NYRA Photo

Fans save on grandstand admission with advance purchase for Runhappy Travers Day

by Pat McKenna

Led by the Belmont Stakes and Jim Dandy winner Essential Quality, the nation’s top 3-year-olds will soon meet at the Spa for the marquee race of the summer season – the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers.

Sponsored by Runhappy, a champion sprinter currently standing at Claiborne Farm, the Runhappy Travers will be run for the 152nd time on Saturday, August 28 at Saratoga Race Course.

General admission tickets are $15 when purchased in advance. The walk-up price on Runhappy Travers Day is $20. Tickets may be purchased in-person at the NYRA Box Office by Gate A or online at NYRA.com/Travers (service fees apply online).

A limited number of Clubhouse admission tickets are available for $25. There are no Clubhouse upgrades on Runhappy Travers Day.

Gates open at 7 a.m. with a first post time of 11:35 a.m. Breakfast and tram tours are not offered on Runhappy Travers Day.

For the third consecutive year, FOX will air the Runhappy Travers as the centerpiece of a 90-minute telecast beginning at 5 p.m. The networks of FOX and FOX Sports will air 7.5 total hours of live racing and analysis on Runhappy Travers Day, with coverage scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on FS1.

The Runhappy Travers is the centerpiece of a card featuring seven stakes and six Grade 1s, offering $4.6 million in total purse money, including the Grade 1, $750,000 Resorts World Sword Dancer; Grade 1, $600,000 Personal Ensign presented by Lia Infiniti; Grade 1, $500,000 Ketel One Ballerina; Grade 1, $600,000 Forego; and Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial. Rounding out the blockbuster card is the Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa.

The Runhappy Travers is the oldest stakes race for 3-year-olds in the United States. The inaugural edition took place on August 2, 1864, as the first race ever held at the present-day Saratoga Race Course and was named for track co-founder William R. Travers.

The 2021 summer meet at Saratoga Race Course runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 6. Racing is conducted five days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays, with the exception of the final week, when the meet concludes on Labor Day.

For more information about Saratoga Race Course, visit NYRA.com.