There’s nothing fairly like a summer time in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a small city nestled close to the Adirondacks that comes alive every July as Thoroughbred racing returns to Saratoga Race Course. This yr’s meet kicks off July 13, attracting most of the greatest horses, trainers, and jockeys, in addition to avid followers and bettors, from throughout the nation.

Learn on for 10 must-know information about this yr’s Saratoga meet.

1. Saratoga Race Course first opened in 1863, making it one of many oldest main sporting venues within the nation.

2. Fourstardave, “The Sultan of Saratoga,” received a race on the meet yearly from 1987 (age 2) to 1994 (age 9). He now has a Grade 1 race on the monitor named after him in addition to a sports activities bar.

3. A complete of $20.8 million will likely be up for grabs in Saratoga’s 71 stakes races this yr. Seventeen races are price $500,000 or extra every.

4. The 2023 meet will function six Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races: the Whitney Stakes on Aug. 5, the Fourstardave Handicap on Aug. 12, the Ballerina Stakes and Resorts World On line casino Sword Dancer Stakes on Aug. 26, and the Flower Bowl Stakes and the Jockey Membership Gold Cup Stakes on Sept. 2. 

5. Greater than 1,000,000 individuals attended the races at Saratoga final summer time. A complete of 1,075,586 followers packed the monitor over the course of the 40-day meet, a mean of 26,890 individuals every day. This marked the seventh time in eight years Saratoga exceeded the one-million mark in attendance, the exception being in 2020 when followers had been barred from attending due to COVID-19 restrictions.

6. Followers who attend on 4 completely different Fridays will obtain free swag. NYRA introduced 4 free giveaway days for the upcoming meet. The merch comes with paid admission whereas provides final and embrace a cooler jug (July 21), a Dri-Match T-shirt (Aug. 11), a cotton bucket hat (Aug. 18), and a tote bag (Sept. 1). 

7. An Ortiz has received the Saratoga jockey title for seven of the previous eight years. Brothers Irad Ortiz Jr. and Jose Ortiz have ensconced themselves within the penthouse suite of New York riders over the previous decade, mirrored of their success among the many best jockey colony in North America each summer time at Saratoga. Irad, the reigning Eclipse Award champion jockey, received his first using title at Saratoga in 2015 and he’s added three extra since then in 2018, 2020, and final yr. Youthful brother Jose received in 2016, 2017, and 2019. Who’s liable for disrupting the sibling rivalry? Luis Saez, who rode 64 winners at Saratoga in 2021.

8. There will likely be 19 Grade 1 (highest degree) races on the monitor this summer time, together with historic stakes just like the $1 million Whitney Stakes and the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes. Two of those are steeplechase races.

9. Coach Todd Pletcher has a document 14 coaching titles on the monitor since 1998, however he’s needed to share the dominance in recent times. Pletcher has received the main coach title 5 of the final 10 years, and the opposite 5 coaching titles have been received by Chad Brown. Brown has defeated Pletcher three of the final 4 years, together with in 2022. Brown received a document 46 races in 2018.

10. The full {dollars} wager on final yr’s Saratoga races was an unbelievable $878,211,963, leaping 7.7% over the prior document of $815,508,063 set in 2021.