The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is located on Union Avenue, across from the racetrack. It has an extensive collection of racing art that traces the history of horseracing in America from the first thoroughbreds shipped over in the 1660’s to more familiar names like Seabiscuit, Secretariat and Seattle Slew. Other exhibits explain the mechanics of racing and video and audio programs about the training techniques from some of Saratoga’s most illustrious names. It’s the artifacts that are most telling, though, from the well-worn boots to the elaborate riding whips, relics of riders long since vanished. They are visibly antique, and yet fundamentally not all that different from their counterparts today. They memorialize the essence of racing, a daring partnership between horse and rider to cheat the odds and achieve immortality.

Who achieves that place in the pantheon? The industry itself tries to determine who is most deserving. Every year in August, new candidates for the Hall of Fame are inducted in a presentation at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. The ceremony features the new inductees, but is attended by many previous winners, like jockeys Jerry Bailey and Pat Day. The ceremony is open to the public and draws a large crowd, come to celebrate the sport’s rich sense of tradition. An exhibition of sporting art fills the rear wall of the upper balcony, so if the speakers are dragging, you can peruse the collection. The works are for sale, but many of them are by well-known sporting artists and command hefty prices.

Horse racing was only one of the summer draws of Saratoga Springs in the Gilded Age of the nineteenth century. John Morrissey built on the success of his racetrack and opened two gambling houses in Saratoga Springs to cater to the wealthy New Yorkers. The second of these, built in 1870, is now known as the Canfield Casino. Site of Mary Lou Whitney’s annual ball, it also houses the Saratoga Springs History Museum. The museum offers tours of the casino as well as presentations on other aspects of Saratoga Springs history. The museum’s hours from June to September are Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.