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If you love summer fun, well then Saratoga is certainly the place to be. When you want to live a Saratoga weekend to the fullest, well this is the weekend for you! This weekend the SPA City will feature a dozen of the best horse racing stakes races in the world at Saratoga Race Course on Friday and Saturday, while SPAC will feature two legendary rock bands, or versions thereof, with Dead & Co. Friday night and Lynard Skynard on Saturday night. It should be fun.

As you get deeper into August, the weekends get bigger at Saratoga Race Course. This weekend is no exception. Friday looks to be a terrific day at the Spa highlighted by the 8th running of the Tale of The Cat handicap. Saturday will feature two big stakes races, the 116th running of the Saratoga Special and the main event on Saturday, the Fourstardave Handicap. Chad Brown's Raging Bull will be the horse to beat in that one and Sunday is the first giveaway of the year featuring the Saratoga Cooler Bag. Giveaways are limited, so come early.

It's the first full August weekend and Saratoga Race Course season is in full stride. The 94th running of the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on Saturday afternoon highlights a terrific weekend in the SPA City. Few families have done more for the horse racing community, especially in Saratoga, than the Whitney family. Their named stakes race has featured some of the greatest horses in racing history and this weekend may feature others. The Whitney is just one of a full weekend card of awesome Saratoga Race Course action.

One of the very cool aspects of living near the historic Saratoga Race Course is you get to see the best race horses in the world compete live. They walk right through the crowd on their journey from their stables across the street, to starting gate. This weekend is an awesome example with 2021 Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality highlighting the entries in Saturday's 58th running of the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes. Essential Quality and Hot Rod Charlie battled it out for the 1 1/2 mile race only to see Essential Quality win by a length and a half.

This afternoon as I passed through the thousands of fans that came out to enjoy the first Friday of racing season in the Spa City, many come year after year. The UAlbany Alumni Association held their annual outing. Hundreds were adorned in purple and gold ready to make their bets and enjoy the spectacular weather and an amazing card of top horse racing, highlighted by the 9th race, the Forbidden Apple Stakes.

But what makes Saratoga Race Course so special? Is it the lure for some to step back in time with men and women attending a sporting event dressed in their most fashionable summer clothing? Or is the opportunity to stake your claim to a few picnic tables and room for your pop up tent inside one of the sports world's national treasures. It's probably some of that plus the beauty of the well cared for historic structure but maybe it's the ghosts that lie within the walls or on the track, that brings people back year after year.

Grab your bet slips and your floppy hats, because Saratoga Race Season is HERE! Here's everything you need to know ahead of Week 1.

The list of punishments against horse trainer Bob Baffert grew Wednesday afternoon.

The Run Happy Travers may be behind us but two major graded Stakes races are on the schedule for this weekend at the Saratoga Racecourse. The Saratoga Derby and the Alabama Stakes are both on the card for Saturday at Saratoga. Levack and Goz talk to NYRA's Andy Serling to get his early thoughts on who to watch this Saturday and more importantly who to wager on.

The 40 days of racing that many Capital Region residents base their summer around is almost here. The Saratoga meet will be very different in light in the COVID-19 pandemic but we now know not only when it will start but also when the major Stakes races will be held. NYRA's Andy Serling recaps the Belmont Stakes and previews the rest of the Belmont meet and changes to Saratoga this summer.

NYRA's Andy Serling offers his advice for the weekend here

What is the latest news involving racing this summer?