Opening Weekend Report

On this second dark day of the season, SLAH covers what went down when the track geared up.

While we wouldn’t recommend coming to Saratoga Living After Hours for actual horse racing news and results, tune in this summer for all sorts of Saratoga Race Course Vibe Checks and photos from the track, like this one Samantha Decker snapped on Saturday.

In our recent sneak peek at the annual “The Races!” Issue, which arrived in Saratoga the same day Saratoga Race Course opened, we marveled at how after two COVID-tinged years, this year’s racing season seems utterly normal, but in the best possible way. Looking back on the opening weekend, we certainly stand by that statement—everything was gloriously regular—but that certainly doesn’t mean that we have nothing to report about the four days of festivities that once again made Saratoga the summer place to be. (In case you missed it, these are Saratoga’s summer places not to be.) Here’s everything we saw and heard about on opening weekend, from on- and off-track records to “What are those?!”–worthy shoes and a squeaky-clean worm.