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 The New York Racing Association will offer two twilight Friday racing cards at Saratoga Race Course during the Spa’s 36-day, 2007 season that begins on Wednesday, July 25. Last year, in an effort to add more excitement to closing weekend at Saratoga, NYRA moved the Woodward from Belmont Park to Saratoga for the final weekend.
It then announced a twilight card on September 1, the last Friday of the meet, with a post time of 3 p.m. The move proved to be a huge success, as the 17,993 fans in attendance represented a 29-percent increase over the final Friday Saratoga attendances of 2005 (13,960) and 2004 (13,794).In 2007, there will be a twilight race card on the final Friday of the meet, August 31, and an additional twilight card on Friday, July 27. The change was approved by the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce at a meeting earlier this month. First-race post on both Friday twilight days at Saratoga will be 2:45 p.m. “Our fans really supported the idea of a Friday twilight card at Saratoga,” said Bill Nader, NYRA senior vice-president and Chief Operating Officer. “It gave them a chance to enjoy the town of Saratoga in the morning and revel in its favorite sport in the afternoon. Plus, it served as a terrific start to a big weekend of racing.” The twilight cards at Saratoga in 2007 will likewise be preludes to exciting race days. Following the Opening Weekend Friday twilight card, Saratoga will host a blockbuster day of racing on Saturday, July 28th. That day, ABC-TV will televise the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap for three-year-olds and up at nine furlongs; the Grade 1, $250,000 Go for Wand for fillies and mares at nine furlongs; the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana Handicap for fillies and mares at nine furlongs on the turf and the Grade 2, $200,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt for three-year-olds and up at six furlongs during its two-hour live telecast that will begin at 4 p.m. Eastern. The winners of those races will automatically qualify, respectively, for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Breeders’ Cup Distaff; Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf and Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Monmouth Park later in the year. On Saturday, September 1, the Grade 1 Woodward and the Grade 1 Forego Handicaps will be featured at Saratoga as the meet winds down to Closing Day, which is Labor Day, Monday, September 3rd. “Based on traditional experience, restaurants that serve lunch may see an increase in business on a twilight day and a slight decrease in dinner business” said Joe Dalton of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. “But this will be a new experience. We believe that whatever decrease in dinner business will be offset by a tremendous amount of people in town for great racing. The quality of the racing cards on these weekends figure to attract a lot more people from our target areas like New York, Connecticut and Boston. Plus, the entire City of Saratoga Springs gets exposure from ABC that opening weekend, not just the racetrack, but the Victorian homes, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, all of Saratoga get exposure. That can only help business throughout the rest of the racing season.” Standard admission prices of $5 clubhouse and $3 grandstand
Source www.nyra.com |
