A Brief Architectural History of Saratoga Race Course

There is a reason that Sports Illustrated named Saratoga Race Course to its list of “Top 10” global sports venues. “Saratoga transports you back to the days when people came to the races in surreys with the fringe on top,” it wrote. And yet for its trademark striped awnings, wrought iron architecture and horse path that winds through the Backyard, Saratoga Race Course has added enough modern conveniences to help every guest enjoy a memorable day at the races, especially in the last several years. This brief architectural history gives you a sense of how the old and the new converge at this historic place:

1863: “Running Races! At Saratoga!” proclaimed the Daily Saratogian. The posting referred to the inaugural thoroughbred racing meet at Saratoga—two races each day from Aug. 3 through 6, 1863 at the trotting grounds near what is today an area known as “Horse Haven,” near the Oklahoma Training Track. More than 3,000 saw the first of a series of heats, which would be won by a filly named “Lizzie W.” The meet, held a month after the Battle of Gettysburg, is a financial and social success—and the summer tradition of racing at Saratoga is born.

1864: Capitalizing on the success of its first meet, the newly-formed Saratoga Racing Association opens a grandstand across Union Avenue where Saratoga Race Course is today. It hosts the first running of the Travers, named for Association President William Travers. Fittingly, Travers’ horse, Kentucky, is the winner.

1865: Expanding the grandstand by 120 feet increases the seating capacity to 4,500. In a visit the Spa, artist Winslow Homer does a memorable drawing of the crowd in the grandstand for Harper’s Weekly.

1892: A new grandstand, clubhouse and betting ring, designed by Boston architect Herbert Langford Warren, brings new elegance to the grounds. Topping off the structure are the iconic Saratoga spires, which survive today.

1902: Led by William Collins Whitney, the Saratoga Association makes a series of improvements to the track that include enlarging the grandstand to 6,000, establishing a café and opening two valuable areas of the backstretch: Claire Court and the private stable area, Sanford Court.

1903: Thanks to the Association’s acquisition of new land across Union Avenue from the main track, the Oklahoma training stables and track are added. So how did the area get its unusual name? According to legend, someone griped that the training track, though a short walk from the grandstand, was so distant that “it might as well be in Oklahoma.”

1919: The horse and buggy era come to an end with the construction of an entrance for cars and a parking lot in the northwest section of Saratoga Race Course between Union and Lincoln avenues.

1927: A new clubhouse, designed by Samuel Adams Clark, opens with 1,200 box seats and capacity for 3,000 guests. The clubhouse and grandstand are connected, as they still are today.

1937: Wrought iron comes to Saratoga Race Course, introduced as part of the design for the new betting ring, which is built to accommodate the explosion of interest in racing. The betting ring, designed by Albany architect Marcus T. Reynolds, would last just a few years. But the wrought iron can still be seen throughout the grounds.

1940: With the state legislature’s vote to legalize wagering on horse racing, some 300 betting and cashing windows are installed at Saratoga Race Course.

1965: A grandstand extension virtually doubles the building’s capacity. Designed by Arthur Froehlich & Associates of Los Angeles, the architects of the late-1950s’ reconstruction of Aqueduct Race, the extension replaces the area of what had before 1940 been the betting ring.

1975: Big Red Spring opens the backyard. Built in 1859 as a shelter for a spring on Excelsior Avenue, the structure is moved to its current location and named in honor of Man o’ War and Secretariat. 

1977: The familiar red-and-white canopies and paved paths are added to the backyard.

2000: Three entrance pavilions—the two on Union Avenue and the Clubhouse Gate at Wright Street—open.

2013: The Whitney Viewing Stand opens at the Oklahoma Training Track, offering an unprecedented vantage point to experience the enduring tradition of morning training. Honoring the contributions of the Whitneys, one of thoroughbred racing’s most prominent and dedicated families, the Viewing Stand models the look of the Race Course’s original 1892 Judges’ Stand, which stood in front of the Grandstand. 

2013: The Saratoga Walk of Fame recognizes the legendary owners, trainers, jockeys and figures who have made an indelible mark on thoroughbred racing at Saratoga. Inductees earn an emblematic Saratoga red jacket and a commemorative plaque on the eve of the Travers. The “Walk” itself is a striking covered structure featuring the traditional Saratoga turrets, near the Carousel, and featuring the plaques along with memorabilia and video displays that honor the best of “the Spa.”

2018: The Stretch, a major new enhanced hospitality area for guests, opens in the section of the grandstand near the Top of the Stretch. The private hospitality area features modern and upscale amenities in a casual environment marks the first significant enhancement to the structure since the mid-1960s.