Hundreds Show Up for Saratoga’s Belmont Job Fair

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Several hundred people queued up outside the 1863 Club on Feb. 21 in a line that spread across the grounds of Saratoga Race Course, where the New York Racing Association hosted a job fair to hire support for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. 

The four-day event – which stages at Saratoga this year – will run June 6-9, just about 100 days from now. 

“Many of the seasonal employees here at Saratoga make this a summer (employment) tradition, so we expect to see a number of those individuals who have spent many summers here,” said NYRA spokesman Patrick McKenna.

The four-day festival will take place in Saratoga June X to X. Tickets for the Belmont Stakes Race – on Saturday, June X, sold out in nearly one day. General admission tickets are currently still available for Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. 

McKenna said the public response since announcing the shifting of Belmont to Saratoga – at least for this year – has been “tremendous,” as witnessed by the number of applicants showing up for the job fair, to the high demand for tickets for the four-day racing meet. 

Tickets for the Belmont Stakes race June 8 sold out in nearly one day; tickets are atoll available for June 6,7 and 9. 

The Oklahoma Training Track across Union Avenue opposite the race course grounds will open in its normal mid-April time slot. With Belmont in Saratoga, an accelerated number of trainers and horses are anticipated to arrive earlier than normal – particularly after the May 4 Kentucky Derby.

The regular summer meet in Saratoga will take place July 11 – Sept. 2.