There’s nothing quite like a summer in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a small town nestled near the Adirondacks that comes alive each July as Thoroughbred racing returns to Saratoga Race Course. This year’s meet kicks off July 13, attracting many of the best horses, trainers, and jockeys, as well as avid fans and bettors, from across the country.

Read on for 10 must-know facts about this year’s Saratoga meet.

1. Saratoga Race Course first opened in 1863, making it one of the oldest major sporting venues in the country.

2. Fourstardave, “The Sultan of Saratoga,” won a race at the meet every year from 1987 (age 2) to 1994 (age 9). He now has a Grade 1 race at the track named after him as well as a sports bar.

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3. A total of $20.8 million will be up for grabs in Saratoga’s 71 stakes races this year. Seventeen races are worth $500,000 or more each.

4. The 2023 meet will feature six Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races: the Whitney Stakes on Aug. 5, the Fourstardave Handicap on Aug. 12, the Ballerina Stakes and Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Stakes on Aug. 26, and the Flower Bowl Stakes and the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes on Sept. 2. 

5. More than a million people attended the races at Saratoga last summer. A total of 1,075,586 fans packed the track over the course of the 40-day meet, an average of 26,890 people each day. This marked the seventh time in eight years Saratoga exceeded the one-million mark in attendance, the exception being in 2020 when fans were barred from attending because of COVID-19 restrictions.

6. Fans who attend on four different Fridays will receive free swag. NYRA announced four free giveaway days for the upcoming meet. The merch comes with paid admission while supplies last and include a cooler jug (July 21), a Dri-Fit T-shirt (Aug. 11), a cotton bucket hat (Aug. 18), and a tote bag (Sept. 1). 

7. An Ortiz has won the Saratoga jockey title for seven of the past eight years. Brothers Irad Ortiz Jr. and Jose Ortiz have ensconced themselves in the penthouse suite of New York riders over the past decade, reflected in their success among the most competitive jockey colony in North America every summer at Saratoga. Irad, the reigning Eclipse Award champion jockey, won his first riding title at Saratoga in 2015 and he’s added three more since then in 2018, 2020, and last year. Younger brother Jose won in 2016, 2017, and 2019. Who is responsible for disrupting the sibling rivalry? Luis Saez, who rode 64 winners at Saratoga in 2021.

8. There will be 19 Grade 1 (highest level) races at the track this summer, including historic stakes like the $1 million Whitney Stakes and the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes. Two of these are steeplechase races.

9. Trainer Todd Pletcher has a record 14 training titles at the track since 1998, but he’s had to share the dominance in recent years. Pletcher has won the leading trainer title five of the last 10 years, and the other five training titles have been won by Chad Brown. Brown has defeated Pletcher three of the last four years, including in 2022. Brown won a record 46 races in 2018.

10. The total dollars bet on last year’s Saratoga races was an incredible $878,211,963, jumping 7.7% over the prior record of $815,508,063 set in 2021.