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Saratoga Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racing track in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States, with a capacity of 50,000.〔http://stadiumzone.weebly.com/〕 Opened in 1863, it is the third oldest racetrack in the US (after 2nd oldest Pleasanton Fairgrounds Racetrack & oldest Freehold Raceway), though it is often considered to be the oldest sporting venue of any kind in the country. ==History== Saratoga Springs was the site of standardbred racing as early as 1847. On August 3, 1863, casino operator and future congressman John Morrissey organized the first thoroughbred race card on the track previously used for harness racing (and now the location of the Oklahoma Training Track).〔''Blood-Horse'' Magazine. July 20, 2013, issue p. 14.〕 The current course was opened across the street from the old standardbred track the following year.〔Hotaling, p. 53–54.〕 Among those instrumental to the creation of the Saratoga Race Course were John Hunter (later the first chairman of The Jockey Club), William R. Travers, John Morrissey, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. The Saratoga meet originally lasted only four days.〔Hotaling, p. 43.〕 The meet has been lengthened gradually since that time; for many decades, the meet lasted four weeks and began in late July or early August. The meet today lasts a total of 40 racing days, with races held six days per week, and traditionally ends on Labor Day. Saratoga Race Course has been in use almost every year since 1864, with only a handful of exceptions. The course was closed in 1896 due to increasing competition among thoroughbred tracks, making the meet at Saratoga not viable that season.〔Hoteling, p. 158〕 Anti-gambling legislation, which had passed in New York, resulted in a cessation in all thoroughbred racing in that state during 1911 and 1912. The track's first parimutuel betting machines were installed in 1940. From 1943 to 1945, racing was curtailed at Saratoga due to travel restrictions during World War II. During those years, the stakes races usually held at Saratoga Race Course were instead contested at Belmont Park. The late 1800s were a period of decline for the Race Course. In 1892 it was purchased by notorious gambler Gottfried "Dutch Fred" Waldbaum, the operator of the notorious Guttenberg racetrack in New Jersey. Finally it was purchased in 1901 by a group of investors led by William Collins Whitney, who made major improvements and restored its reputation. In the 1960s, the grandstand was extended, doubling the track's seating capacity. In 1999, Saratoga Race Course was rated as ''Sports Illustrated's'' #10 sports venue of the 20th Century. Saratoga Race Course has several nicknames: ''The Spa'' (for the nearby mineral springs), the ''House of Upsets,'' and the ''Graveyard of Champions''. Famous race horses to lose at the track: * Man o' War suffered his only defeat in twenty-one starts while racing at Saratoga Race Course, losing to Upset in the 1919 Sanford Stakes; * Gallant Fox, the 1930 Triple Crown winner, was beaten by the 100-1 longshot Jim Dandy in the 1930 Travers Stakes; * Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner, was defeated by Onion in the 1973 Whitney Handicap; * Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Horse of the Year, was beaten in the 2010 Personal Ensign Stakes by Persistently, who closed a length and a half in the final 1/16 mile; * American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner and a 1-5 favorite, was upset in the 2015 Travers Stakes by Keen Ice for his second career loss. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saratoga Race Course」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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