With the New York Racing Association poised to return to Saratoga Race Course in two weeks, the Saratoga Springs region is still basking in the glow of four highly successful days at the upstate New York oasis for racing.
While final business numbers have not been reported, Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, said the local business community enjoyed a banner week as the Belmont Stakes (G1) was contested at Saratoga for the first time and the four-day, June 6-9 racing festival created a rare buzz, even by the Spa’s lofty standards.
“There was a tremendous excitement and the activity around town was incredible,” Shimkus said. “They said there was 50,000 people at the track for the Belmont (on June 8) but there were definitely more than 50,000 people in there. It’s the most people I’ve ever seen at Saratoga, and the excitement level everywhere was the highest since American Pharoah’s Travers (in 2015). There were businesses that said they had record sales on Friday. The four days were a great success for us. There are very few things that have to be tweaked for next year, and when you only have tweaks after a first-time event like this, that’s tremendous.”
For NYRA, the four days were a bonanza. Aside from the capped crowd of 50,000 on Belmont Stakes Day, total wagering for the four days was $197.4 million, an increase of $60 million from the last four-day festival in 2022. In particular, Thursday and Friday of Belmont Week, which had been handling a combined figure of $29 million, soared to $56.7 million at the Spa.
The numbers downtown were just as bright and cheery, propelled by inflated prices in many cases, hardly an unusual occurrence at a major event.
“I have heard from retailers and restaurants that if they stayed open late they did really well, but not all of them wanted to do that,” Shimkus said. “Friday was big because a lot of people came to town on Thursday and they went out the next night. We had some restaurants say they broke all-time sales records on Friday. But you had to stay open late. If you closed at 9 or 10 p.m., which is normally a popular closing time at that time of year, your numbers were not as big. Then on Sunday, downtown was busy, like Travers Week. People went downtown and shopped and ate before leaving town.”
Shimkus said he is confident the economic impact of the racing festival will top projections of $50 million.
“We said leading up to this it would be an economic impact of upwards of $50 million across the region. It’s based on actual math by taking the economic impact study on the track that was taken two years ago which estimated the 40-day meet has an impact of $370 million,” he said. “So we thought four days of racing, that’s 10%, or $37 million right there. However, we knew attendance was going to be really high and hotel rates would be higher. We felt the people who were coming for this meet would be spending more money than normal.”
The start of the 2024 Belmont Stakes in front of a packed apron and grandstand at Saratoga Race Course
In particular, rates for hotels were sky-high. The popular Adelphi Hotel quoted a total price of slightly more than $14,000 for a three-night stay. As a result, there were vacancies around town, but the economics seemed to work out for those who supplied lodging.
“Hotels did not sell out, but 80% occupancy at a really high number is more revenue than they ever made at this time of year. I don’t know if that strategy will be the same next year but that was it for the first year. I would think the excitement level should help shape the thresholds for next year,” said Shimkus, noting how the 2025 Belmont Stakes will also be held at Saratoga while Belmont Park remains closed until 2026 at the earliest for construction of a new facility and racing surfaces.
One unmistakable sign of how the festival was a magnet for visitors was the June 5 free downtown concert with Blues Traveler. The huge crowd was estimated at 15,000-25,000, taking into account people listening on side streets.
“Blues Traveler said when they got on stage they were shocked at the amount of people, and they played much longer than their contract called for because they were having so much fun,” Shimkus said. “The people who were there had a blast.”
Another sign of the festive atmosphere was Shimkus’ quoting of an 80% jump in the sale of alcoholic beverages over the same week in June last year.
Perhaps the most promising aspect of the late spring week at the Spa will be its impact on the 40-day summer meet that starts July 11.
“We wanted to do the concert and other events to show off the community and we looked at the Festival as a way to promote to the summer meet,” Shimkus said. “The money we spent during the Festival would typically be money we would have spent on the summer meet. Our goal was to motivate people to come to Saratoga this summer.”
Shimkus said there were many new visitors to the area and the racetrack, based on an unscientific but logical sampling.
“We knew there was a lot of newcomers because the most popular question we got involved where to park and where were shuttles,” he said. “We soon figured out people didn’t understand they could park on people’s lawns near the track, because they had never been here before.”
All in all, the business community is surely looking forward to next year’s second Belmont Stakes at the Spa.
“There were positive stories about Saratoga and racing a day apart in the New York Times and New York Post, and I don’t think those two publications have ever written the same story on anything,” Shimkus said. “That tells you the festival was such a success across the board.”
