SARATOGA SPRINGS — “C’mon, this isn’t Belmont.”
They had the entire track to themselves, and the exercise rider had an overeager filly on his hands.
“I don’t know if there’s something in the air, but these horses are jumping out of their skin,” trainer Kerry Metivier said later, as he led the filly, Frankie’s Rose, around the walking ring at his barn for a cool-down. “My arm’s gonna be a foot longer when we’re done.”
No, this isn’t Belmont Park, but it will be the Belmont Stakes in just over eight weeks. At least, it will be the Belmont across the street.
On its usual April schedule, the Oklahoma Training Track opened for workouts on a gray Thursday morning at Saratoga Race Course with some of the usual suspects, horses trained by Metivier and Phil Antonacci, out for easy gallops, while Jim Bond kept his trainees at the barn on Gridley Avenue to wait for better weather on Friday.
What will be unusual around here is a brief but intense blockbuster of racing in June centered around the 156th Belmont Stakes, which will be contested at Saratoga for the first time ever this year (and in 2025) while Belmont Park undergoes a massive reconstruction that includes the track surfaces themselves as well as replacement of the entire grandstand.
Opening day at the Oklahoma Training Track adjacent to historic Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs and trainer Kerry Metivier stand with Frankie's Rose after a workout, talking about being in Saratoga.
It was typically quiet on the Oklahoma for opening day, and across Union Avenue, the Saratoga main track was still in full slumber. But it will open early for training next month in preparation for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival June 6-9, highlighted by the Belmont Stakes on June 8.
So despite the sparse population before the big outfits start rolling in soon from the likes of Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott, Chad Brown and Christophe Clement, there is already some buzz in the air at Saratoga in anticipation of Belmont Week.
“Well, I think it’s going to get a little busy around here in about a couple weeks. I’ve got a feeling,” Bond said, tongue-in-cheek. “Which is great. It’s a really exciting time for New York racing.”
“We’re super-excited. We’re going to have a world-class event,” Metivier said. “Not that Saratoga’s not world-class every year, but having the Belmont here is so exciting. We can’t wait just to be part of the week.”
Neither Metivier nor Bond will have a horse in the Belmont Stakes, but the condition book that covers that week is out, and there are spots that could suit some of their horses, especially since Sunday, June 9, is New York Showcase Day, with a slate of races restricted to New York-breds, including six stakes.
Bond said he has about eight horses who might target races during Belmont Week, including four that could show up on Showcase Day.
The Glens Falls native Metivier expects to find a race for Frankie’s Rose once the annual Saratoga summer meet begins in July, but before that, he has another filly in his Oklahoma barn, Addressable Market, who could fit in one of the allowance-level races during the Belmont festival in June.
“We’re shooting for it,” he said. “We’re going to be here, regardless. I mean, we’re not going to miss that for the world. We’re going to have the Belmont in our backyard? Are you kidding me?”
He also has some 2-year-olds at Gabe Goodwin’s farm in Greenfield Center, which rings an echo to last year’s Belmont Stakes, when Goodwin’s sister, Fiona, oversaw the daily training of Arcangelo for months at the Oklahoma as assistant to trainer Jena Antonucci.
Antonucci chose to keep Arcangelo in Saratoga for an extended period, and besides winning the Belmont, he won the Travers on his way to the 2023 Eclipse Award as top 3-year-old male.
“All the small trainers are so proud of Jena and what she accomplished,” Metivier said. “With a limited number of horses, to have one compete in that caliber of race, and win, over and over, it’s mind-boggling.
“If the big guys have 200 horses, they get one good one, and Jena had 10 horses, and she got one of the best in the world. Those horses are once-in-a-lifetime for guys like us. But she didn’t lose her head about it, she managed him well.”
Demolition of the grandstand at Belmont Park has begun, and all racing on the New York Racing Association circuit will be held at Aqueduct except for the Saratoga summer meet and the Belmont festival, which is scheduled to return to the new Belmont Park in 2026.
Bond said Glen Kozak, NYRA Executive Vice President, Operations and Capital Projects, gave him a tour of the progress being made at Belmont, and that he’s thrilled with what the future holds.
“It’s a really exciting time for New York racing. We left here with a cloud last year, unfortunately,” Bond said, referring to some high-profile horse deaths during races at Saratoga. “I think it startled everybody and shook our game. I’m proud to train horses in New York because I do know we care. That’s huge.
“And I think the show that’s going to be put on for the Belmont will be second to none. It’s going to be exciting, and it’s what I would call the appetizer for the new Belmont. We’ve just got to get there.
“The next two years here are going to be fantastic.”
WHITNEY VIEWING STAND OPENS APRIL 25
For fans who want to watch workouts on the Oklahoma, the Whitney Viewing Stand will open to the public beginning on Thursday, April 25.
Prior to the start of the summer meet at Saratoga on July 11, the Whitney Viewing Stand will be open free of charge Thursday through Sunday from 8-10:30 a.m.
The Oklahoma is accessible to pedestrians through Gate 21 on East Avenue. Parking is not currently available within the Oklahoma grounds.