The Travers

[alhattab]

Originally Posted by SmartyParty

This is great advice and I'm coming! I've been to Saratoga twice for the Whitney, but the Travers has been on my Bucket List for years. When and how can I get tickets? Thanks, everyone. I always get such good help on this forum!

The crowds aren't that bad. The announced attendance is usually 45k or so, but my experience has been that once you get past the maniacs at 7am it is a fairly late-arriving crowd. I think the first few hours will feel like Whitney Day to you. What do you typically do for the Whitney? You come in from out of town I guess so you don't have chairs, etc.? I'd say whatever you do for the Whitney do for the Travers, just do it 2-3 hours earlier, unless it involves getting a picnic table, which you won't be able to do unless you pay in advance.

[Redboard]

I would not recommend going unless you have clubhouse or grandstand seats secured. Any other day it’s ok to get general admission, bring a chair and hang around the grounds. You may be able to get tickets from a hawker outside the gate, but I wouldn’t count on it.

It’s going to be crowded, but whether it’s crazy crowded depends on the weather and quality of the field. You can always get general admission- that doesn’t sell out - but all of the seats in the clubhouse/grandstand are sold out ahead of time. So you have to get Travers tickets on the secondary market like stubhub. The only way to buy tickets directly from NYRA is if you buy a ticket “package” which includes other Saratoga race days:

http://www.nyra.com/saratoga/information/tickets/

I see that they haven’t settled on the format of this year’s packages yet, but with Gordon Gekko now in charge, I’m sure it won’t be cheap.

It’s been awhile since I bought a package because I usually ended up throwing away the other tickets, so I’ve been using stubhub the last several years.
Good luck.

[SmartyParty]

Yes, it's sounding more and more like I'll want a seat. So I hadn't even thought of StubHub. How soon do they go on sale?

[Saratoga_Mike]

Originally Posted by SmartyParty

Yes, it's sounding more and more like I'll want a seat. So I hadn't even thought of StubHub. How soon do they go on sale?

Arrive around 8 am on Travers Day. There will be an older gentleman at the reserved ticket area. You can purchase seats from him, and you'll get a better deal than on Stubhub. He purchases unwanted seats from a large number of people and always offers a fair deal to customers.

Or just buy tickets when they go on sale later this month - link provided twice now.

[Bettowin]

I was reluctant and rented a house with a bunch of other fans half or more I had never met thinking this would be a learning experience. Saratoga isn't just the track and the races it's an experience. The days before the big day we just got in and explored everything including a sunrise tour for all the tracks and shedrows by a very accomading trainer with a pink golf cart On Travers day I actually bought tickets on CL thinking I would need a place to sit. Yes maybe but there is nothing fancy about great seats at Saratoga. You just box yourself into a fixed position and a place to call home. No telling who you will run into in those seats.

So much like a State Fair experience with world class horseracing.

Overall great experience. If you don't go you will have to explain why to your maker

[burnsy]

As I walk outside with snow up to my asshole and 12 to 18 inches more coming today through tomorrow......I long for a long summer day in July or August. Don't worry about seats, you can be on top of the action just by wondering around. The paddock area is actually more interesting if you like horses and racing. A seat will just be your home base like Bettowin said. I actually get bored if I sit there all day, there is so much going on outside. When you pass through the admission gate on a fine summer day its like getting into a time machine. The only thing that's made me miss a Travers day in the last 37 years is the US Navy and later in life my health. You want to get here earlier in the week or stay after the Travers so you can get a couple of Saratoga days to yourself, so to speak. Don't get caught up worrying about seats......just get your ass up here..........for more than one day in case of weather.............you will never regret it if you love horse racing. You will be forever sorry if you don't. Its a great place and Travers Day is better than most of the big days at any other track. Its crowded but 40 to 50k is not like some of the other fiascos I've been to.

[098poi]

Originally Posted by burnsy

As I walk outside with snow up to my asshole and 12 to 18 inches more coming today through tomorrow......I long for a long summer day in July or August. Don't worry about seats, you can be on top of the action just by wondering around. The paddock area is actually more interesting if you like horses and racing. A seat will just be your home base like Bettowin said. I actually get bored if I sit there all day, there is so much going on outside. When you pass through the admission gate on a fine summer day its like getting into a time machine. The only thing that's made me miss a Travers day in the last 37 years is the US Navy and later in life my health. You want to get here earlier in the week or stay after the Travers so you can get a couple of Saratoga days to yourself, so to speak. Don't get caught up worrying about seats......just get your ass up here..........for more than one day in case of weather.............you will never regret it if you love horse racing. You will be forever sorry if you don't. Its a great place and Travers Day is better than most of the big days at any other track. Its crowded but 40 to 50k is not like some of the other fiascos I've been to.

I'm with you on that!

[SmartyParty]

Ok, I'm convinced! Making my flight reservations now! Here I come, seat or no seat! Thanks, everybody!

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by burnsy

As I walk outside with snow up to my asshole and 12 to 18 inches more coming today through tomorrow......I long for a long summer day in July or August. Don't worry about seats, you can be on top of the action just by wondering around. The paddock area is actually more interesting if you like horses and racing. A seat will just be your home base like Bettowin said. I actually get bored if I sit there all day, there is so much going on outside. When you pass through the admission gate on a fine summer day its like getting into a time machine. The only thing that's made me miss a Travers day in the last 37 years is the US Navy and later in life my health. You want to get here earlier in the week or stay after the Travers so you can get a couple of Saratoga days to yourself, so to speak. Don't get caught up worrying about seats......just get your ass up here..........for more than one day in case of weather.............you will never regret it if you love horse racing. You will be forever sorry if you don't. Its a great place and Travers Day is better than most of the big days at any other track. Its crowded but 40 to 50k is not like some of the other fiascos I've been to.

"As I walk outside with snow up to my asshole and 12 to 18 inches more coming today through tomorrow"
Written with all the edginess of a true New Yorker.....Love it!
Oh, I meet people from Upstate who've made their move to here ( NC). The most common response as to why they headed south...." the weather"..
Then 15 minutes of why they hate it here. Most common response...."Ya can't get good ..Bread, pizza, deli's"..."There's no decent restaurants"..
The other day I was in a grocery store( one of the rare occasions I go with the wife). We stop to get cold cuts at the deli counter. And there was a guy and his wife looking at the selection of Boar's head Provisions...Which are shipped down from the Northeast....
The guy says.....Cheezus Christ...Look a the fookin price a da Booah's head....Classic thick as diesel exhaust accent right out of Canarsie Brooklyn USA....I laughed so hard I think I made the guy mad....
Anyway, I digress.
It's really quite comical