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.

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 still 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.