All the changes at Saratoga threaten its position as horse racing heaven

MEMO: To the New York Racing Association

RE: Ongoing Saratoga Race Course renovations

Why don't you go ahead and finish the job? Now that you've taken care of all the pressing needs of this historic racetrack-hey, the fans were really clamoring for a message board in the infield-let's go full tilt.

Let's put vinyl siding on the grandstand, lawn flamingoes in the infield, cut down all the trees for more parking, and blacktop all the grass.

Let's take all those luxury trailers you desperately want to add and put them on the clubhouse turn. But be careful. Don't block the sight lines to the huge TV you're adding in the infield.

And, following in the only tradition NYRA truly holds dear, let's start all these projects before consulting the state Racing and Wagering Board. That's how this year's $2.8-million project, redoing three entrances and the jockeys' room, was started. The Racing and Wagering Board only rubber stamped its approval after the construction had begun.

End of memo

Nobody is suggesting NYRA not be allowed to make necessary repairs and improvements to an aging facility. But couldn't NYRA disclose its plans publicly before it started implementing them? NYRA officials talk all the time about working with the Saratoga Springs community, but why not include this?

"NYRA is indifferent," said Josh Kuperman, of the Friends to Preserve Historic Saratoga Race Course. "They don't publicize their plans because they don't want their plans scrutinized or questioned. They don't give a damn about the city of Saratoga Springs, horse racing fans, or anyone else."

Only NYRA could make an enemy out of the Friends to Preserve Historic Saratoga Race Course, whose lone goal is to ensure that Saratoga's legend, as well as its status as part of the Union Avenue site on the National Register of Historic Places, continues.

What is Saratoga losing? What has Saratoga already lost?

Horses at Saratoga used to be saddled under the beautiful elm trees in a much larger paddock area. Fans would ring the trees and get to see up close and personal the trainers saddling these marvelous Thoroughbreds. That is long gone. Now, if fans want to see the horses being saddled, they must rush to a paddock fence that keeps them far away from the action and get there well before hundreds of other fans who also want to see the horses.

Saratoga once had a unique winner's circle where the chalk would be laid down on the track. NYRA ended that tradition by building a new winner's circle so that nobody will get mud on their shoes or have to stand in the rain. Now Saratoga has a winner's circle that looks just like Aqueduct's. The old winner's circle was exactly where Secretariat and Affirmed and other great horses stood after winning major stakes, where Upset stood after beating Man o' War in the 1919 Sanford Stakes.

What's next for Saratoga, pruning the list of box-seat holders again? It seems as if NYRA does not care if a family has been using those seats for generations. If they're not there every day, then forget about years of long-standing loyalty. Just kick them out. Because that accomplishes two things. First, it increases revenue. Second, it gets rid of longtime fans who are the most likely to complain when NYRA wipes out more Saratoga traditions.

Those people are easily replaced-with the thousands of "spinners" who show up every six of the Sundays of the meeting, take as many freebie umbrellas and tote bags as they can carry, and never spend a single minute at the track.

And, while we're doing away with tradition, how about the extension of the traditional 24-day meeting. It first went to five weeks, then to 51Ú2 weeks, and it is now six weeks long. Is anyone naive enough to think that extending the Saratoga meet to seven or eight weeks will not be considered by NYRA down the road?

NYRA has already stretched this magical race meeting as far as it can to compensate for its inability to attract fans at Belmont Park and Aqueduct. Stretch it a little bit further and it just may break.

Make enough changes, wipe out enough traditions, eliminate all the magic, and maybe, just maybe, nobody will come.