C'mon Get Happy

Beginners luck is had by all at the Saratoga Horse Track. 83 year old Ursala got hooked following a win as small as $4.45. Mutti's been hooked since winning $160, 8 years ago. Despite the rain, Bob, MaryLou, even the Partridge Families cutest singer, David Cassidy get in on the act every summer. It's another season of winnings and in my case - losings - during opening week at one of the country's oldest horse tracks. Built in 1864, Saratoga Springs was once known as the Queen of Spas because of the popular bathhouses and health resorts. This has always been a place of high society, rich decadence and Victorian Gothic homes on the National Register of Historic Places. The food is wonderful, the parks are world renown, the downtown shops are always full and the music scene thriving. I visit Saratoga for all these reasons but those I bring along usually come to win big. Be it the Travers Stakes, the steeplechase or a sold-out Friday standing in the rain, once you win an exacta and trifecta the gambling attraction begins.