Through the beer garden, past the picnic tables and into the green-leaf patterned walls of Sinclair Saratoga, there is a pink neon sign that says, “Together is a beautiful place to be.”
Hilary Morrison took the name from a bar in Manhattan that closed during Prohibition. She’s channeled the good vibrations from past incarnations of this 17 Maple Ave. location and skillfully blended them with her fresh perspective.
The result: A new, eclectic establishment.
The front room is filled with light from the sliding glass doors; the welcoming bar offers a wide selection of craft beers on draft and house-made cocktails. The German-inspired menu has plenty of snack choices, including pork schnitzel nuggets, and house-made soft pretzels.
“I eat one every day,” Morrison says. “They’re so good!”
There are larger plates as well, including Bratwurst and burgers. But, oh, it gets better. There’s a retro game room, including Pac-Man and foosball, in the back of the first floor. “I have really good memories of being at the skating rink as a little girl with all the games along the sides of the wall,” Morrison says.
The event room upstairs is called Astor and sports more of a New York City feel. It’s available for private parties, bridal showers and corporate events. You’ll be a customer forever when you purchase the Eternal Happy Hour Keychain, which, for $100, entitles you to Happy Hour pricing anytime… for life.
After opening nightclubs and big venues in Los Angeles, Morrison always wanted to open her own bar. “Creating a place for people to be together in a happy welcoming environment… and in Saratoga… it’s the best place ever!”
Whether you want a burger at 8 a.m. or French toast at 2 p.m., you’ll be more than satisfied at Farmer’s Hardware.
Chef Julia Sanzen and partner Tyler Russell recently returned to the East Coast to open Saratoga’s newest breakfast/lunch spot at 35 Maple Ave. They cleverly renovated the three-story brick building, built in 1925 as a warehouse for the Farmer’s Hardware Store on Broadway.
At the counter on the second floor, choose from a concise and enticing menu. Working from her free-standing “container” kitchen (which had to be dropped in place by a crane), Chef Sanzen prepares your garden frittata with a market side of sticky bacon and, if you can’t resist, sweet potato tots.
Hand-crafted appetizer served at Farmer’s Hardware, garnished with capers, tomatoes, and greens. (Terri-Lynn Pellegri)
Care to indulge your taste buds a bit more? Add a Nitro-chinno to your order. This unique KRU coffee experience — cold cappuccino, nitrogen-ated coffee with cream and a bit of sweetener — is delicious!
A server will bring your order/selections to your communal table in the open, airy dining space, thoughtfully designed from repurposed and reclaimed materials that include tabletops of old maple trees and tin from an 1867 barn in Keesville. Summertime offers the addition of a charming outdoor patio, with umbrella tables gracing the terraced herb garden. Enjoy a meal with a friend, or work at your computer on the free WiFi.
“I love Saratoga Springs,” Sanzen says. “It is my hometown. I wanted to come back and bring some fresh ideas and creativity.”
Torches lit the meandering path into the 400-acre estate at Yaddo one summer evening, where a magical night unfolded at the artist colony’s annual Summer Benefit.
Set in a wooded glen behind the storied mansion, Under the Pines featured a reading with renowned author Terry McMillan against a backdrop of young deer flitting between cars as dragonflies skated across a pond.
It couldn’t have been a finer celebration of the vitality of art and literature.
In past years, the benefit has taken place in Yaddo’s 124-year-old mansion. Built in 1893, the stunning home has been the physical, aesthetic and for many, even the emotional anchor for the entire enterprise. The mansion is undergoing a multi-phased reconstruction, and reopening is targeted for summer 2019.
So, this year, Yaddo took its moveable feast to a wooded glen behind the mansion.
McMillan offered up the saucy, sometimes acerbic, always warm humor that defines her best-selling books, including Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. But as a four-time Yaddo resident, she was quick to emphasize the unique place Yaddo holds for artists in America.
“Here, unlike the real world, we have an opportunity to really dig deep into our creative process,” she said. “You can walk through the woods and feel what you feel, be still, be quiet and allow things to come in that should come in. We cherish coming to Yaddo.”
As McMillan read from her chart-topping I Almost Forgot About You, a meditation on longing, friendship, love and ambition, she held the audience spellbound.
Yaddo President Elaina Richardson sounded a charge to artists and those who support them.
“In these challenging times, the power of art and literature to help us make sense of our world has never been more evident or more urgently in need of support,” she said. “The work that Yaddo has helped produce has shaped American culture and made us feel more connected to the global world.”
Yaddo, established in 1926 as a community to nurture artists, has hosted more than 6,500 residents who together have won a Nobel Prize, three Academy Awards, 74 Pulitzer Prizes and 500 Guggenheim Fellowships.
Notable guests included Jay Rogoff and his wife, Penny Jolly; event chairwoman and board member Stacie Arpey; board members Lynn Freed, Mary-Beth Hughes and Peter Cameron; chairs Patricia Friesen and Michael and Marci Phinney; Evan and Mara deJonghe; Tom and Beth Flynn; Thomas Conboy; Madeline Chudy; and almost 300 others.
The tent was arrayed with stunning flower arrangements from Lisa Kirkpatrick Clark and Brendan Flanigan, two well-stocked bars and a buffet overflowing with sweet and savory delights provided by Salt and Char, 15 Church, Osteria Danny and many others.
Proceeds of almost $160,000 ensure that the residency program will continue to flourish – and that we will continue to feel the sweet gift of the hush of a summer evening.
The last month of the school year? It’s all about studying for exams and anticipating the freedom of summer.
For the Ginley Girls of Greenfield, there was one more “to do” on their list: Rehearsing for a different type of test.
Their debut concert.
The four sisters – Katelyn, 16; Jane, 13; Ava, 11; and Ryann, 7 – opened for the country-western band The Spurs USA at Caffé Lena on July 1. Caffé Lena has been known to showcase young musicians; its website emphasizes a “devotion to presenting deserving talent regardless of fame.”
The opportunity arose when the sisters’ father, real estate attorney Michael Ginley, showed a video of his girls singing to The Spurs USA lead vocalist Dona Frank-Federico, whom he knew through business.
“I was blown away,” Frank-Federico says. “I mean, raw talent. They don’t have training or anything. And I just thought, ‘Wow. Do you think they’d ever want to perform in public?’ The rest is history.”
Since then, Frank-Federico has helped the girls with song arrangement and stage presence, earning her the affectionate title “Music Mom.” She has also arranged for the Ginleys to perform with The Spurs USA at The Barn at Egremont Village Inn in Massachusetts Sept. 16 and the Fort Salem Theater in Salem, N.Y., on Sept. 17.
The sisters have been singing together since long before Music Mom entered the picture, Real Mom Jenn Ginley says.
“[Katelyn] always was the big singer,” she says. “And each subsequent sister, they just joined her. Everyone wanted to be like Big Sister. I mean, literally, we have videos of them before they could speak trying to sing along.”
Now that the sisters can speak, and sing, each has a specific role in the up-and-coming family foursome.
“Jane sings high,” Ryann says, clutching a polka-dotted stuffed unicorn. “Ava sings really low. Kate sings in the middle. I just do whatever they say for me to do.”
Katelyn, especially, has an interest in making music a career. She is considering going into a science-related field, but says if the opportunity to pursue music were presented to her, she’d take it.
Katelyn grabs her guitar and the sisters gather together on a backyard picnic table. Her coral-coated fingernails begin strumming. Instinctively, her sisters chime in, singing “Ho Hey” by The Lumineers. Well, at least two of her sisters.
“Ryann!” her mother yells from the patio. “Chin up and sing!”
The girls seem optimistic they’ll continue singing together.
When Kate Bowen was growing up, her father always made a visit to the Saratoga Race Course a special day. That meant a reserved table in the clubhouse and fancy attire. He would look at the menu and say, “Anything for you, Katie Q,” she remembers.
Nostalgia for her childhood is often the starting point for designing the her Petit Peony clothing line. And her new fashionable line of clothing – Katie Q – celebrates that just as Saratoga’s summer season is upon us.
The collection is inspired from Bowen’s favorite places. “Saratoga is absolutely on the list…a dress in my collection is call ‘The Travers,’ another ‘The Paddock.'” She draws inspiration from the Fourth of July, birthday gatherings, lobster bakes, and summer afternoons selling lemonade – true Americana. “This experience to grow a business with my children has been so rewarding. My oldest daughter often accompanies me on business trips; she is my biggest fan and all three children are the inspiration for each piece of design.”
A mere three years ago, during a Vermont summer, Bowen taught herself to sew, choosing fabrics for her little girls she felt were a reflection of the innocence and magic of childhood. She had left the corporate world to spend time with her kids, and was expecting her third baby. By the time Bowen came home from the hospital with her newborn, she had seven orders on Etsy waiting to be filled.
Petit Peony had made its debut, and two-and-a-half years later the adorable clothing was being sold in over 100 boutiques across the country, even making its way into Japan. In a single year, its online sales more than tripled, due to a strong social media presence, glowing press, effective boutique partnerships and a great deal of elbow grease.
Bowen was completely taken aback when Petit Peony attracted the eye of influential women like Ivanka Trump and Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, whom she considers an inspiration. Ivanka Trump choose Petit Peony to be featured on her Women Who Work campaign; she then asked Bowen to design the clothing for her children to wear to the presidential Inauguration. Bowen’s husband was driving the family home from a ski vacation when Bowen received the surreal request. She screamed when she read the email, nearly causing her husband to drive off the road.
“It was an opportunity I’ve never even dreamt of, because I’m an untrained designer who started sewing for my daughters when I couldn’t find the clothing I was looking for! Designing high-end, custom pieces for the inauguration was wild. It was a whirlwind, and I still can’t believe we pulled it off! When I saw my designs…my stomach dropped and an incredible sense relief and a feeling of accomplishment came over me. I think it was the first time I breathed deeply in three weeks!”
All three of Ivanka’s children wore Petit Peony to the National Prayer Service. “…Just days before, I received a call that a button popped off the ivory coat for Arabella! I was so upset. I quickly overnighted extra buttons to DC, but due to increased security the family never received the box. I thought for sure that was the end of the ivory outfit. I later found out that Arabella’s covered button was super-glued back together and she wore it proudly. I am a little embarrassed about the faulty button, but I think it says so much about Ivanka and her support of women. Designing her children’s clothing was not a political decision for me. It was a business opportunity and an incredible one at that. My name was in the same headline as Oscar De La Renta. It was a surreal experience – one I would have never expected when I started sewing in my Vermont attic three years ago.”
Katie Q is a collaboration with her good friend and designer, Louisa Smith, of Grapevine Interiors. They share a love for textiles, travel and design – all elements incorporated into Katie Q, which will share coordinating pieces with Petit Peony. Bowen sold out of women’s tunic dresses in one day, having created a line for women that is unique, comfortable and flattering. Bowen’s also incorporating a made-to-order component for an accessible price point as she believes women have a hard time finding something they love that fits perfectly.
Katie lives with her husband, Ryan, and their three children, Kendal, Scarlett and Jack, in Duxbury, Massachusetts, where they also opened their first brick-and-mortar boutique and office.
Petit Peony has been featured in British Vogue, Glamour, Town & Country, as well as Women’s Wear Daily and Yahoo Style.
Saratoga Snacks, a thoroughbred that won nearly $750,000, has become quite the celebrity at ReRun, his retirement home in East Greenbush.
“He probably gets two or three people visiting him in a week. They’ll stop by when they are coming between Saratoga and Belmont,” says Lisa Molloy, ReRun’s executive director.
The 8-year-old gelding is also an ambassador and official model for Saratoga Horseworks, an Amsterdam, N.Y., company that sells American-made horse blankets and accessories. “They made him a whole set of blankets, bandages, everything,” says Molloy.
Snacks, who was owned by Bill Parcells and Gary Sciacca, the horse’s trainer, came to ReRun on Dec. 31.
“He’s huge, absolutely massive,” says Molloy. “He was known for being kind of wild at the track. He’s calmed down quite a bit and he’s quite happy with his lot in life.”
Parcells and Sciacca want Snacks to be kept in conditions similar to the racetrack, Molloy says.
“He gets turned out every day. He still wears shoes. He gets to be a horse. If he wants to come in, he’ll tell you when he wants to come in. He likes his stall. For his entire life, he lived in a stall. Some horses don’t like being outdoors all the time. It’s kind of like going from living at The Ritz to living under a bridge. They are used to having everything done for them.”
It’s a sweltering June day. At high noon, the heat is rising. But inside the ReRun barn in East Greenbush, more than two dozen horses are comfortable in their stalls; cooling breezes spin from whirring fans.
Lisa Molloy, executive director of ReRun, strides briskly through the tidy, state-of-the art barn and stops at a stall. Most Happy Fella, a retired racehorse, thrusts his head forward to greet her, and Molloy plants a quick kiss on his muzzle.
“Happy won half a million. He was always known for being not happy. It was a contradiction in terms with his name,” she says. “He’ll do all kinds of stuff if he thinks he can. And he knows who scares easy. It’s in part because of his disposition why he stays here.”
For Happy and other New York racing favorites like Saratoga Snacks, Metaurus and 2008 Turf Horse of the Year Dave, ReRun is their permanent home. But most horses at ReRun, a nonprofit thoroughbred adoption program, will go to other new homes.
For 21 years, it’s been ReRun’s mission to rehabilitate, retrain and find adopted homes for retired racehorses. It’s one of the oldest thoroughbred retirement programs in the country and the largest in New York State.
“It was originally started in Kentucky as part of the Kentucky Humane Society,” says Molloy.
New homes for 1,500
For several years, ReRun had farms in Virginia and the Finger Lakes. Two years ago, ReRun consolidated its operations and moved to 21 acres in New York’s Rensselaer County. The facility, which includes a 48-stall barn, two tack rooms and a 200-foot-by-100-foot arena, is hidden from view on a hilly road and surrounded by fields crisscrossed with white fencing.
ReRun has found homes for more than 1,500 thoroughbreds.
“Up until 2004, they adopted out 450,” says Molloy. In the past four years, since Molloy came on board in 2013, about 400 have been adopted.
“The last two years were the most successful years in the history of the organization,” says Molloy, an Englishwoman who has impressive credentials for thoroughbred care and training on both sides of the Atlantic.
Last year, ReRun took in 125 horses ending their careers on tracks in the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic, including Saratoga Race Course.
“We take horses from a lot of local thoroughbred trainers, like Nick Zito and Jimmy Bond,” Molloy says.
Glenn DiSanto of Greenwich, a trainer and breeder who passed away in January, also handed over horses to ReRun. “I just took his last horse,” she says.
When the horses are running in Saratoga, Molloy is behind the scenes at the track. “I go in the morning and visit all the trainers.”
Horses that come to ReRun must be registered thoroughbreds. Some have not raced.
“These are pretty high-quality, high-end horses that are being re-purposed,” she says. “They no longer have a career at the track. That may be because of injury, it may be because of owner finances, it may be because the horse is too slow or the horse is old.”
ReRun is not a rescue facility. “Rescue is for horses that are in dire circumstances… and they are in those circumstances because of neglect. We occasionally take in rescues, but I would say that 95 percent of the horses that are racing in New York are very, very cared for.”
People who hope to adopt a horse go to ReRun’s website, where each available horse appears in a video. This summer, you’ll see Vital Point, “an adorable little girl with no vices,” and Lotza Heat, a 6-year-old gelding that ran 23 times and won about $70,000. The adoption fee for these animals is $500.
Retiring horses arrive at ReRun year-round. There are usually 30 to 35 in the stalls, including the four that Molloy herself has adopted.
Lisa Malloy, program director of ReRun since 2013, feeds Fair Weather Stan a tasty treat. (Cathleen Duffy)
ReRun is Molloy’s home, too. She lives in an apartment above the barn with her 12-year-old son, Jack. Her husband, Tom, a Bronx native and Army veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm, works for a military contractor and often travels overseas.
Lisa and one former DiSanto employee are full-time, and three other employees work part-time. Molloy and Amy LeBarron, a Saratoga Springs trainer, do all the retraining. Because ReRun is not a rescue program, it does not use volunteers.
After the barn tour, as Molloy sits in the office and pulls off her sneakers, shavings flutter to the floor. “I cleaned the stalls this morning,” she says. “I wash the horses, I ride, I do all the social media. I do the web site.”
ReRun is supported with grants, private donations and fund-raising events. “Moneighs,” artworks created by famous racehorses that use their mouths, whiskers, hooves and tails to brush the paint, are sold at auction events. Saratoga Snacks and Most Happy Fella are among the newest four-legged artists.
There are also sponsorships, a donation that helps pay for the care of a specific horse. For $20, you can sponsor 14-year-old Dave or maybe Stan, a horse that was frail and infested with parasites when he arrived from Kentucky.
Jeffrey Cannizzo, executive director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc., is an enthusiastic ReRun supporter.
“It is our responsibility as owners, tracks, breeders, trainers, jockeys, bloodstock agents, and anyone who has a stake in the game to take responsibility for the aftercare of the horses that make up our great sport,” Cannizzo says.
“Lisa Molloy and ReRun execute one of the best rehabilitation programs in our country by giving retired racehorses the very best care so they can thrive and have meaningful and fulfilled lives after the racetrack. ReRun is an accredited organization with the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, which ensures they are have highest-level standards for facility operations, education, horse healthcare management, facility standards and services, and adoption policies and protocols.”
Fish, donkeys, horses
Molloy grew up in Grimsby, a seaport in Lincolnshire, in a family of deep-sea fishermen.
“When I was little, my granddad used to walk me down to the fish docks and he would pick me up fresh smoked haddock for my tea. On the way back, there would be people on the beach giving donkey rides. I used to ride the donkeys,” she says.
Her granddad also bet on horse races, and often asked Lisa to pick a winner from the lineup in the newspaper. Lisa fell in love with horses, and by the time she was 4, her family was driving her to riding lessons on weekends.
In the ReRun office, colorful prize ribbons from horse jumping and gymkhana games hang in a row along a wall. “These are my ribbons from when I was a child,” she says.
As she got older, she worked in the barn to pay for her lessons and kept riding during her student days at the Bishop Burton College of Agriculture.
In England, Molloy worked for famous Irish-born trainer Jimmy Fitzgerald and with British Champion Jockey Kieren Fallon. In the United States, she worked for Bob Perry Quarter Horses in Texas and other farms in New Jersey, Mississippi, Colorado, Kentucky, Virginia and New York. Before coming to ReRun, she was facilities manager for New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program in Kentucky.
With 10 years of experience in adoption, Molloy has a keen eye for who should and should not take home a racehorse. “The horse has to have a safe place to go to, a safe responsible home,” she says. And with social media, Molloy can follow a horse and see how it’s doing years after it leaves her barn.
As with most nonprofits, her biggest challenge is money. Helping a racehorse begin a new life is easier because Molloy’s own life has always been about her love for horses.
“I can find them homes. Even the most difficult ones, eventually. It’s almost like dating, like Match.com. There’s somebody for everybody.
“You just have to wait for that person to come along.”
Fixing a horse race is not easy. Bribing a jockey or trainer might be the straightforward method for a nefarious character looking to tamper with a race, but the horses will have a say in the outcome and no amount of money will sway them. Over the years there have been a number of schemes, scams and crimes at the track that may be of interest to those seeking to learn of the darker side of the summer season at the Spa.
In 1907, George Boles was a commissioner of the Metropolitan Turf Association and one of the most successful bookmakers in the betting rings at the New York tracks, including Saratoga. During the summer meeting that year, rival bookmakers noticed that Boles was quite successful in predicting upsets and suspected he was in collusion with some of the jockeys to manipulate the outcomes of certain races. With rumors swirling, and an investigation into his activities seeming to indicate that he had bribed jockeys, Boles suddenly retired from the betting ring and the Metropolitan Turf Association. His retirement closed the matter as far as track authorities were concerned and nothing more was heard of the potential scandal.
Another example of skullduggery on the part of the jockeys at the Spa occurred in 1933 when a steeplechase horse, Cito, was entered to run on the card for August 15. The morning line showed Cito as the heavy favorite but some peculiar betting before the race drew the attention of the bookmakers who refused to continue accepting bets once they suspected something was amiss.
Once the race started it was clear that Cito was the slowest in the field, but the other horses were ridden so poorly that it was obvious to all in attendance that Cito had been predetermined as the winner. One horse was described as taking so wide a turn that it was thought its jockey was headed for Yaddo. Another jockey drew his mount so far outside that he dragged another horse with him, almost into the grandstand. One reporter felt the jockeys did “everything but get off and wrestle with their steeds.” The performance of the jockeys all but confirmed the rumors that the race was fixed. Cito won the race by a neck and three jockeys were suspended immediately for their part in the affair.
Perhaps the most interesting ne’er-do-well to be captured at the track was a horse painter named Peter Christian Barrie. Barrie was an Englishman who spent several years acquiring various horses, doctoring their appearance to match a worse runner and substituting the “ringer” in obscure races, thus cleaning up at the betting window. Barrie developed a paint the held up under rain and sweat for over a month, filed down, whitened or discolored teeth to match the original horse, and matched lip markings with a tattoo needle. Barrie spent four years travelling the country, plying his trade at various tracks and working for the mob with the Pinkerton Detective Agency hot on his trail.
In 1934 he, along with several accomplices, was arrested in Saratoga Springs suspected of attempting to steal a horse in broad daylight using forged ownership papers. No doubt the horse was destined to be “painted” by Barrie and run again in the place of another horse. Barrie had an alibi, though, and was released by Saratoga Police, only to be turned over to immigration authorities and deported to England where he lived out his days in relative obscurity.
Barrie did not limit his tampering with race horses to working on their physical appearance; he also was reportedly a sponger and doper. Sponging is the practice of pushing a sponge or piece of silk into the nostril of a horse prior to a race. The obstruction remains undetected and does not seem to affect the horse until the race is run and the labored breathing of the animal causes it to run slower than it would otherwise. Doping is the administration of drugs to an animal to either improve the performance of the horse, or to slow the animal down, depending upon how the bets are to be played.
During the golden era of the gangsters at Saratoga, sponging and doping of horses was occurring more frequently than track officials would probably like to admit. In 1931 a man named Jimmie Meehan was indicted for running a widespread race fixing ring where he paid associates to dope and sponge horses, including the horse Sun Mission at Saratoga. Meehan was an associate of gangster Arnold Rothstein and it was at Meehan’s apartment where Rothstein had lost a reported $300,000 that he was slow to pay on, just days before Rothstein was murdered. In fact, Meehan was held briefly by authorities in New York in connection with the murder but was eventually released. The fact that a Rothstein associate was fixing races at Saratoga in 1931 should have surprised no one.
Horse dopers were active in Saratoga throughout the 1930s. Ladana was poisoned in 1931 and although doping and sponging were made felonies in 1932, in 1934 a state senator publicly stated that he had information that the extent of sponging and doping at the tracks, including Saratoga, would “shock the nation.” The doping continued throughout the decade and on August 27, 1938 the Times Union reported the names of eight horses that had been tampered with during the summer meet. It was so bad that the owners of Triple Crown winners Gallant Fox and War Admiral had security assigned to them 24 hours per day when they were stabled at Saratoga in 1931 and 1938 respectively.
Bettors at the track assume that the races are run fairly. That has not always been the case at Saratoga. Despite its reputation as the premier thoroughbred meeting for many years, Saratoga was not immune from the influence of those looking to beat the book makers by whatever means necessary. Whether it was bribing jockeys to help Cito in his steeplechase race, Peter Barrie painting and substituting horses, or the more disturbing practices of sponging and doping horses, the races have not always been run on the level. The trouble at the track is just one more example of the wonderful, colorful history of Saratoga Springs.
For the 2017 meet, we’re looking back at the Saratoga Race Course throughout its history. Were you at the track in 1992? Or did you cash a winner in 1967? We’ve filled in all the blanks below.
10 years ago
In 2007, veteran jockey Calvin Borel, who had rarely ridden at Saratoga Race Course, added to a resume that carried him to the Hall of Fame in 2013 by winning Grade 1 races on consecutive weekends during the 36-day season: Grand Couturier in the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap, Lady Joanne in the Alabama and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense in the Travers.
25 years ago
Five attendance and handle records were set in 1992, the second year of a five-week, 30-day season. Thunder Rumble swept the Jim Dandy and the Travers, becoming the first New York-bred to win the Travers since Young Peter in 1947. Mike Smith won his second straight riding title and D. Wayne Lukas and Bill Mott tied for the training title. It was Lukas’ fifth consecutive year at the top of the standings.
50 years ago
In 1967, Damascus, the 3-year-old champion, handicap champ and Horse of the Year, won the Travers by 22 lengths, a record that still stands, beating three rivals over a sloppy track. Angel Cordero won the first of his record 14 riding titles at Saratoga, with 36 victories during the 24-day meet.
100 years ago
Kentucky Derby winner Omar Khayyam rolled through the Saratoga season in 1917, with victories in the Kenner Stakes, the Saratoga Cup and the Travers. During that 26-day season, Sun Briar emerged as a 2-year-old star, winning four stakes: the Saratoga Special, the Albany Handicap, the Grand Union Hotel Stakes and the Hopeful. Sun Briar beat a field of 18 in the mud in the Hopeful and earned the whopping first place prize of $30,000 for his owner, Willis Sharp Kilmer.
125 years ago
The darkest period of the track’s history began in 1892, with the first season under the ownership of bookmaker Gottfried Walbaum, a notorious figure, who was often accused of fixing races. Walbaum changed post times, allowed women and children to bet, cut purses and did not run some of the famous stakes, like the Travers and the Alabama. He closed the 1895 season early and did not open the track in 1896. A group led by William C. Whitney purchased the track from Walbaum in 1900.
150 years ago
In 1867, Francis Morris’ filly Ruthless followed her win in the inaugural Belmont Stakes with a victory in the fourth Travers. Ruthless was out of the mare Barbarity and she and her four full sisters – Remorseless, Relentless, Regardless and Merciless – were known as the Barbarous Battalion. The Saratoga season lasted six days. S
The 2017 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is holding its induction ceremony at 10:30am on Friday, August 4 (doors open at 9:30am). Taking place at the Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion, East and Madison avenues in Saratoga Springs, the ceremony is free, and will feature the induction of jockeys Javier Castellano, Victor Espinoza, Garrett Gomez; steeplechase trainer Tom Voss; Goldikova (horse) and Good Night Shirt (steeplechase horse); Pillars of Turf John R. Gaines, Ogden Mills Phipps and Matt Winn. Former New York Racing Association track announcer Tom Durkin will serve as the master of ceremonies. Below, find out more about each of the inductees.
THE JOCKEYS
Javier Castellano, Victor Espinoza and Garrett Gomez have collectively won almost 12,000 races, more than $675 million in purse earnings, 23 Breeders’ Cup races, nine events in the Triple Crown series and six Eclipse Awards.
Javier Castellano
Javier Castellano, a native of Venezuela, was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Through June 10, he had won 4,703 races and ranked fifth all time in career earnings, with more than $281 million. The Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey each of the past four years, Castellano has won seven Breeders’ Cup races and two editions of the Preakness with Bernardini (2006) and Cloud Computing (2017). He has excelled at Saratoga, winning riding titles in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, he won his record fifth Travers Stakes, piloting Keen Ice to victory over Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
Overall, Castellano has won 11 riding titles at New York Racing Association tracks, as well as five titles at Gulfstream Park and two at Keeneland Race Course. He set a North American record for earnings in 2015, with $28.1 million.
Victor Espinoza, a native of Mexico, won the Triple Crown in 2015 with Horse of the Year American Pharaoh. He had previously won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with War Emblem (2002) and California Chrome (2014). He is one of only five jockeys – along with Hall of Famers Eddie Arcaro, Bill Hartack, Gary Stevens and Kent Desormeaux – to have won both the Derby and Preakness three or more times each.
A winner of 10 riding titles on the Southern California circuit, Espinoza has won 3,321 races through June 10 with purse earnings of more than $193 million, ranking 17th all time. Espinoza began riding in Mexico in 1992 and had his big breakthrough when he piloted Spain to win the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at odds of 55 to 1.
Espinoza began a career peak in 2014 with California Chrome, the Eclipse Award winner for Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016. With California Chrome, Espinoza also won the Santa Anita Derby, Hollywood Derby, Dubai World Cup and Pacific Classic, among others, in addition to the Derby and Preakness. With American Pharoah, Espinoza helped end the 37-year Triple Crown drought and added victories in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Haskell and Arkansas Derby. American Pharoah was the unanimous choice for Horse of the Year in 2015 and Espinoza was named an Eclipse Award finalist.
Garrett Gomez, a native of Tucson, Arizona, won 3,769 races and had purse earnings of $205 million from 1988 through 2013, won 13 Breeders’ Cup races and was a two-time Eclipse Award winner (2007 and 2008). He ranked 12th all time in earnings at the time of his retirement. For four consecutive years (2006 through 2009), Gomez led all North American jockeys in earnings. In 2007, he set a record with 76 stakes wins.
Gomez, who rode his first winner in New Mexico in 1988, won the Bill Shoemaker Award as the top jockey at the Breeders’ Cup four times. Among many memorable moments at the Breeders’ Cup, Gomez rode champion Blame to a thrilling victory in the 2010 Classic, handing Zenyatta her lone career defeat. Gomez won four riding titles at Hollywood Park, as well as titles at Santa Anita, Keeneland and Arlington. His victories at Saratoga included the Travers, Whitney and Hopeful. Gomez died in 2016 at age 44.
THE TRAINER
Tom Voss
A native of Monkton, Maryland, Tom Voss became a legend in the steeplechase community and enjoyed success on the flat track. A jump jockey in his youth, Voss began training in 1973 while still a rider. He went on to be the National Steeplechase Association’s champion trainer five times in wins and three times in earnings.
Among the all-time leaders, only Jonathan Sheppard and Jack Fisher have higher career steeplechase earnings than Voss.
Voss trained Eclipse Award winner Slip Away, as well as seven other NSA champions. Perhaps his most famous horse was John’s Call, a gelding that won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer and Turf Classic in 2000 as a 9-year-old. John’s Call won or placed in 30 of his 40 career starts and earned more than $1.5 million. Voss won 706 races in his career (395 steeplechase) and had overall earnings of more than $17 million. He died in 2014 at age 63.
Goldikova
THE HORSES
Bred in Ireland and based in France, Goldikova became the first horse to win three Breeders’ Cup races. She won the Mile at Santa Anita in 2008 and 2009 and at Churchill Downs in 2010. Owned by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, Goldikova was trained by Freddy Head. She won Eclipse Awards in 2009 and 2010.
Along with her three American victories in the Breeders’ Cup, Goldikova won prestigious races in France and England. Among her 14 Grade/Group 1 victories – a record for a European-based horse – were nine wins against males. Attempting to win her fourth consecutive Breeders’ Cup Mile in 2011, Goldikova finished third. She was retired with a record of 17-6-3 from 27 starts and earnings of $7.1 million.
Good Night Shirt
Good Night Shirt was bred in Maryland and developed into one of the top steeplechasers of all time. An Eclipse Award winner in 2007 and 2008, he was owned by Sonny Via and trained by Jack Fisher. After winning three Grade 1s in 2007 and setting a steeplechase single-year earnings mark that year of $314,163, he was even better the following year as an 8-year-old.
Competing exclusively in Grade 1 events in 2008, Good Night Shirt won all five of his starts: the Georgia Cup, Iroquois, Lonesome Glory, Grand National and Colonial Cup. He set a course record in the Lonesome Glory and broke his own earnings record with $485,520. Good Night Shirt became only the third steeplechaser with career earnings of more than $1 million and retired with 14 wins from 33 starts.
PILLARS OF THE TURF
John R. Gaines (1928-2005) is best known in racing for organizing the creation of the Breeders’ Cup and developing Gainesway Farm into one of the sport’s elite stallion operations. A native of Sherburne, N.Y., Gaines acquired, syndicated, stood and managed such top stallions as Bold Bidder (sire of Kentucky Derby winners Cannonade and Spectacular Bid, the latter Horse of the Year in 1980 and a Hall of Fame inductee in 1982), Blushing Groom and Broad Brush. Gaines further developed the business when he moved the farm to its present location in Kentucky and acquired half of the C. V. Whitney Farm.
Gaines conceptualized the idea for the Breeders’ Cup, which he announced prior to the 1982 Kentucky Derby, and worked tirelessly to lead the effort. The series was launched in 1984 and has revolutionized the sport. The first Breeders’ Cup program was run at Hollywood Park and featured seven races with purses totaling $10 million. The program has steadily expanded and the 2017 edition at Del Mar will present 13 Grade 1 races with purses totaling more than $28 million during its two-day showcase.
Respected both in the United States and internationally, Gaines received the Duke of Devonshire Award for improving English breeding and racing, as well as the Lord Derby Award for contributions to English racing. He was presented the Eclipse Award of Merit in 1984 and was The Thoroughbred Club of America Honored Guest in 1991. Gaines also received the Breeders’ Cup Special Award. He bred a total of 48 thoroughbred stakes winners individually or in partnership.
Odgen Mills “Dinny” Phipps
Odgen Mills “Dinny” Phipps (1940-2016), a New York City native, was born into a family that had already been successful in thoroughbred racing and breeding for multiple generations. Phipps provided inspiration and leadership to the sport on many levels. As chairman of The Jockey Club for an unprecedented term length of 32 years (1983 through 2015), he transformed the organization from one with a primary role of maintaining the stud book into a diverse group of companies to fill specific needs within the sport.
Phipps changed the composition of The Jockey Club, branching the organization out to create or acquire numerous companies that perform a variety of essential services for the industry, including Equibase Company, The Jockey Club Information Services Inc., BloodHorse magazine, InCompass Solutions Inc., The Jockey Club Technology Services Inc., and TJC Media Ventures. Even before his election as chairman of The Jockey Club, Phipps had earned the Eclipse Award of Merit in 1978. Later honors included The Jockey Club Medal and designation as The Thoroughbred Club of America’s Honored Guest in 1990.
Phipps bred 89 stakes winners, and in recent years was a principal in the family’s Phipps Stable, as it was organized to include his children. Champions bred by Phipps individually, as Phipps Stable or other partnerships, were Rhythm, Inside Information, Storm Song, Storm Flag Flying and Smuggler. Also, Phipps and a cousin, Stuart Janney III (present chairman of The Jockey Club), bred and raced Orb, the 2013 Kentucky Derby winner.
Matt Winn (1861-1949), a native of Louisville, Ky., watched Aristides win the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875 and saw every edition after that until his death at age of 88, catching the race’s 75th running before he died. Winn helped guide the Kentucky Derby on a path from humble beginnings into America’s signature thoroughbred race.
In 1902, Winn formed a syndicate of investors that purchased struggling Churchill Downs for $40,000. He made immediate renovations to the track’s clubhouse and used his unique marketing skills to help Churchill turn a profit for the first time in its history. In 1911, Winn changed racing forever by introducing the $2 minimum bet; in the past, the minimum pari-mutuel bet had been $5, beyond the feasibility of most working people.
Churchill’s finances steadily improved under Winn, who in 1915, convinced prominent owner Harry Payne Whitney to bring his New Jersey-bred filly Regret to the Kentucky Derby. The recruiting effort paid off handsomely, as the national publicity surrounding Regret’s victory stamped the Derby as a marquee event on the American racing calendar. Winn worked at several other tracks in an executive capacity as well, including Latonia, Laurel, Lincoln Fields, Lexington and Douglas Park. He was The Thoroughbred Club of America’s Honored Guest in 1943. The Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs is named in his honor. A 1949 New York Times article said of Winn’s influence on the Kentucky Derby: “He alone made it what it is today.” S
