Saturday’s “Mid-Summer Derby” drew passionate racing fans to Saratoga Race Course who were eager to see history made.
Saratoga Race Course’s gates opened at 9 a.m. for 14 races including the Travers Stakes. The packed day drew crowds upwards of 47,000 to the “summer place to be.”
Joe O’Neill and Tim Daly were turning heads on their annual trip dressed in purple and green jockeys’ silks.
“We have a friend that dresses up in a $5,000 suit every year and he’s single and the chicks—he thinks he’s a chick-magnet. So, we just kind of do it to mock him a little bit,” said O’Neill.
“So we did the same with $50 outfits,” added Daly.
After making the rounds and taking pictures with any interested onlookers, they’ve got the rest of their day planned out.
“Sandwiches, beers, and hopefully some winners,” said O’Neill.
“I’m going for a 10-mile jog in a little bit, but after that, the day’s wide open,” joked Daly.
For all the revelry there’s also a somber note hanging over the day. It’s the first Travers Stakes without local philanthropist and pillar of the Saratoga Springs’ racing scene John Hendrickson. He died days earlier at age 59.
Mark Tassone credits Hendrickson, chair of the nearby Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and his late wife Marylou Whitney with the current success of Saratoga Race Course.
“He was a big loss to the community; he did a lot for the back stretch, he did a lot for the community in a whole. It’s definitely going to be hard to regroup from that. The Whitney is never going to be the same again. It’ll never be the same, but it’ll rebound. Somebody’s going to have to step up, and I don’t know who that is, but somebody’s going to have to,” said Tassone.
There’s significant buzz around the marquee race. The filly Thorpedo Anna is running against the colts, and her fans have shown up in droves.
Jane Trychon and her friends are all dressed in pink.
“I don't have any doubt that she could definitely beat the boys I mean that's the kind of woman I am and she's a great racehorse and quite frankly I would be delighted if she did but, you know, there's so many good horses in that race it's hard to make that decision. You know what I do? I look at them when they come out from the paddock and they make their parade down and stuff like that. Whoever looks the best is who I end up going with. But I'd bet she's going to look better than any of them just because she's a girl, just because she’s a filly,” said Trychon.
Mark Lewis and his family are also in pink and flew in two days ago from Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
“Well this is my wife’s bucket list trip, she’s sitting right over here and she wanted to come and see Saratoga. I wanted to come and see Thorpedo Anna who we saw at Oaklawn and at the Kentucky Derby and now flew out here with our granddaughter Anna Lewis, who met Thorpedo Anna this morning at Kenny McPeek’s barn. And we’re ready,” said Lewis.
The filly’s fans went home disappointed — Thorpedo Anna came in second by a neck. Had she won, she would have been the first filly to win the Travers since 1915. She was beat out by Jim Dandy winner Fierceness.
Morning-line favorite Dornoch, who won the first Belmont Stakes held at Saratoga in June, was fourth, behind Sierra Leone.
Fierceness owner Mike Repole said trainer Todd Pletcher was determined to snap Fierceness’ streak of winning every other start.
“[Pletcher] said, ‘if he doesn’t run well tomorrow I kind of give up.’ [Pletcher] just wouldn’t believe it because he was training so good, looking so good. But the time and energy he puts into all the horses, but this horse was like an enigma to him. Like, ‘I can’t figure out why this odd and even stuff.’ And [Pletcher] said he was training great, eating great, looking great, and, listen, I’ll be honest with you when he’s nervous it’s easy for me because I let him worry about that stuff,” said Repole.
By the end of the day, the New York Racing Association said all-sources handle exceeded $63 million, beating the previous Travers Day record of $55 million set in 2022.
The 40-day meet wraps up on Labor Day.