Have you ever been to Saratoga on a high attendance day like the Whitney or the Travers? It looks like the Oklahoma land rush when the gates open and people sprint for a picnic table in the back of the track. The dollar store must sell enough disposable plastic table cloths in August to keep China’s factories humming year round. This year the track finally realized that in addition to charging people more to get into the track, you can also start selling the picnic tables, so on Travers day 130 picnic tables will go on sale for $100 each. The other 670 or so will still be subject to the land rush. You know what they say. Every $13 grand helps.
The plastic seats in front of the TV banks just inside the grandstand fill up about as quickly. Every square inch of open grass or dirt fills up in moments with people who bring lawn chairs with them. I feel sorry for the neophytes who come to the track thinking there will be places to sit only to find pretty much every fanny friendly spot to be occupied. And horrors if it is raining.
I think the first come, first served policy for the picnic tables and the TV seats is just fine. The track provides free seats and it is up to you to get there early enough to use them. But I somehow want to draw the line at the small park-like benches in the back of the clubhouse. I see these in the same light as the benches in your neighborhood park. You stop long enough to get off your feet and when you’ve had your rest you move on. But the custom at Saratoga is just like the picnic tables. First come puts a newspaper or something through the slats and the bench becomes theirs for the day. That means if they decide to wander down to the paddock, listen to one of the bands, watch a race from the rail and come back an hour later, the bench is expected to be open. If you happen to be wandering by and get a cramp, it’s up in the air whether you can sit down and massage it out.
There was one time when I was at the track with my mother and she just needed a rest so we sat on an open bench, fully expecting that whenever the owner returned we’d mosey along. The owner returned and was livid we actually sat on the Delaware section of the racing form he had used to mark his territory. I mean there was no, excuse me, but I’m sitting there. It was go ballistic first thing.
So I’m making a plea to Saratoga. Put signs on the benches that say, this bench cannot be reserved for the day. You can do the picnic table, the reserved grandstand seating, the Carousel, the plastic TV chairs, or your own lawn chair if you want a seat all day. That’s plenty of guaranteed seating. But let the benches be like park benches. Available when someone physically isn’t sitting in them and used just to grab a quick rest.