My parents have a vacation home there (my dad did a stint as a chaired professor at Skidmore after he retired from Wall Street). Here is my best suggestion. Pack a breakfast (go to Mrs. London's Bakery on Broadway for french pastries) and arrive at the track early. My mom says to tell you to be there by 7:30 am. You can sit in the grandstands anywhere you like and watch the most beautiful horses on earth do their morning workout. In the past there was always this superbly-knowlegable woman who stood along the ring with a microphone describing the horses and the jockeys as they went past. She knew everything about each horse and jockey. I am hoping she is back this year. There is also a free paddock tour by trolley. It's pretty cool. Takes about 45 minutes. FYI, they have a standard brunch type restaurant open during the workouts, but I prefer a cup of coffee and a good pastry. Plus, you can see better from the grandstand.

As far as the track goes, many, many people bring lawn chairs and food and just hang out between races. It gets very crowded. We never had great reserved seats, we would always jockey (sorry) for a spot to stand on the track level between races. Keep in mind, when I say crowded, I mean during Travers day races. But still, expect large crowds.

My Dad suggested the following restaurants. I can vouch for The Wine Bar.

The Wine Bar

Amuse

Max Londons (next to Mrs. London's Bakery)

The Mexican Connection

Have fun!

I have been to the horse races here in PA-- but not Saratoga. Here are my answers.. but I will check with my sister also. She and her DH have been there a number of times. In fact, she's going to be there later this month also!

Going to the races is all about people watching for me! We generally get reserved seats with restaurant/drink service... but those most into the actual race will dip down into the actual seats. You don't need to be down on the track as they have tv screens all over.. but as a kid, i enjoyed being down on the track because there were so many "characters" there.

IME people come and go throughout the races. Saratoga may have its own etiquette-- so if you don't get tips or direct info, i will reach out to my sister (she's traveling to the west coast today-- but will be touching base with her later in the week).

I lived in Saratoga for the first 5 years of my marriage (pre kids). At that time, the track was only open for 3 weeks and the small town was transformed with visitors. General admission people go early to secure a picnic table, but it will also give you time to place your bets!! I am not a big gambler, so lots of people watching, not to mention the ladies hats which can be very elaborate.. One of Saratoga’s best features is the handlers walking the horses from the paddock to the track. They walk past the greneral public so you get an up view of these magnificient horses. Enjoy.

We adore visiting Saratoga Springs but have never gone to the races.

I really highly recommend doing the Spring tour while you are there, I believe the Gideon Putnman hotel can arrange it for you or I can probably give you the name of our guide (if I can find it), he did a private tour for us. He was a little bit odd/hippy-dippy sort but it was really cool.

We also did an amazing food tour while we were there, a private tour with a guide that took us around to maybe 4-5 restaurants. So good!

Oh also my dad is really into horse racing, he uses this program on his iPad that gives you all these extra stats/data and basically makes it way easier to figure out what to bet -- I think it costs money, but he wins pretty reliably. I could find out the name if you are interested and see if it is something someone who doesn't do hours of daily horse-race betting would like.

I've never been to Saratoga, but my DH went there a long time ago with a load of racehorses being sold. While there he saw Secretariat race in the only loss of his career. I have been to Keeneland in Lexington, Ky many times, both to see races and behind the scenes at horse sales. I agree with ratherbesewing; it is very exciting to be at a racetrack and see the beautiful horses. It's also thrilling to have famous jockeys walk by you close enough to reach out and touch them.

I hope you get to wear cool hats ;-)

Wow, you guys are a wealth of info on this! Thank you so much. I do remember now that last time we saw the horses up close, just by chance as we left. This time we will arrive early for that. I will still get seats as well, so we have a spot. We will probably dress up a bit. I recall last time DD wore a straw hat with a scarf, channelling her inner 1950's starlet. I think we have one or two around, I will have to smuggle it or she might guess our destination. I noticed today in NYC they sell them on streetcorners, the way they sell scarves in winter.

As for dining, a lot of places are already booked so it's good to have suggestions, thx Jojoco.

Beagles, We are staying at a place called the Brentwood right at the track, not the GP. Is it the GP that does the tours are the park itself, do you recall? As far as betting, I think ignorance is bliss. Last time my DD won big. She insisted on betting on a long shot "to win" even though I tried to explain odds and payouts, etc. Two more heavily favored horses dropped out and hers, (get this) "Shopaholic," won!

Zalco, Maybe a fascinator, LOL? One of my DDs bought an enormous floppy hat when we were on vacation a few years ago, really comically large. She kept finding screenshots from Vogue and such to prove to us this was "in." Wonder where that hat is. We'd have to tie it to the roofrack.

Mtn the hotel will arrange tours for people but we went separately w/ a private guide. I will try to find his name for you. Like I said he was kind of an oddball / hippie-dippy sort but did an amazing tour and was really knowledgeable about the area.

I grew up in Old Saratoga, been to the track many times. We always went early to see the training runs, you can have breakfast on the porch now, but when I was little I think it was just all haphazard. We would leave after training, do some errands and then closer to post time of race 1.

Went a few years ago too. Brother and I rented a house on Saratoga Lake and met up with cousins at the track. We love to sit in the picnic area, the path that goes from the stables to the track winds through it and you can watch the parade for each race, and then we race to the fence to watch them run.

Such good memories.

We are planning a family trip next summer, so I would love to hear your recap.

I have never been there, but i am totally impressed with all this knowledge and now I want to go! 😂

I've always wanted to go to Saratoga. Love horses, the races, everything that makes Saratoga so special. I'll be watching and waiting for your review.

Beagles, Thanks but no worries, I will ask our hotel.