© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

Saratoga Race Course Breaks Attendance Record In 2016

Lucas Willard
/
WAMC

Saratoga Race Course was as busy as ever this year. The 40-day summer meet that ran from late July until Labor Day drew more than 1.1 million paid visitors, breaking last year’s number by more than 5 percent.

The 2015 racing season was energized after American Pharoah took the Triple Crown for the first time in 37 years. Pharoah’s defeat at the Travers was broadcast globally.

The 2016 meet was highlighted by appearances by major thoroughbreds like Frosted and two victories by up-and-coming champion Songbird. During this year’s Mid-Summer Derby, Arrogate set a new Travers record.

This year’s meet kept up the pace with all-sources handle totaling more than $647 million, which the New York Racing Association calls “virtually flat” with last year’s handle that broke the previous record by 10 percent.

The good news comes after a meet that had part of a Saturday race card cancelled for the first time in history as well as stormy weather on three Sundays. In all there were five fewer races than last year.

NYRA President and CEO Chris Kay said in a statement that the track’s successful summer is due to the “confidence that our fans and horseplayers have in our ability to deliver a reliable and consistent product of world-class thoroughbred racing and great entertainment.”

NYRA this year invested in a new simulcasting service carried on national television as well as a new online betting platform.

Todd Shimkus, President of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, which worked with the city, county, and NYRA to promote the race track throughout the Northeast, said the Chamber’s yearly Final Stretch Festival had more visitors than years past.

“And in past years, generally on Sunday we’ve been able to tell the bands to pack up at 10 o’clock. We extended it to 11 p.m. because we had so many people downtown, even on Sunday night. I think that was emblematic of what has happened all summer, particularly in August,” said Shimkus.

And there may be a simpler explanation.

“Quite frankly, we’ve been lucky for two years in a row having really, really, really incredible weather,” said Shimkus.

The amount of visitors to the Spa City held strong even without last year’s Centennial Celebration.

Mayor Joanne Yepsen said the marketing strategies and cooperation over the last few years have encouraged visitors to come to the Spa City…and return.

“The race track is a huge attraction and it is clearly our number one economic engine. But when they get here or they’re coming here for other reasons: the arts; to go to Skidmore College events; to shop downtown; to come to a convention; it really leaves a lasting impression and they come back,” said Yepsen.

With the next meet only 10-and-a-half months away, now the focus shifts to the political battle over re-privatizing NYRA.

Lucas Willard is a reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011.
Related Content