Track meet's new — and missed — records
Political leaks of a different sort in the race for DPW.
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How Travers stacked up against this year’s epic Whitney, Fasig-Tipton
Sovereignty was must-see TV but a boring bet — what did this mean for NYRA?
By: Abby Tegnelia
What a season.
As we ease into the last week of the 2025 meet, we can at last take a fair look at our season’s biggest race days and season highlights.
Belmont Day this year was rocky, betting wise — weather issues and postponed races aided a handle drop of 19 percent from 2024’s non-Triple Crown-year record-breaker, as explained in this June 7 report in BloodHorse.
But the Whitney and Fasig Tipton’s numbers were peak-excitement-level epic.
MORE ON THE WHITNEY: Whitney Day ‘25 brings in highest purse ever by wild amount
Even the galas broke records this year, as people opened their wallets for the nonprofits, too. The Hospital Gala, for example, landed $100,000 in 60 seconds, and AIM Services’ Croquet on the Green and Garden Party raised the event’s most ever.
So with all of this money flying around, how did Travers add up?
It was a tough few acts to follow.
The Whitney Day handle was up a staggering 22.7 percent over 2023’s record — with an increase of more than $10 million. And then Fasig Tipton enjoyed its third consecutive record-breaking year, finishing its 2025 sales at $82 million, a whopping 22.6 percent over last year.
Travers, meanwhile, was gearing up to be a potentially history-making race. The great Sovereignty — winner of the Kentucky Derby, Belmont and Jim Dandy — was running at 1 to 4 odds to maybe become the first horse to win those three and the Midsummer Derby.
Fans packed the place, both eager to see Sovereignty run and because of the aforementioned excitement hanging in the air after a pretty spectacular season.
“We went to the track more this year than the last few years combined,” says a friend who brought her family-of-four to Travers Day. “It got fun again.”
She wasn’t alone: Saturday’s attendance was up a teeny bit over last year. The handle, however, faced some challenges. While getting to see Sovereignty run got people in the doors, having such a heavy favorite is a boring bet. Plus, there was a tiny field, limiting some betting.
The end result: a handle that was down 14 percent from last year, according to an Aug. 24 piece in the Times Union. (But still the third-highest overall, according to the outlet.)
“We hit an exacta early on; the undercard was great today,” said the spectator. “But none of us put any money down on the actual Travers. We didn’t even think about it; we were having too much fun.”
Keep reading about this year’s track season!
Why clever Ewing call 'rejected' by announcer Mirahmadi
Party time: Local celeb wins with Caroline St. horse
Memorial race honors beloved member of Saratoga track family
Political leaks of a different sort
The race for DPW includes questions that should not slip through the cracks.
By: Stephen Thurston
When Bahram Keramati built his home on the west side of Saratoga Springs, he specifically asked that a basement be dug for it. But when Witt Construction hacked through the granite, water came in and did not stop, he told the Dispatch in a recent interview. He worried over how he would have a basement that was more of a pool than storage and he wondered whether some traditional techniques such as French drains around the foundation would be enough to stop the flood.
And then they tested the water — and found fluorides. Therefore, they knew it was not spring water but processed city water.
Witt and Keramati worked with the city and the Department of Public Works to find the leak. Once the pipe was plugged, his basement and some others nearby dried up, he said.
“BK,” as he is known, is running for Commissioner of the Department of Public Works, trying to unseat incumbent Commissioner Chuck Marshall, who won the seat in a special election in February.
“When I'm thinking about my campaign issues and what they are, one of the major things for me is water and the fact that most people around here are not familiar or aware of how at risk we are with our water infrastructure,” Keramati said.
“It's really interesting because we may be forced — in the future, or soon — to make a decision about alternate water sources for the city, like bringing water from the Hudson River or digging more wells,” he said. “Those are all very expensive. Before we consider anything about expanding our water source and what we're going to do, let's figure out what this is.”
One place to look is to stop the leakage. On average nationally, 11% of water is lost to leakage, Keramati said, but it is tough to know just how much leakage Saratoga Springs has.
Just under one-quarter of the city’s water is unaccounted for once it leaves the city’s water treatment facility. That is, last year, the city pumped 1.6 billion gallons, and 380 million gallons — nearly 25% — did not make it to the meters in homes, businesses or other buildings.
However, it’s not all leakage. City buildings, fire stations and hydrants do not have water meters. The city flushes water mains each year for cleaning and that water is unaccounted for.
Marshall agrees: There’s leakage. And both men said that it could easily be 11%.
However, people have to understand the system, Marshall said.
According to the 2024 annual water quality report, the city supplies 28,000 people through 9,680 service connections to buildings. The 142 miles of pipe in the system is created using 20-foot-long sections. Each connection in the pipeline is a potential leak.
“That means there's roughly 38,000 connections,” Marshall said, adding, “anytime there is a connection, there's going to be loss.”
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