It may not be the Kentucky Derby, but Saratoga Springs went to the
horses long before Churchill Downs.
Since the inaugural meeting of August 1863, Saratoga Springs is home to
one of the oldest sports venues in the country and has been the scene of
memorable races, often featuring legends of the sport. Although some of
the epic moments are still familiar today, such as Upset's defeat of Man
o' War in the 1919 Sanford Memorial, many of the triumphs and defeats
that were once famous have been forgotten. Few remember the filly Los
Angeles, who thrived at Saratoga, winning sixteen stakes races, or the
influential, sometimes suspicious, reasons why the track was closed
three times for a total of six years. Authors Allan Carter and Mike Kane
take a look back at these and other important but neglected stories and
present statistics from the pre-NYRA years and a rundown of the greatest
fields assembled at America's oldest track.