This past weekend I headed out to Saratoga Springs, NY to spend some time with my family out there. I hadn't seen them in over a year and hadn't been to Saratoga in even longer. I figured a weekend of some gambling, some drinking and some family would be a nice little get away for me.
The big thing about this weekend in Saratoga was it was the weekend for The Travers Stakes, which is one of the biggest races of the season at Saratoga. This meant it was going to be a packed house in the area.
Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense was one of the horses running this year. My family I was going to visit happen to be friends with his trainer, so it made for a much more interesting weekend.
Friday night was filled was some drinking around the some of the bars around Saratoga, including MARE, Gaffneys and the Tavern. Was a good time spent with my cousin and a bunch of his friends (two of whom actually live around the corner from me).
After a late start and some breakfast on Saturday morning, mimosas started flowing around 1. Due to the excessive heat, the part eventually moved to a friend's house (mansion may be a better word) for some more drinking and some cooling off. We finally arrived at the track between the 8th and the 9th races. We watched the 8th race and then headed over to the Paddock. The Paddock is where they saddle up the horses right before the race. This is very much a VIP privilege, so it was very cool getting to be in there. As we were leaving the paddock, my mom called to tell me that we had all been on TV :) We watched Street Sense get ready and then headed towards the track.
Next, we watched the race:
What a race! After the race ended, we headed down to the Winner's Circle. Sadly, we were not in the winner's circle picture (we were like the next few people to the left of the picture). But it was rather cool to cheer on the winner. After the winner's circle, we headed to the Saratoga room for the after party with champagne and hors d’œuvre.
At this point we were all hurting pretty bad, so we headed to a local establishment to get some food in to us before another night of partying :) We once again headed to MARE, but this time, we ended up there all night (it was after 3AM when we left). Good times with lots of interesting people.
Sunday was breakfast and some shopping (and maybe a couple of drinks). I finally hit the road after 5PM (not what I had planned). Got home around 8:30 and was in my bed before 10.
Overall, a great weekend doing some real cool stuff.
One of the possibilities of another race for Street Sense is here at Suffolk Downs. Hmmm, could make for some fun! :)
