He told me it was tradition to spend the day at Delaware Park but, I have to admit, I really didn’t know if I was ready to spend the day watching harness racing: to some, the minor leagues of the horse racing world.

During my second year in Delaware, a co-worker and new friend invited me to his birthday party the first weekend in October. Sure, I was only 90 minutes away from Pimlico, but a new track in a new city just didn’t have the same ambitious appeal. And of course, finishing the evening off by roaming Caroline Street and enjoying cocktails and banter on the patio at Gaffney’s, made Saratgoa one of my favorite places on Earth.Ībout nine years ago, when I landed a teaching job in Delaware, I wondered if my summer visits to Saratoga were going to become more few and far between. There was something intangible about the community of horse racing fans for those six hours of racing that was carefree and welcoming. Sitting in that warm Upstate New York air, shaded by the oak trees, just being a part of all the sights and sounds in this horse racing mecca really made me forget everything else in the world for 12 races. Sure enough, what I later found out was called an ‘exacta box’ hit for $76! I was captivated from the start. We passed the red and white striped awnings and sprinted to the first betting window we could find - where I then picked two horses by only looking at the race numbers and the odds. My college buddy and I paid our two dollars at the gate and pushed through the crowd, towing our folding chairs and cooler along.

While walking up Union Avenue, we heard the 'call to post' for the day’s first race. I can still remember so vividly, that warm August afternoon many years ago.

Delaware casino park horse racing