Saratoga: Annual Gathering of the Pounders
Ahhh, “The August Place to Be”… Saratoga Springs, New York. It is the historic home of the world-famous Saratoga thoroughbred horse meet—affectionately known to the regulars as “The Spa”—which runs for about 40 glorious racing days every summer.
The combination of the town’s totally relaxed vibe, the electric track season energy, and the ever-present chance to make a massive score at the windows is what makes this place so special. It is a holy site where like-minded horse racing fanatics and lifelong friends rally and meet up each year to partake in some truly unique racetrack camaraderie.
30 Years of Degeneracy: From Summer Camp to Track Houses
It all began when our close gang of degenerates got our very first taste of this magic over 30 years ago. We used to pile into cars and take the Northway straight down to the track while attending summer camp at Camp Echo Lake, which sat just 30 minutes north of this little betting oasis.
As the gang grew up, graduated college, and got actual jobs, we started renting out various houses for the entirety of the Saratoga meet, a tradition we kept rolling from roughly 1986 all the way to 2016. We would each split a share of the house depending on how many days we could successfully escape the shackles of corporate life.
We lived under one roof with a singular focus: eating, partying, clowning around, and—most importantly—betting on the ponies every single day.
The only exception to the madness was “Dark Day Tuesday.” There is no racing on Tuesdays, so we didn’t have any action. It was our designated day of rest—kinda like Shomer Shabbos. These dark days served as a much-needed mental and physical respite to get our marbles back together after a week of screaming, whipping, and betting our absolute asses off at our designated team headquarters: right by the Big Red Spring in the track’s backyard park area. Outside of Tuesdays, it was nonstop pounding on all other days.
As the years clocked past, members of the gang got married, bought houses, and had children. As a result of those growing families, we all gradually morphed into different lifestyles and eventually moved into different housing directions.
We went from being a collection of super low-life degenerates living under one single roof to a scattered collection of semi-responsible degenerates operating under various roofs. But the core mission never changed.
Becoming the King of Saratoga
Despite the different houses, we still had one massive thing in common: a burning desire to carve out as much time at the track as possible and squeeze in every single racing day humanly available without completely pissing off our wives and girlfriends.
If you are lucky enough to successfully carve out the time to spend the entire 40-day meet at Saratoga—a monumental achievement that very few people can actually pull off—you earn the ultimate, undisputed title: “King of Saratoga.”
Some guys will try to argue that to be the true “King,” you have to absolutely crush the track and show a significant financial profit for the meet. But that is a complete fallacy in Big Doug’s book of life. It is about time spent, not money won.
I will, however, make one single executive exception to this rule: if you happen to hit a killer Pick 6 that pays out over six figures, you have also officially earned the right to be called the King of Saratoga.
The sheer beauty of the Toga meet is that daily operations require absolutely zero communication and zero day-planning hassle. It’s a beautiful thing. Like clockwork, all fellow degenerates know exactly where to find each other when the clock hits 1:00 PM. Our bellies are totally full from a morning run to either Marino’s, Roma’s, or the Spring Street Deli, and the starting gates swing open for the first race.
The Next Leg: Scattering Until Next Summer
Well, another legendary meet is officially in the books, and each of the attending degenerates will now scatter back to their normal, everyday lifestyles for the next 11 months. Hopefully, we will see everyone back at the Big Red Spring next summer.
As for Barbie and me, our brief domestic intermission is over and we are officially taking off on Year 2 of our round-the-world journey. First stop is a multi-week stint out in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and from there, the magical mystery trip continues to some far-out, fun-as-shit global destinations.
The 2016 Saratoga Roll Call
Massive honorable mentions go out to the following legends who were in attendance and pounding the pavement during the 2016 meet:
🥊 The Pounders
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Coop, Eroe, Shal, Joey the Student, Big Pete, Lee, Little Pete & his Gang, Charles Fay, Bobby the Kid, Adam, and of course, Big Doug & Barbie.
🤝 Friends of the Pounders
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Rob Oringer, David Pearl, Scott Rothbort, Billy & Melissa Gildin, Colby C Rock, Mitchell Reiver, Ross Oringer & his bud Tyler, Matthew & Zach, Gavin & Cora, Blake & Barrett, Kim & Jake, Margaret & Lyndsey, and John (the Harvard computer guy).
And, of course, a huge shoutout to all the great guys led by Paul in the legendary Purple Gang. See you degenerates next year!
Big Doug & Barbie Drop Out of Society 