Sure, you can buy a Saratoga souvenir to commemorate this unique Belmont summer—but wouldn’t it be more fun to find one? Saratoga Hidden Horseshoes, a city-wide, summer-long scavenger hunt that features 300 horseshoes worn by Saratoga racehorses hidden around the Spa City, is back for its second season.
“We knew people would like it,” says Saratoga Hidden Horseshoes co-creator Jenn Cleason, who drew inspiration from a similar initiative involving hand-blown glass orbs on Block Island. “But we never thought the community would embrace it to the level that it did. Some people were disabled, and this was their first time getting back out walking. Some people commented that this is a great bonding activity to do with their grandkids. There are little kid pictures, there are parents and their kids, there are girly getaways. It’s multi-generational.”
Indeed, last year, hundreds of horseshoe hunters took to the city’s parks and trails in search of a hidden treasure, sharing a photo with the organizers to post on social media when they found one. The luckiest hunters found one of the 30 horseshoes that had been decorated by a local artist, and one fortunate local man went home (with much fanfare and a spot on Channel 10) with the golden horseshoe, which was dipped in real 18K plated gold by artist Frankie Flores and valued at $3,000.
The 2024 hunt, which kicked off just before Earth Day and runs through Labor Day, is much the same, featuring 270 regular horseshoes, 30 decorated horseshoes and one “horseshoe of the year,” all of which will be hidden periodically throughout the summer. While you’ll have to wait until June to search for the horseshoe of the year—this year it’s a giant shoe of King Tut, a Saratoga police quarter horse that passed away last fall—you can start looking for one of two Belmont-themed horseshoes now. Happy hunting!
For more information, including a list of horseshoe hunting locations, visit saratogahiddenhorseshoes.com.
