Each year, they sneak up on you. You know they’re out there but never quite sure where. It’s not like you look for them or wait for them or think about them. Then they appear, around the long, slow, descending left bend on the Northway. Usually at dusk, sun fading through the slats, a Simon & Garfunkel song. Just when you need them, a marker, a monument, a beacon, a break.
The twin arches of the Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge over the Mohawk River connecting Albany County and Saratoga County. For me, they’re more of a disconnect. A life disconnection from the real world and the racing world. The Saratoga world.
The summer sojourn arrived early this year, the earliest ever. The August Place to Be has turned into the Summer Place to Be. For better or for worse. With the added 4th of July racing festival, I slid under the arches last night, and as always, thought about all the other times when the Twin Bridges divided the summer. First wins and first loves, early mornings and late nights, dreams achieved and dreams shattered on each sides of those bridges.
We’ll see what happens this summer.
As for today, there’s a heat warning. The inner turf is playing speed. The dirt track is deep and tiring. The 5-mile Trail in the state park has been conquered for the first time. And Jhirsch flies the flag for Riverdee.
Ridden by Jose Lezcano and trained by Laird George, the 4-year-old son of Not This Time makes his Riverdee debut in the ninth race today. Purchased last fall with races like this in mind, the New York-bred is 10-1 on the morning line in the field of nine in the ninth race.
Post time 5:44.
