SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Rivalry between the East and the West has existed in horse racing ever since the days of Seabiscuit. Today the sport has become more homogenized, but there is still one issue that polarizes racing fans on the opposite coasts: the relative merits of Saratoga and Del Mar.
For more than a century, people in the East have regarded Saratoga, with its elegance and tradition, as the perfect racetrack. The late turf writer Joe Palmer said that "Saratoga represents a reaffirmation of racing as enjoyment." And he declared: "Anyone who would change it would stir champagne."
Most Californians share the enthusiastic opinion of author William Murray, who wrote in "The Wrong Horse" of seeing Del Mar for the first time: "This was unlike any racetrack I had been to before; it was a celebration of the golden California lifestyle."
Because the racing seasons at the two tracks overlap, the loyalists of one almost never visit the other. They simply assume that nothing can be better than their favorite track.
Which is the better place? After spending the first two weeks of August in Del Mar and the last two in Saratoga, I am prepared to venture an opinion -- even at the risk of alienating half of the racing world. This is the way I compare them in different categories:
The Ambiance
The character of the two racing resorts is very different. Del Mar retains the flavor of a beach community even during the racing season. In the famous description by the track's late publicist Eddie Read, it is a place "where nobody is in a hurry but the horses." People in Del Mar are almost as likely to have a surfboard under their arms as a copy of the Daily Racing Form. The track crowd seems to melt into the community at large after the races are finished.
Saratoga, by contrast, is totally obsessed by horse racing; everybody comes here for the sport. At any restaurant, bar, hotel or convenience store, the races will be the prime topic of conversation, and the talk will go on long into the night at the local watering holes.
Whether one prefers the intensity of Saratoga or the laid-back feel of Del Mar is strictly a matter of personal preference. But other aspects of the two racing resorts permit head-to-head comparison.
The Racing
Saratoga's card on Monday included a Grade III stakes, a top class allowance race and three 12-horse fields -- and this was a weak program by the Spa's standards.
