Saratoga's Summer Chapter Closes After Three Record-Setting Years

Monday brought the quiet end of an experiment at Saratoga Race Course, America's oldest track, as the New York Racing Association closed out the third and final summer of its Belmont-at-Saratoga arrangement. For three seasons, the upstate meet ran longer than tradition called for, giving Saratoga Springs an extended stretch of summer racing that regulars and NYRA alike came to see as its own distinct era. Short-lived by the standards of a track with more than a century and a half of history, the format nonetheless left its mark on how the meet was run and experienced. With Monday's close, Saratoga returns to its next chapter, its reputation as the sport's most storied summer address undimmed.

With reporting from Thoroughbred Daily News.