There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man ~ Winston Churchill

Everybody has their own unique place on Earth where they can escape and feel at peace. There is that certain environment that calms down the human psyche into a state of bliss…mine is Saratoga. Every summer, my family and I spend our August in upstate New York at the historic Saratoga Race Track. My family has many connections in the horse racing industry and we share a love for the thoroughbred. I have visited Saratoga every summer for the past fifteen years. The feelings I experience spending my summer mornings on the backstretch of the racetrack are indescribable and as I close my eyes it is like I never left… Standing up against the back fence looking out over the mile track as the sun is rising in the horizon; I can feel the warmth of the day’s first rays hitting my forehead with the contrast of the brisk early morning breeze. Lying in front of me is almost one hundred and fifty years of history…the same dirt and luscious grass tracks year after year – the places where legends are made. The smell of the well-manicured grass and dirt is mixed with the smell of the horse to create that Saratoga smell. I glance down the rail at the first turn and see a magnificent horse turning into the backstretch. He glides along the rail gracefully, under wraps as the jockey soon begins to go to work. The horse and the jockey seem to be one as they can communicate without words through the jockey’s hands on the reins. The thumping sound of thunder gets louder as the horse approaches me in a full gallop. His back legs violently throw the dirt from underneath him as he continues to accelerate. It seems like eternity watching him pass even though he is gone in a matter of seconds. There is no animal so gorgeous, so breathtaking.