When the gates open for the 141st season at Saratoga Race Course on Wednesday, July 29, fans can count on the best in thoroughbred racing set against a backdrop of unmatched charm, ambience – and fun!

Wildly popular giveaways, free concerts, star-gazing at the celebrities, and enchanting backyard picnics are all part of the scene, but at its heart, Saratoga is about the horses.

Over the course of its 36-day meet, with live racing daily except Tuesdays, Saratoga Race Course will offer $25 million in purses – tops in the nation – and 34 graded stakes, highlighted by the 140th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Shadwell Travers on Aug. 29.

While last year’s Travers featured a thrilling finish between Colonel John and Mambo in Seattle, this year’s edition won’t be strictly for the birds. Both Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird have the “Mid-Summer Derby” penciled in on their schedules, but Preakness heroine Rachel Alexandra could be eyeing a rematch with the boys in the 1¼-mile race if she doesn’t go in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama the previous week.

And beginning July 18, fans can make their free entry to win a Shadwell Travers Stakes Package, valued at more than $1,000 and including two tickets round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations, courtesy of the Hampton Inn and Suites in downtown Saratoga Springs. Contest entries can be made at www.nyra.com once registration begins.

The stakes action commences opening day with the Grade 3, $100,000 Schuylerville for 2-year-old fillies, one of six graded events for freshman runners at the Spa that culminate with the Grade 1, $300,000 Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes on Closing Day. Veterans will have their moment in the spotlight as well, as 8-year-old Commentator, trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito, seeks his third victory in the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap on Aug. 8.

The stakes calendar has been rearranged from last year so there is at least one Grade 1 race every Saturday, beginning with the Aug. 1, $500,000 Diana for fillies and mares going nine furlongs on the turf.

Subsequent Saturdays will feature the $300,000 Test for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs on Aug. 8, the $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational at a mile and a half on the turf Aug. 15, the $300,000 NetJets King’s Bishop for 3-year-olds and the $300,000 Ballerina for fillies and mares, both at seven furlongs, on Travers Day, and the $500,000 Woodward at a mile and an eighth and the $300,000, seven-furlong Forego on Sept. 5.

New this year is the Curlin Stakes, an overnight stakes run on the undercard of the Grade 1 Diana and the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes on Saturday, Aug. 1. Restricted to three-year-olds, the Curlin Stakes will be run at a mile and an eighth on the dirt. Last year, Mambo in Seattle came out of a nine-furlong overnight stakes on the Jim Dandy undercard to finish a nose behind Colonel John in a Shadwell Travers thriller.

And with more than 2,500 applications for 1,800 stalls, full, competitive fields appear assured throughout the meet, with nine-race cards the norm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 10-race cards the norm on Thursdays and Sundays, and 11-race cards the norm on Saturdays.

At Saratoga, the competition among humans is keen as well. The meet attracts top trainers from across the country, and this year the out-of-town roster features Mark Casse, Michael Trombetta, Michael Matz, Kenneth McPeek, H. Graham Motion, Wesley Ward, Eddie Kenneally, Ian Wilkes, Jimmy Baker and David Carroll. More familiar out-of-town faces stabled full-time at the Spa include Eoin Harty, Rusty Arnold, Steve Klesaris, Ronnie Werner, and Bob Baffert.

Last year’s training and riding titles went down to the last day, with trainer Kiaran McLaughlin winning his first championship over Todd Pletcher and Alan Garcia edging John Velazquez among the jockeys.

Speaking of jockeys, a sure thing this summer will be the 2009 Jockey Autograph Book, sponsored by Price Chopper. With full-color photos and information pages for the top 10 NYRA riders (by 2008 wins), the 2009 Jockey Autograph Books will be distributed to children by the Saratoga mascot weekdays at the track, and also will be available for purchase at the NYRA stores, with the proceeds going to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

The new Fasig-Tipton Festival of Racing on Aug. 8 and 9 will feature Best-Turned-Out Horse contests, a celebrity race call by Bobby Flay, and many free events for fans, while “Party at the Park” Fridays return on July 31 and Sept. 4, with post time of 2:30 p.m. and live concerts on the new stage in the backyard. Sept. 4 is also College Scholarship Day, with students gaining free admission with a valid college ID and a chance to win one of nine $1,000 scholarships drawn between races.

“The driving force behind Saratoga’s success is the incredibly high level of racing on an everyday basis,” said NYRA President and Chief Executive Officer Charles E. Hayward. “It’s the premier meet in the United States, run in a beautiful setting in a beautiful area. Racing fans across the country have come to expect the Saratoga meet to be the best in the country.”