A different kind of summer set for Saratoga
After 38 years, the streak is going to end. For the first time since 1981, Jack Knowlton won't be attending opening day at Saratoga Race Course.
No one will. An annual rite of summer in these parts is the start of the wildly popular season of thoroughbred racing at this oasis in Saratoga Springs. This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the public is not allowed in.
Forty days of the best racing in the country, maybe in the world, is what journalists and fans alike see year after year. Saratoga is one of the few places in the country where people flock from points north, south, east and west — and beyond — to experience the Spa. Men in suits and ties and women in dresses and elegant hats occupy the box seats.
Out in the backyard, the picnic crowd — those in Flip-Flops, T-shirts and shorts — are as much a part of the Saratoga landscape as those who reside in the clubhouse.