his stride in Saratoga. The world-renowned Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital came to Saratoga from Lexington and asked Stowe if he would take on post-surgery cases. Soon, Burke Equine was born, as a rehabilitation center devoted to sport horses. “Each horse is an individual, like any patient. I wanted to get into the meat of fixing them myself,” Stowe explains.
This desire spurred Stowe to build a treatment center at the farm, complete with an AquaPacer, a water treadmill for horses, as well as a healing cold saltwater spa, grass gallops and a dirt training track. Horses recover without losing their fitness at his rehab facility. He wears many hats, from vet, to trainer, to rider, and there’s no doubt he’s adept at each demanding role. The horses can spend months recovering at Burke Equine, receiving veterinary care and pre-training in one bucolic off-track setting.
Stowe explained how the rehab facility works. “It’s somewhere between in-patient surgery and getting veterinary care at your house. The horse is boarded here, and it’s getting targeted veterinary care every day, and it’s also getting some turn-out and taking walks in the woods, staying fit… it’s training and vet care and boarding all in one.”
Their combination is a success with the results reflecting just how effective Burke’s therapy and rehab are for injured horses. Many recovered horses have gone on to be winners, and there will certainly be more in the near future.
Show horses, harness horses and barrel racers also end up at Burke Equine for treatment. A newly completed 22-stall barn has expanded capacity for the 2017 race meet.
A Natural Eye
The frenetic pace continues with Caroline’s own successful design business, Top Rail Interiors.
When Caroline first embarked on the house project, she consulted local architect Mike Phinney, her boss at the time. “I had done a lot of architectural drafting at the firm, but was nervous about doing an entire construction document set on my own, so I asked him for help. His response was very much a ‘Go forth, young Jedi’ type thing… he was sure I could do it all on my own, which eventually I did.”
Caroline has the natural eye and professional expertise to do things exactly right. She and Stowe studied the architectural styles of the area, and decided on the one that suited their taste. “We wanted a new old house,” Caroline explains, “and I was the architect. It’s been the best compliment when people drive up and they say, ‘Wow! You really did a great job rehabbing this old house!'”
Caroline’s business grew from there. “I had a project or two down in Florida, and a couple in Saratoga, but eventually the referrals just kept rolling in, and before I knew it, I was a full-time working mom.”
Stowe’s grandparents met at the Norfolk Hunt Club, a fox-hunting club in Massachusetts. (Megan Mumford)
Her interior-design projects have ranged from historic renovations to modern home theaters, and have recently expanded to more commercial projects. “I really appreciate having a background in architecture. It’s made me more confident in finding opportunities within a space, like adding a dormer here or taking out a wall there. I also love designing millwork and built-ins, which add so much character to any project.”
Last year, a carriage house Caroline designed on North Broadway won the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation’s “contextual design award” for its aesthetic appropriateness within the neighborhood. This ultimately led Caroline to join the foundation’s board as a mayoral appointee. “I’m passionate about preserving the beauty of Saratoga Springs,” she said. “We live in a special place.”
Caroline and Stowe have salvaged many old family photos from barns and cellars. Thankfully, they also had one remarkable photograph returned to them: an enlarged black-and-white image from a sale at Fasig-Tipton, where his grandfather had worked. Stowe’s handsome grandfather is seated beside C.Z. Guest, the socialite wife of Winston Churchill’s nephew. The photo used to hang in Saratoga’s beloved Spuyten Duyvil bar, a famous hangout of the past that adjoined the Fasig-Tipton horse auction pavilion. A number of photos of horses bred in the 1950s by his grandmother – one was trained by Woody Stephens, a Hall of Famer himself – also line the walls. These images are balanced by paintings by Stowe’s grandmother, which add to the sense of continuity, charm and nostalgia.
Caroline knows intuitively what one-of-a-kind pieces to salvage from old carriage houses or jockey quarters. She saved a white porcelain urinal from the Whitney property that is now the gorgeous focal point of their bathroom. But there’s no denying that the large barn doors, punctuating the formal front of the house from the casual back, feel like the very heart of their home. The doors were salvaged from Greentree stables, and Stowe remembers the world-record-setting racehorse Elusive Quality standing behind them.
A Link From 1927
There is the sense of stepping back in time when you wander through the facilities at Burke Equine. It’s easy to forget that the city of Saratoga is a quick trip down the road. In one barn, a whiskey company’s delivery vehicle, a Rolls Royce from 1927, has come to rest. Stowe’s grandfather traded Winston Guest a pony for the Rolls. “My dad was more into cars than ponies… he had this when he was 11. My grandmother said when it ran it shook the whole house.”
But as you move to Stowe’s rehab facilities, you suddenly remember the year is 2017. The AquaPacer and ECB Cold Saltwater Spa are high-tech and impressive. The water fills as high as the injury dictates in the AquaPacer; the horses only move at a good working walk to ensure they are using their bodies correctly so they won’t need any additional recovery time. Stowe understands the ideal balance of maintaining the horses’ cardio while strengthening their bones. That prevents re-injury when they return to training. The cold-water spa is set at 35 degrees and treats inflammation, a vet’s biggest enemy at the onset of injury. The salt water also helps any wounds heal. Both treatments take nearly an hour. The track stretches out beyond the pine trees by the new barn, which allows the horses a nice walk through the woods before their more demanding exercise.
Stowe’s cell phone doesn’t stop. Numerous missed calls await him after a brief slice of the early afternoon when he was not able to answer. Racing season is upon us, and Burke Equine reflects the hustle and bustle of a Saratoga summer.
However, at the end of a hectic day, filled with two children, design work and veterinary treatments, Stowe and Caroline can reflect. They can sit out on their quiet front porch, atop their little hill, and enjoy the home they created; respecting the past, commanding the present and building toward the future.
Tomatoes have never had it easy. Despite their sweet, bright and tangy nature, they have never been the star of the show.
The truth is, we would be lost without them. Pasta would be plain without a hearty sauce. The BLT would lose the delicious layer that separates the bacon and lettuce. Salads would lack their colorful disposition. Caprese Salad would cease to exist.
In the late 1700s, many Europeans actually feared the tomato.
“A nickname for the fruit was the ‘poison apple’ because it was thought that aristocrats got sick and died after eating them, but the truth of the matter was that wealthy Europeans used pewter plates, which were high in lead content,” according to Smithsonian magazine. “Because tomatoes are so high in acidity, when placed on this particular tableware, the fruit would leach lead from the plate, resulting in many deaths from lead poisoning. No one made this connection between plate and poison at the time; the tomato was picked as the culprit.”
Today, the tomato is a Superfood, packed with vitamins A, B complex and C, as well as potassium and lycopene. Lycopene, which is responsible for the red color, has been studied for its role in fighting cancer and lowering cholesterol.
Let It Grow
Not all of us are blessed with a green thumb.
Here are some tips for growing tomatoes from Melinda Myers, host of “The Great Courses: How to Grow Anything” series.
Get grounded. It all begins with the soil. “Add several inches of compost, peat moss or other organic matter to the top six to 12 inches of soil,” Myers says. “This improves drainage in heavy soils and increases water-holding capacity for sandy or rocky soils.” Quality potting mix is a must for containers, along with a slow-release organic nitrogen fertilizer like Milorganite. “It will help encourage plant growth without interfering with flowering and fruiting,” Myers says.
Let the sunshine in. “Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers and other vegetables produce their best and have the fewest disease problems when grown in eight to 12 hours of sunlight,” Myers says. “Root crops such as beets, radishes and carrots can get by with four to 6 hours of direct sun. Fill shady spots with leafy crops like lettuce and spinach. They grow great in full sun, but can still produce in a shady location with only four hours of sunlight.”
Look to Mother Nature. Don’t be fixated on the calendar. “Wait for the danger of frost to pass, and the soil and air to warm before planting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and other warm season crops,” Myers says. “Jump start the season with the help of floating row covers. These polypropylene fabrics let air, light and water through while trapping heat near the plants.”
You don’t need tools, Myers says. “Simply lay the fabric over your planting, leaving enough slack for the plants to grow and anchor the edges to the ground with stones or boards.”
Take it to the max. To increase productivity, there are several strategies. The first is succession plantings. “Simply start with lettuce, radishes or another cool weather plant,” Myers says. “Once harvested, replant the area with onions or beans. After these are done, you can replant the area once again with a fall crop of lettuce, spinach or radishes.” The second is interplanting. “Plant quick-to-mature crops, like radishes and lettuce, in between longer maturing plantings of cabbage, tomatoes or eggplant,” she continues. “The short season vegetables will be ready to harvest just about the time the bigger plants are crowding them out.” And last, think about planting veggies closer together in wider rows. “You’ll waste less space for pathways, putting more room in plantings,” Myers says. “Make sure each plant has enough space to grow to maturity and that you can reach all planted areas to weed and harvest.”
Don’t forget the TLC. Water plants well, keeping the soil moist but not drenched. “Add a layer of shredded leaves, evergreen needles or other organic material to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and moderate soil temperatures,” Myers says. In midsummer, give the plants a nutrient boost with Milorganite. Also, be on the lookout for weeds, bugs and potential disease.
Best Pick
Bite-sized tomatoes, such as Red Robin and Sweet ‘n’ Neat, are great for salads, appetizers and popping in your mouth as a snack.
“Grow the explosively sweet Sun Gold and Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes,” Myers suggests. “They’re the candy of the garden and will get even your most reluctant family members, young and old, to eat their tomatoes. Stake or cage these tall plants and, if space is limited, grow them in a 24-inch diameter pot.”
Tomatoes for paste and sauce have meatier fruit. “Roma is the traditional favorite,” Myers says. “The egg-shaped fruit has thick walls and few seeds. Use them during the growing season for sauces, chop and add them to an omelet, or can and freeze them for future use.”
Grow some tomatoes for slicing. “Most gardeners look for large, juicy tomatoes to enjoy on their sandwiches, hors d’oeuvres and salads,” Myers says. “Look for varieties that are suited to the growing conditions. Solar Flare and Creole are heat-tolerant and keep producing despite high summer temperatures. Start picking tomatoes as soon as 65 days after planting by growing short-season varieties like Early Girl and New Girl tomatoes. Heirloom varieties have been grown for more than 50 years and have maintained their original traits and popularity. Cherokee Purple’s rich flavor rates high in taste tests. The dusky pink fruit with deep red interior looks as beautiful as it tastes.”
Most art lovers — even the most cerebral and academic — turn to the medium for simple delight or deliverance from everyday cares. It would be hard to find a more unabashedly joyful expression of life than on canvases Tom Myott creates.
His eclectic portraits of horses and the Saratoga racetrack are well-known and sought after in the region. Inspired by Chuck Close’s grid style of painting, Seurat’s pointillism, the grand whirl of impressionism and more recently, graffiti art, his renderings of the horse life and its glorious ephemera are so much more than the sum of their parts. They reward close study and gazes from afar.
But his work of late has taken an unexpected turn.
“I’ve been doing a lot of driving recently,” Myott tells Saratoga Living Magazine. An art teacher at South Glens Falls High School, his summers ‘off’ are anything but.
“Everyone thinks the summer is when I finally get to relax, but it’s just the opposite — that’s when things really ramp up for me.”
There’s the hectic world of festivals and art shows that he attends and exhibits at all over upstate New York.
And then there’s life.
“I’ve been driving two hours a few times a week to see my mom, who is recovering from a broken hip in Hoosick Falls. I’ve been driving out to Vermont to hang paintings for clients and I’ve just been going where I need to be for shows,” he explains.
“Most people zone out during through these long drives and when they notice smoke coming from the Finch paper plant in Glens Falls or a storm cruising across the Green Mountains, they might see pollution or a bad drive ahead. But I just end up seeing all of the amazing colors — bright oranges and pinks — on the clouds, the wind through the trees, the tricks of light.”
From what could be a series of depressing or stressful drives, Myott has extracted a new artistic direction and a rich trove of source material for his newfound passion: landscape paintings.
He says he pulls over several times during his drives to take pictures. While the stopovers delay his journeys, the inspiration they provide is well worth the extra time.
Landscape painting seems antithetical to the vitality and fun his celebrated portraits of horses offer. But Myott’s acrylic renderings of land on canvas become as vibrant and brimming with life as the land itself.
“I’ll often use several shots taken on different days of the same landscape and combine several elements,” he says. “I embellish them just like I do with the horses, adding dashes and dots of color and movement.”
The spirit and heartbeat of the race course. The beauty and majesty of the Adirondacks.
All looking good.
Tom Myott’s exhibit at Silverwood Home and Gallery (398 Broadway) launches July 20.
Marin Alsop is coming back to home territory on Wednesday, Aug. 9 and Thursday, Aug. 10 to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. On Wednesday, Alsop will work with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and on Thursday it’s with the Marcus Roberts jazz trio in an all-Gershwin program.
“I’ve a lot of friends and family connections in Saratoga Springs,” Alsop said from Baltimore where she’s the music director for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. “So I’m looking to getting back to SPAC. I really love it.” (Alsop made her SPAC debut in 2008.)
Alsop was born in New York City but her parents lived locally. Her father, Lamar, was the concertmaster for the New York City Ballet Orchestra and her mother Ruth played cello in the same orchestra. Both died in 2014, 10 days apart.
“That was a hard year,” Alsop said.
What made things a little more difficult was that she had to find homes for all their antiques, including her father’s large vintage automobile collection.
“They were antique crazy,” she said. “I kept as many as I could for sentimental reasons, but sold others. But their instruments are still being played by BSO members. These include my mother’s cello, my own violin, and my dad’s violin and viola.”
Coming from such a musical background helped Alsop find her own way. For years, she was a freelance violinist and even played for a while in the NYC Ballet orchestra. But she became interested in conducting and her two years of study during the summer at the Tanglewood Music Center with Leonard Bernstein, where she received the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize, set her career path.
She’d worked her way up through several orchestras, including a 12-year stint with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and received the 2005 MacArthur Fellowship “Genius” grant when the BSO came calling in 2007 and offered her the job of music director. Then and even now, she is considered the only woman to hold that position in one of the 22 major U.S. orchestras with a multi-million-dollar budget, according to the League of American Orchestras. Alsop also became the music director of the Sao Paulo (Brazil) Symphony Orchestra in 2013 and continues to guest conduct the world’s major orchestras.
What Alsop is especially proud of, however, are the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship that she founded in 2002 and the Southbank (London) Centre workshops, which are both for young women conductors.
“I’ve seen the level and the number of applicants dramatically rise over the years,” she said. “That means women are more accomplished, they are getting hands-on experience earlier and more feel they are empowered to try.”
But leading an orchestra takes more than just knowing the score.
“Leadership requires a measure of diplomacy and a strength of intention, vision and the ability to make hard decisions,” Alsop said. “I believe in having a positive environment of collaboration. And as a woman on the podium, I tell my students they must have an understanding of how society perceives women and not to take anything personal. They must always put the music first.”
Alsop must be doing something right, because her contracts with both the BSO and Sao Paolo have been extended substantially.
“I feel very fortunate,” she said. “I’m very, very proud of the orchestras and what we’ve accomplished and with the outreach to the communities. It feels good.”
With its new Feibes & Schmitt Gallery, The Hyde Collection art museum is now a destination for modern and contemporary art.
This summer and through the end of the year, visitors can see the debut exhibit in the 1,500-square-foot gallery, “To Distribute and Multiply: The Feibes & Schmitt Gift,” with 40 works by 20th century masters, among them Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Grace Hartigan, Jean (Hans) Arp, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol Lewitt, Man Ray, Louise Nevelson, Pablo Picasso, George Rickey and Bridget Kelly.
The gallery is the result of a donation last year from Schenectady art collector Werner Feibes and his late partner James Schmitt, who gave the Hyde their modern and contemporary art collection, which is valued at more than $10 million.
“The Feibes & Schmitt Collection establishes the Hyde as a regional must-see for modern art,” said museum Director Erin Coe. “Without traveling to New York or Boston, or even Montreal, there’s nowhere else in the region where you can see the works of the 20th century’s most influential artists just down the hall from Botticelli, Rembrandt, Degas, Hassam and Homer.”
Feibes and Schmitt donated their art collection to the Hyde because they recognized that a museum of its size could provide better public access to the works and it would be more consistently on view than it might be in a larger museum. The exhibit title, inspired by that sentiment and their belief that the art is less of a possession and more of an idea, originates from a quote by Josef Albers (1888-1976): “To distribute material possessions is to divide them. To distribute spiritual possessions is to multiply them.”
Through Sept. 24, the Hyde is also featuring two related exhibits by contemporary artist Ellsworth Kelly. Ellsworth Kelly: Slow Curve and Ellsworth Kelly: Fruits and Flowers were inspired by Feibes’ and Schmitt’s friendship with Kelly and the piece he created for them, Diagonal with Curve XII, Blue #611.
“Slow Curve,” an exhibit of more than 70 prints in the main Charles R. Wood Gallery, examines Kelly’s experimentation with curved fields of color, from tight ellipses and shapes with rounded corners, to broad arcs and segments. Many of these geometric shapes derived from his simple line-drawn images of nature. In the Whitney-Renz Gallery, 26 prints from his Plant Series will form a small companion exhibit.
Without question, the safest bets of the 149th Saratoga season are that history will be made and champions will emerge during the 40-day season that opens on Friday, July 21 and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 4. That’s par for Saratoga Race Course, America’s oldest and most revered track.
Five horses that won Eclipse Awards in 2016 competed in Saratoga last summer. That group was led by the 3-year-old titleists Arrogate and Songbird. Songbird was the 2-year-old filly champ of 2015 and had a big reputation that she enhanced with wins in the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama. However, Arrogate was something of an unknown until he swooped in from California with trainer Bob Baffert to win the Travers with a smashing performance.
Since breaking the 37-year-old track record for 1 ¼ miles in the Travers, Arrogate has won the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, the $12 million Pegasus World Cup and the $10 million Dubai World Cup and is the top-ranked runner on the globe. Arrogate is scheduled to stay on the West Coast this summer to compete at Del Mar, which is hosting the Breeders’ Cup in November.
In Saratoga, that is good news for the owners and trainers of horses who are aiming for The Whitney on Aug. 5 and the Woodward Stakes on Sept. 2. Gun Runner finished second to Arrogate in Dubai in March and returned to the races in June with a convincing victory in the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. He’s a likely candidate for one or both of Saratoga’s two top races for older horses. Shaman Ghost, the 2016 Woodward winner, had a solid first half of 2017 and could be a player at Saratoga again. Baffert has a very strong lineup of older horses, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him send one or more of them to Saratoga so they don’t have to deal with Arrogate.
Worth noting is that The Whitney’s purse has been cut by $50,000 to $1.2 million. Two years ago, Saratoga fans squawked when NYRA made The Whitney worth more than the Travers. They were equal last year and the $1.25 million Travers has been restored to its place at the top to the Saratoga stakes list.
For the second year in a row, the Triple Crown races were won by three different horses: Always Dreaming in the Derby; Cloud Computing in the Preakness; and Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes. All three are based in New York. Todd Pletcher has Always Dreaming and Tapwrit; Chad Brown, Cloud Computing; and the Aug. 26 Travers will be an important prize in the wide-open competition for the 3-year-old male title. Triple Crown horses Classic Empire, McCraken, Irish War Cry all look to be Travers candidates, too.
A showdown of the Triple Crown winners is appealing, but history shows us that it will be a long shot, at best. Twelve times since 1990, the Triple Crown was won by three horses, but none of those trios met at Saratoga. In 1982, the three winners did enter the Travers, which was won by outsider Runaway Groom. According to Allan Carter, historian at the National Museum of Racing, the only other time that the three winners of the Triple Crown races met in the Travers was in 1918 when Sun Briar handled his stablemate Exterminator (Kentucky Derby), War Cloud (Preakness, first division) and Johren (Belmont Stakes).
Hail To ‘The Chief’
Two years after his death, The New York Racing Association is honoring the legendary trainer H. Allen Jerkens by renaming the Grade 1 King’s Bishop as the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial. The seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds, was first run at Saratoga in 1984, and has been on the Travers day program since its inception. It was not held in 1986.
Jerkens, affectionately known as “The Chief,” died at age 85 in 1985. He was the leading trainer at Saratoga four times during his brilliant 65-year Hall of Fame career and in 2010, NYRA put his name on the prestigious Saratoga training title award. Jerkens won many stakes at Saratoga. His victory with Onion over Triple Crown winner Secretariat in the 1973 Whitney is part of the historic track’s lore and was another reason why he had the “Giant Killer” nickname.
The New York Racing Association renamed the King’s Bishop Stakes to honor the late trainer H. Allen Jerkens, who died in 1985. (Mike Kane)
“He was a big part of New York racing for 50-plus years, so it’s a big deal,” said Allen’s son, trainer Jimmy Jerkens. “He’s certainly deserving of it, and if they were going to rename a race, it would make sense that they use the King’s Bishop because he trained the horse. T.J. Kelly had him as a 3-year-old and Mrs. (Allaire) du Pont, who owned Kelso, bought him and we got him after that, so we had him as a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old and he was a nice horse.”
While acknowledging the importance of the honor, Jimmy Jerkens noted that public praise made his self-effacing father uncomfortable: “He’d probably be blushing right now.”
Now carrying a purse of $500,000, the Jerkens Memorial has been won by a number of outstanding runners and produced five champion sprinters: Housebuster (1990), Squirtle Squirt (2001), Lost in the Fog (2005) Runhappy (2015) and Drefong (2016).
Sprucing Up
During the off-season, NYRA upgraded the 115-year-old former saddling shed behind the clubhouse, which now houses the racing office and many mutuels windows. NYRA announced that that rafters would be repaired and replaced and a new slate roof would be installed.
Funding for the improvements NYRA makes at its three tracks comes from revenue it receives from the casino at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The distinctive saddling shed at Saratoga Race Course, built at the turn of the 20th century, has a new slate roof. (Mike Kane)
The distinctive 15,400-square-foot building in the center of the track grounds was constructed in 1902. It was an alternative to saddling horses under the trees in the open-air paddock during inclement weather and was converted to other uses in the 1970s. The structure was built soon after William Collins Whitney took control of the Saratoga Association, and is recognized for its dramatic roofline, which features wood trusses with iron tie rods.
In mid-June, NYRA announced that SOSH Architects, with offices in New York and Atlantic City, has been selected as the architect of record for the proposed At the Rail building development at the end of the clubhouse. The building would replace the seasonal dining tent at that location.
State Releases NYRA
This will be the first Saratoga meeting since the NYRA was returned to private control by New York State earlier this year.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state took over the association in 2012 after a report was issued showing that NYRA shortchanged some bettors in payments of exotic wagers. The takeover and reorganization of NYRA was supposed to last three years, but control was extended for two additional years.
Keep Your Eye On…
Trainer Chad Brown and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr.
Brown, 38, a local hero from nearby Mechanicville since he won with his very first Saratoga starter – Star Player – in the first race on opening day in 2008, has emerged as a star player himself. He won his first Saratoga training title last summer with a record 40 victories and earned his first Eclipse Award as the outstanding trainer in North America.
Once again, Brown will be competing with 12-time Saratoga champion Todd Pletcher for the coveted crown.
Santana, 24, won 14 races at Saratoga Race Course in 2016, his first season at the track. The five-time leading rider at Oaklawn Park recently moved his tack to New York, should have more business with trainers on the NYRA circuit and may be making more stops in the winner’s circle.
Much like the annual Brown-Pletcher competition, the battle for the jockeys’ title is likely to be between last year’s winner, Jose Ortiz, and four-time defending Eclipse Award winner Javier Castellano.
You’ll wish you had thought of this business for downtown Saratoga Springs.
But since you didn’t, just stop in and enjoy!
Pint Sized Small Bar and Bottle Shop at 489 Broadway is a great place to pause.
This second location for owner August Rosa is not only a bottle shop like his Lark Street location in Albany, but it’s a cozy bar too. While the music plays, choose from 12 rotating draft beers on tap while Nico fills your growler to go.
“In a moment of instant clarity,” Rosa says, “I realized that a small space would keep the inventory fresh with a constantly rotating stock.”
At a minimalist 600 square feet, which includes a bar with six stools, four bistro tables inside, and some outside seating for fair-weather days, you may have to wait a bit for a spot. But their coolers are packed with more than 100 craft beers, specialty bottles and barrel-aged brews that can be purchased to take home.
Wine lovers are discovering sour beer styles including Wild Ales, Gose, Berliner and Weisse, to name a few.
With promotions like Work-from-Bar specials that include half-price empanadas from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, Happy Hour every day from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Late Night Happy Hour from 8 p.m. to midnight, the casual atmosphere accommodates everyone’s schedule.
OK… I just have to say it… “Good things do come in small packages!”
