Courtesy NYRA
By Paul Post
Spa City merchants say track season is like having a second Christmas time because of all the extra business it generates.
Now they’re gearing up for yet another huge windfall with the announcement that Saratoga Race Course will host the June 6-9 Belmont Stakes Festival, which is expected to have a direct $37 million economic impact and generate untold future tourism by creating worldwide media exposure for one of thoroughbred racing’s most historic events.
The third leg of racing’s Triple Crown is moving upstate because of ongoing construction and renovations at Belmont Park in Queens. “That it gives us the opportunity to really showcase our area to people who have never been here before,” said Deanna Devitt, president of the 200-member Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association.
And excitement surrounding the Belmont Festival is expected to generate momentum and boost attendance for the regular, 40-day racecourse season that begins on Thursday, July 11.
“Just very, very excited for this opportunity. We can’t wait,” said Marianne Barker of Impressions of Saratoga, a popular Broadway gift and souvenir shop.
Local business leaders have already begun meeting to make sure Saratoga gets the biggest bang for its buck from this unprecedented opportunity, which Saratoga Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus has likened to the Super Bowl.
“Economically, the reality is that people spend money where they stay and because we cannot accommodate everyone in Saratoga Springs, we will have people staying and spending money in Malta, Clifton Park, Moreau, Glens Falls, Albany, Lake George and Schenectady,” Shimkus said.
The Belmont Stakes attendance record of 120,139 was set in 2004 when Marylou Whitney’s horse, Birdstone, upset Smarty Jones. Birdstone was trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito whose horse, Da’Tara, won the 2008 Belmont, too.
The 2024 Belmont Stakes will have a $2 millin purse, but its length will be reduced from 1.5 miles to 1-¼ miles because of the Saratoga track’s smaller size, and crowds will be capped at 50,000 people.
Rachel Boggan, of Saratoga Arms Hotel, said, “We’ve been fielding interest about these dates for quite some time, had a list of some guests who’ve been ready and waiting in the wings for the official announcement.”
On Travers Stakes Weekend, in late August, many people stay downtown on Friday and Sunday, but spend all day Saturday at the track, Shimkus said.
“It’s our job to try to keep people downtown,” Devitt said. “We’re working on trying to get watch parties and different activities during the actual races. A group of us are going to brainstorm, working as a united front on media exposure here in town and countywide, to showcase everything the best we can. We have a lot of planning to do in a short amount of time. It’s going to be awesome.”
Devitt said that she and Shimkus, Saratoga Economic Development Corp. President Greg Connors and Discover Saratoga (Convention and Tourism Bureau) President Darryl Leggieri will be working with New York Racing Association to plan for and promote the Belmont Festival.
In addition to local businesses, the festival could shine media exposure on the Saratoga area’s arts, cultural and historic attractions, open spaces and state parks, furthering enhancing future tourism, Shimkus said.
“No doubt, more people will watch the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on television and online versus in-person, so we’re working to make sure that media from around the world showcases our community so people watching at home, wherever that is,decide they want to visit Saratoga one day in person,” he said.
In 2023, Saratoga Race Course had an average daily attendance of about 27,000. The four-day Belmont festival is expected to feature more than 40 races including 23 stakes races with purses totaling $9.7 million.
New York-bred Tiz The Law, owned by Saratoga Springs-based Sackatoga Stable, won the 2020 Belmont Stakes and Travers. Managing Partner Jack Knowlton said crowds on Thursday, Friday and Sunday of the festival will be much larger in Saratoga than they would be at Belmont Park.
“It’s going to be a huge national and international story for four days,” he said. “People all over the country are going to be betting Saratoga, just like they do in the summertime. There will likely be some European horses in turf races and you might see a Japanese horse in the Belmont.”
Sackatoga Stable has 10 horses, each one owned by a syndicate of multiple investors totaling 114 different people. “Hopefully the condition book will work so we can have our people come and have their horses participate in this four-day racing festival,” Knowlton said. “Saratoga is really the big time for Sackatoga and our partners from all over the country to come in and see their horses. We’ll be able to do a couple of social events around this four-day meet. It’s a big boost for racing.”
Prior to the Belmont festival, the regular Belmont spring and early-summer meet will be held at Aqueduct Race Track and return there after the festival. The Belmont fall meet will again be shifted to Aqueduct in 2024 while construction of a new Belmont Park continues.
Normally, trainers that race in Florida during the winter ship horses north to Belmont in April and May for the spring and early-summer meet there. This year, some trainers might ship directly to Saratoga and keep horses here longer, which would benefit local farms and businesses that provide feed and hay.
“It should be the best summer of all time for businesses in Saratoga Springs,” said Patrick McKenna, NYRA vice president for communications.