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4 unusual facts about Saratoga Race Course


Kenneth McPeek

Kenny currently races primarily at Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Gulfstream Park and Saratoga, as well as keeping a division at his Magdalena Farm in Lexington.

Liz Whitney Tippett

The house, built in the 1770s, was used as her residence during the racing season at nearby Saratoga Race Course where many of America's horse racing elite gathered each summer.

Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course has several nicknames: The Spa (for the nearby mineral springs), the House of Upsets, and the Graveyard of Champions. Famous race horse Man o' War suffered his only defeat in twenty-one starts while racing at Saratoga Race Course; Secretariat was defeated at Saratoga Race Course by Onion, after winning the Triple Crown; and Gallant Fox had been beaten by the 100-1 longshot Jim Dandy in the 1930 Travers Stakes.

a 1-mile (8-furlong) turf track, known officially as the Mellon Turf Course in honor of the Mellon family, whose members include prominent thoroughbred owner/breeder Paul Mellon and his father Andrew Mellon, a former United States Treasury Secretary; and


American Grand National

From 1959 to 1987 it was run at various courses, including the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York (1971), Fair Hill, Maryland (1972–78), Charlottesville, Virginia (1979–87) over varying distances (1960, 1962, 1968 at 3⅛ miles and from 1979 to 1987 at 2¼ miles).

Breeders' Cup Grand National Steeplechase

The race has been held at Belmont Park, at Saratoga Race Course, and at Morris Park racetracks, as well as the steeplechase meets at Fair Hill, Maryland and Charlottesville, Virginia.

Brian's Time

At age four, Brian's Time raced five times and managed three third place finishes in the grade two Nassau County Handicap at seven furlongs at Belmont Park, the grade two Bernard Baruch Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on the turf at Saratoga Race Course, and the grade one Ben Ali Handicap at Keeneland.

Cafe Prince

The following year Café Prince continued to win and set course records at Fair Hill, Maryland and at the Saratoga Race Course.

Funny Cide Stakes

The Funny Cide Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for horses three-years-old and up bred in New York, approved by the New York State-Bred Registry, and run at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Hail To Reason

Starting in January of his second year, Hail To Reason raced 18 times in nine months, winning nine times and setting a new track record in the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Race Course with jockey Bobby Ussery aboard.

Ian Wilkes

Now a resident of Louisville, Kentucky and training on his own, Wilkes earned his first Grade 1 win with Capt. Candyman Can in the 2009 King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Indian Blessing

Always a front runner, after winning her debut in a sprint race at Saratoga Race Course, Indian Blessing won the one-mile Grade I Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

LeRoy Jolley

In that year's Travers Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course, Ridan lost by a fraction of a nose to Jaipur in one of the most dramatic races in American Thoroughbred racing history and one that is still written and talked about today.

Robert Montano

Montana had a life before Broadway: three years as a jockey at Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga, Atlantic City, and Hialeah.


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