Happy Travers Day

 Each August RtBE has had a yearly tradition dating back over twenty years, go to the Travers Stakes in gorgeous Saratoga, NY. 

We have attended each year of the horse race since 1998 and the string ends in 2020 (with so many other things) as there will be no fans in attendance at the mid-summer Derby today.

In past years we have posted songs about horses, feeling lucky and playing the ponies, while we are not a big gambler, this annual tradition will be missed. Saratoga is gorgeous this time of year and we even wrote a series about The Grateful Dead enjoying the town in the early days of this site.

Whether it was Lemon Drop Kid, the first Travers winner we picked, or Bernadini holding off Bluegrass Cat in 2006 . Keen Ice upsetting American Pharoah (we had that one) or Arrogate blowing away the field in the fastest race we ever saw (didn't have that one) each Travers day has been special. 

The race has been moved up in the racing season, just one more wrinkle for this Covid scared year. While we hope Tiz The Law keeps on trucking, Uncle Chuck scares us and he may be our pick come race time:

While the horses are nice it is the people that make this special and one more thing which can't happen this year has put a damper on the spirits as gathering with long time friends to chat, reminisce and relax will not be happening. 2020 has brought about so many cancellations and changes, but this one ends a very long streak and special event for us. Perhaps we start a new Travers streak next year, or evolve into some other Summer tradition, any which way it shakes out we will have the memories.