Saratoga’s tingly with news the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown, is running here this summer and next, while Long Island’s Belmont Park gets an urgently needed facelift. The economic windfall will be prodigious and area businesses began counting their shekels last fall. The Adelphi Hotel on Broadway, where Leesa and I held our wedding reception, for instance, is charging a robust $4,000 a night for a basic room and you’re required to book the entire Belmont weekend (on the next Tuesday, rooms revert to $490, so stick around). One thing we’re good at here is taking tourist money and we have been since 1830 or so. But take a moment to consider the founder of our feast, the extraordinary August Belmont, Jr, who created the track in 1905 and named it for his father - and his shocking 1917 decision in the middle of The Great War.
© 2024 John Oliver
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