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Located in Saratoga Springs, New York, the Saratoga Casino and Raceway, which was once known as Saratoga Harness, is a standardbred race track and racino that spans a distance of exactly half a mile. There is a difference between the traditional Saratoga thoroughbred race course and the Saratoga Casino and Raceway. The race track and backstretch stables of the former are located directly across the street from the Saratoga Harness.
Saratoga Harness History
Known as Saratoga Harness at the time, 4,048 spectators witnessed the inaugural race program on June 26, 1941, which is when Saratoga Casino and Raceway initially opened.
With respect to pari-mutuel harness racing, Saratoga Harness is the third-oldest harness track in history and the first ever built for that purpose. The only racetracks in existence when harness racing started in Saratoga were the now-closed Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, Long Island, and Batavia Downs in Batavia, New York.
The harness racing industry flourished alongside Saratoga Harness. Saratoga Harness held 26 racing programs in 1941, with wagers from race spectators averaging $27,050 per program. As harness racing grew in prominence, so did the attendance and handle each year. With the exception of 1943, when World War II forced the cancellation of racing, Saratoga Harness racing had unmatched expansion. From $9.5 million in 1950 to $17.2 million in 1960 to an even more remarkable $45.7 million in 1970, the total handle increased. From ninety racing programs in 1950 to triple digits in 1960 and nearly 200 in 1970, the number of racing programs skyrocketed.
The facility expanded along with harness racing. The clubhouse and mezzanine area were extensively expanded, and the track’s lighting was upgraded in 1965 as part of ongoing renovations to the site.
With Grand Circuit racing, Saratoga Harness drew the best standardbreds in the nation, significantly elevating the caliber of racing. Saratoga Harness became renowned as the fastest half-mile track in the world when Darn Safe, a trotter, broke the two-minute mark on a half-mile track in 1957 with a time of 1:59.4 and Laverne Hanover, a two-year-old, did the same with a time of 1:59.4. On September 6, 1969, Nevele Pride visited the Spa oval and ran the fastest mile in the annals of half-mile racing, clocking in at 1:56.4. That afternoon, Nevele Pride’s legacy would endure until 1988, when Mack Lobell won a Breeders Crown event at Saratoga Harness in 1:56 for John Campbell. Hall of Famer Stanley Dancer was not having any of it.
At the fastest half-mile track in the world, spectatorship only grew faster. On June 30, 1971, Saratoga Harness celebrated its 30th anniversary, drawing a record 14,200 attendees for the event.
Through the 1970s, Saratoga Harness hosted Grand Circuit races, attracting the top two and three-year-old horses to the Spa oval to try their hand at the substantial payouts and the distinction of running in a Grand Circuit race.
While handling peaked in 1981 with $46,329,738 going through the tote machines, overall attendance peaked in 1970 with 730,283 fans attending 193 racing sessions.
Business at Saratoga Harness started to fall in 1973 with the introduction of off-track betting. In response, the track extended its racing season to year-round competition in 1978 with the introduction of winter harness racing.
The track added daily harness and thoroughbred racing simulcasting as attendance and handling continued to drop in the 1980s and 90s. In the 1990s, Saratoga Harness broadened the range of its operations to include holding sizable concerts, car events, and craft fairs.
Saratoga Equine Sports Center was the new name for Saratoga Harness in 1998. The moniker matched other horse-related activities held at the 190-acre complex.
The Lodge Field held the New York State Barrel Racing Championships, the Classic Carriage Competition, and local hunter-jumper exhibitions in August in addition to high goal polo competitions.
The New York State Legislature approved a measure permitting video gaming at racetracks in the state in November of 2002. In February 2003, the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors decided to approve video gaming, with the exception of Saratoga Gaming and Raceway. Saratoga Equine Sports Center soon changed its name to Saratoga Gaming and Raceway, becoming the first `racino’ to open in the state of New York. When the facility opened on January 28, 2004, more than 10,000 people came through.
The 45,000 square foot expansion of Saratoga Gaming and Raceway opened on May 1, 2007, increasing the total number of gaming machines to 1700. The most recent extension includes the Garden Buffet, which seats over 400 people and offers lunch and dinner, and Vapor, a two-story nightclub with a Vegas-style design.
2011 is Saratoga Gaming and Raceway’s seventh year of business. Saratoga Gaming and Raceway announced this event included a name change to Saratoga Casino and Raceway as well as an expansion of their hours starting on Monday, January 3.
At Saratoga Casino and Raceway, there are additional food and drink options such as Fortunes, a tiered dining room with approximately 350 seats that overlooks live harness racing, Lucky Joe’s, three bars, and a deli located in the mezzanine.
There are three entrances to Saratoga Casino and Raceway: the main entrance on Jefferson Street, which is home to the Saratoga Harness Hall of Fame; a secondary entrance on Crescent Avenue; and a third entry on Nelson Avenue, which is located just north of Crescent Avenue’s intersection. The southeast corner of Saratoga Springs is home to the Casino and Raceway. Originally established in 1941 as a harness racing track, the venue underwent expansion in 2004 to incorporate video lottery gaming terminals, or VLTs as they are formally known.
In U.S. standardbred races, horses typically go two laps on the 1/2-mile oval track to cover the 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) distance. Owing to the infield’s greenery and rustic atmosphere, the track has earned the title of “The most beautiful 1/2-mile track in the country.” There had been talk for a while about expanding the track to a 5/8-mile oval, but it never materialized, and in the previous five years, there has been no new discussion regarding this topic.
When racing is taking place on the oval outdoors, all wagering takes place inside the clubhouse, which remains unaltered. Particularly in the past ten years, the grandstand has seen numerous alterations. The café, enclosed stands, and simulcast wagering are located on the second floor. The more than 1,700 video lottery terminals, or VLTs for short, are located on the first floor. The majority of them take the shape of video slots, but there are also other kinds of video games including keno, poker, roulette, and craps. A centralized computer system—in this example, the New York Lottery—predetermines the results of lottery scratch play tickets for each play, with the exception of craps and roulette, where the results are random and not based on past occurrences. Every machine uses a voucher system in which the customer inserts cash or a ticket. All rewards are made in the form of printed vouchers that may be used to pay for purchases at other machines or by turning them into the cashier cage.
In addition, a bar, a buffet-style restaurant, a nightclub, and a food court called Lucky Joe’s are located on the first floor.
Throughout its 70-year existence, Saratoga Casino and Raceway has gone by a number of names. When it debuted in 1941 as a venue for American harness racing, the track—originally known simply as Saratoga Raceway—became the third to provide pari-mutuel betting. As per the historical accounts, the legend surrounding Saratoga harness racing originated with a fictitious race between two horses, Moscow and Lady Suffolk (also known as The Old Gray Mare).
Thousands of people would come watch the races at their peak and support the horses. The half-mile venue would host grand-circuit racing, drawing some of the biggest names in racing at the time. The track gained notoriety in the early 1980s when Niatross lost his first race ever after collapsing and landing on the inner rail during the stretch run home. However, the economy and the introduction of off-track betting brought to bad times for Raceway racing. In order to maintain its will to push additional equestrian-related events at the site, Saratoga Raceway’s administration renamed it Saratoga Equine Sports Center in the 1990s. However, the sport did not see a spike in interest after the name change. In the worst case scenario, bringing a nine-race card would require simulcasting races from other state tracks on the track’s programming.
Everything began to change in 2001 when lawmakers in New York State passed a bill authorizing the installation of VLTs at a number of the state’s racetracks. The installation of the terminals at Saratoga Raceway was approved by Saratoga County officials at the beginning of 2002. The ground level of the grandstand underwent renovations for the 2003 racing season, changing from the racing facility to the gaming floor it is now. Consequently, race fans could see the horses run from the grandstand’s second level or the clubhouse. Thousands of people flocked to Saratoga Raceway on January 28, 2004, to celebrate the start of a new era in racing. The Raceway was the first in New York to offer video lottery games to the general public.
The Saratoga Equine Sports Center changed its name to Saratoga Gaming and Raceway in 2004 to reflect the addition of new video lottery games. This name change lasted until the beginning of 2011, when the facility changed again to Saratoga Casino and Raceway to reflect the addition of electronic table games and an expansion of the racino’s gaming options.
At the racing side of the complex, the racino’s impacts were immediately apparent. The number of purses started to rise quickly. Horses competing in the top division, the “Winners over $5,000 Lifetime” criteria, were up for almost $4,500 in purse money before the VLTs. The top division’s horses now fight for about $16,000 in purse money when they run in the “Open Handicap”. Horses that competed in the $2,500 claim class, the lowest class available, earned $1,100 in purse money. The lowest condition is available right now for $3,200.
In addition, the racino measure made it possible for Saratoga Casino and Raceway to host the New York Sire Stakes Night of Champions in 2005 and 2006, when Yonkers Raceway was undergoing renovations to make room for video slots. With more than $1 million up for grabs, Saratoga Casino & Raceway offered the largest single-day purse payouts over the course of the two evenings. On October 1, 2011, the New York Sire Stakes Night of Champions made a third visit to the racino.
August’s Joe Gerrity Jr. Pacing Series is Saratoga Casino and Raceway’s biggest race of the year. Up until 2013, the series had four legs. It is currently $275,000 for a single dash. August 17, 2013, is the day of the sixth annual Joe Gerrity, Jr. Memorial.
The parent corporation of the racetrack, Saratoga Harness Racing, agreed to pay $28 million to purchase Fitzgeralds Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado, in May 2012. With intentions to rename the facility as Saratoga Casino Black Hawk and invest $40 million in expansion, the sale finalized in January 2013.
Saratoga Springs’s inaugural horse race was a harness race between Moscow and Lady Suffolk, often known as The Old Gray Mare. Saratoga Springs was certain to become a leading horse racing destination ever since that day. With humility, harness racing describes itself as a people’s sport. Played in county fairs around the country, this game has a rustic vibe to it.
Off Track Betting Guides
Get your off track betting action at Saratoga Harness, one of the many available horse racing tracks at YouWager.lv’s racebook.