Opening Weekend at Saratoga

[mdlax84]

Hi, I will be going up to Saratoga for opening weekend. I'm going to be getting in on Friday evening and leaving on Sunday evening (after the races)...I was wondering if any of you guys who have been in the past could give me your ideas as far as a good itinerary to use for the weekend. I'm obviously going to attend the races on both Saturday and Sunday but outside of that am open to suggestions and kind of clueless as to what to do. I'm in my 20's and will be going with my buddy who is also in his late 20's. Thanks in advance for the help!

[Tom]

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29389

[offtrack]

Help us out here a little- are you staying in town? Are you looking for racing related things to do, or guys running around town stuff to do ?

[Suff]

Hi, I will be going up to Saratoga for opening weekend. I'm going to be getting in on Friday evening and leaving on Sunday evening (after the races)...I was wondering if any of you guys who have been in the past could give me your ideas as far as a good itinerary to use for the weekend. I'm obviously going to attend the races on both Saturday and Sunday but outside of that am open to suggestions and kind of clueless as to what to do. I'm in my 20's and will be going with my buddy who is also in his late 20's. Thanks in advance for the help!

what do you want to do?

Eat, drink , gamble and chase skirts...correct?

Easy breezey japanesey. Go downtown... its like a mini-mardi gras.

If you never been I can imagine your thinking...... what else is there to do?....and so forth...

Well worry not... simply follow the crowds. People are literally dancing in the streets over a 4 block area downtown. About 1/2 mile from the track..
They go until 4 in the AM,,,,

[mdlax84]

Yeah, I have never been before. Basically I think what we would like to do is get in town on Friday night, get a nice steak/seafood dinner (what places are recomended...do i need reservations etc?) and relax...Maybe wake up early on Saturday and do breakfast at the track or isn't there a handicapping breakfast at a restaurant? Do I need reservations for that? Then we'll be at the races all day on Saturday and then go out on Saturday night. What are the hot spots to hit for guys in their 20's on a Saturday night in Saratoga?

Is there anything worth doing outside of drinking, eating and gambling at the track? I would have probably liked to golf but I know if we go out hard on Saturday night I'm not gonna want to wake up in time to do it on Sunday...

Thanks for the suggestions so far...I'm just looking for a little more specifics...

[mdlax84]

Sorry, someone had asked earlier where we were staying and I never answered that in the previous post...We are staying both nights at "The Saratoga." I gather it used to be called "The Prime"....

[offtrack]

Your hotel is in a prime location.You could park the car Friday, and forget about it till you check out.
The Old Bryan Inn is at the other end of your hotels parking lot. Solid food at local prices, good bloody mary drinks at the small bar.

The morning workouts are free, open at 7:00AM. Breakfast on the "porch" is buffet, and only good for the atmosphere.
Bring your own snack from Drunkin Donuts and sit behind the clockers on the first level. Watch all the trainers and owners as their charges workout. Mary Ryan over the public address system will point out stakes horses on the track.

Get seats for the days races if you want them; or get to the track early and save one of the few seats available; or bring a carry along a folding chair and sit under a tree in the grandstand .

When in Saratoga- Don't drink and drive, or pee in the alley ways.

From your hotel's website:

Skidmore College (0.7 mi.)
The Saratoga Experience (1 mi.)
Regent Street Antique Center (1 mi.)
The National Museum of Racing & Thoroughbred Hall of Fame (1 mi.)
Saratoga Race Course (NYRA) (1 mi.)
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (1 mi.)
The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College (1 mi.)
Saratoga Equine Sports Center (1.5 mi.)
The Lincoln and Roosevelt Bath Houses (2 mi.)
National Museum & Dance Hall of Fame (2 mi.)
Saratoga Automobile Museum (2 mi.)
Saratoga Spa State Park (2 mi.)
Home Made Theater (2.5 mi.)
Saratoga Spa Golf Club (3 mi.)
Yaddo Artists Retreat (3 mi.)
The Saratoga National Golf Club (3.5 mi.)
Saratoga Battlefield National Historic Park (8 mi.)
Airway Meadows Golf Course (10 mi.)
Kesselring Site (10.5 mi.)
Gore Mountain Ski Area (15 mi.)
Lake George (15 mi.)
Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom (20 mi.)
Kingswood Golf Club (24.5 mi.)

[saratoga guy]

Dinner: As offtrack suggested, the Olde Bryan Inn is nearby your location, and nice. But you won't have trouble locating a good spot to eat in the downtown area. Plenty of places, all within walking distance.

The Grey Gelding is new -- I can't vouch for it personally, but someone I respect said they went recently and it was the best meal they could remember eating in a restaurant. It's right on Broadway -- which is Saratoga's "Main St".

I'm more of a Parting Glass type of person. It's a pub about two blocks off of Broadway with more of a sandwich-type menu. Usually crowded and raucous.

Opening Weekend is also Hat's Off weekend -- and Friday and Saturday night there are music acts performing all along Broadway. Free. That goes from 7-11pm. It's fun to just walk up and down the street and check out the music and the people.

As Suff said, there's plenty of nightlife. It centers on Caroline St, which is a side street going off of Broadway. Take your pick -- plenty of bars and bars with patios that will all have a good crowd.

Breakfast at the track (7-9:30am) is free -- well, free if you don't eat. In other words, you can walk in and watch the workouts (and take the backstretch tour) for free. They serve breakfast -- which you can buy -- but I've never partaken so I can't say how it is. As was suggested, you can bring your own if you would like -- then go upstairs, sit in a box seat, put your feet up and enjoy the horses. A "narrator" fills you in on the on-track action.

The Daily Racing Form seminar is at Siro's, which is right next door to the track. I think that usually kicks off at about 10:30 or 11am. It's outside on their "patio", also free. I think you can get breakfast there as well.

You can also watch the seminar on the local OTB-TV channel (and tune in earlier to see if I can give out some "live" ones on the morning "Handicapper's Report", I'm co-hosting that opening Saturday at 9am).

The National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame is right across Union Avenue from the track. Stop in the morning because -- for some reason I've never understood -- they're closed by the time the races let out.

After the races Siro's patio is also a good spot to hang out. Typically on a Fri and Sat after the races it's pretty packed from after the last race until about 8pm. They have live music every night. (Although, the past year a two it's started to get a challenge for post-race fun from The Horseshoe which is a couple of blocks away but also features a large patio-type setting and live music -- both good spots to "bridge" from races to nightlife).

Golf: The course in the park is usually crowded and a mind-numbing five-hour ordeal. A better suggestion is to head up Route 9N, through Greenfield, to Brookhaven. It's about 20-25 minutes away, a fun course, and not nearly as crowded.

Sunday is a giveaway day at the track -- a free baseball cap with each paid admission while supplies last (they usually stock about 60K of the freebies).

[Ron]

There's no chance I could have said it any better. Nice post.

I usually try to sit in the box labeled "Governor Pataki" during the morning workouts. I wonder if he's gotten any of my notes? ;)

[Ron]

They'll also be a dedicated turnstile on Free Hat Day, as well as every giveaway day, at the East Ave entrance. This turnstile will be "spinner-free" -- you won't get the giveaway but you'll be able to get right in. You can always go back and pay the admission again at a regular turnstile after the first race and get the hat if its still available. Some times the lines get annoying on giveaway days if you're in a hurry to get in.


If you are chair and large cooler free you can always get in the clubhouse entrance fairly quickly too. You can get small coolers in the clubhouse.

[the little guy]

Don't eat at the olde Bryan Inn.

Chez Sophie has relocated in your hotel. It is far and away the best restaurant in the area.

[andicap]

Besides the bars there's a club along Broadway -- can't recall the name, but you'll run into it. Dancing, chicks, etc.

There was a great place we went to last year but I can't remember the name. If Suff or CJ who were there can recall it, there was a big outdoors patio and lots of women. (was it the Parting Shot?)

There is also some live music around downtown and I always liked the Tin n Mint's atmosphere. It's a young crowd at a time of year when college is out (But you'll still see Skidmore co-eds around.). Pool table. And Don Maclean wrote "American Pie" there. Scrawled it out on a napkin while he was drunk. Legend has it the napkin fell out of his pocket and a waitress stuck it back in as he was leaving.

And while Offtrack's list was excellent, I can't recommend you take in Gore Ski Mountain on your weekend. It does snow a lot in Saratoga but the snow-making machines for some reason don't work too well in July.

[Suff]

There's no chance I could have said it any better. Nice post.

I usually try to sit in the box labeled "Governor Pataki" during the morning workouts. I wonder if he's gotten any of my notes? ;)

I sit in George Steinbrenner's, and when possible and no one is looking. I pee.


:lol:

[mdlax84]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their insight! I'm really looking forward to my first weekend at Saratoga!