The head of the New York Racing Association is acknowledging a number of challenges facing the beleaguered horse racing industry. But during a public conversation Wednesday, the focus was also on an influx of millions of dollars coming to the Saratoga Springs economy the next two Junes.
NYRA CEO David O’Rourke and Todd Shimkus, head of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, sat down in the auditorium of Universal Preservation Hall crowded with local racing fans and Saratoga Springs business owners.
O’Rourke opened the hour-long conversation by addressing the elephant in the room.
“In terms of Saratoga, in the 16 years I’ve been there, the growth has been phenomenal. The growth of whether it’s the track, the IP of the track on media, and then watching the town it’s actually an incredible evolution to where we are today where it was a literal no-brainer where to throw the Belmont if it was accepted up here. This has happened before in the past, in the 60s, and it was down in New York and I guess it was a no-brainer at that time. But we’re excited, we’ve got a long going on, we’ve got a big event coming up here in June and we’ve got a lot of progress going downstate,” explained O’Rourke.
The third leg of the Triple Crown is coming to The Spa for a four-day festival in 2024 and 2025 as its home track is renovated.
This year’s Belmont Stakes will be held June 8th, weeks before the typical start date of Saratoga’s 40-day season. O’Rourke says he’s confident it’ll be a success.
“The interesting part will be breaking it down and then coming back. But it’ll be slightly different, you’re opening up Whitney or Travers weekend right away. So, the margin of error is obviously smaller. But we’ve had plenty of time to plan. Ticket sales have obviously gone well, and now it’s time to execute,” said O’Rourke.
Tickets for the marquee day sold out within a week, meeting the venue’s 50,000 capacity, and O’Rourke says NYRA is expecting at least 30,000 attendees for the other three days.
O’Rourke says Saratoga Race Course is vital to completing the $455 million renovations to the downstate Belmont track.
“The ability to leverage Saratoga during this period of reconstruction, it’s invaluable, really, to the continuity of the racing program. And the ability to have—these are all marquee races. The entire weekend’s stacked with stakes races, really important ones that lead into our Saratoga meet,” said O’Rourke.
O’Rourke chairs a NYRA committee that is looking into the impact of various racing surfaces on horse injury rates following a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority report that outlined recommendations after more than a dozen fatalities last summer.
O’Rourke says he’s confident in the safety of NYRA’s tracks, but different surfaces may be appropriate at a course like Saratoga where rain poses risks.
“Question would be up here, you know, we’ve got two turf courses and a dirt track, could you put in a synthetic? You could. You could widen one of the turfs and we’ll have some engineering studies to look into what that’ll look like. When you’re dealing with horses and their care, you want to really take a methodical approach on changing anything,” explained O’Rourke.
O’Rourke is optimistic that the committee’s report will come shortly after the Test of the Champions is run in Saratoga Springs.
O’Rourke says all he wants is a successful, safe Belmont festival.
“The race is going to be the race, and who wins will win. I could sit here and say ‘oh, I want a Triple Crown,’ but I just want a sunny day and a bunch of people having fun. And when you’re kind of hosting a party, in the sense, that’s the best gratification you can have. We’ve all done it, this is just doing it on kind of a different scale,” said O’Rourke.
The chamber is anticipating a $50 million impact in Saratoga and surrounding counties.
