Toga Friday Start times
 

Are there any twilight Fridays scheduled this year ? I've grown to like splitting out a little early on Fridays going home and catching the last 5-6 races at Belmont...

Yup, opening and closing Fridays.

Is there a reason why they don't do it for every Friday there?

I think the bars and restaurants are still undecided on whether it helps or hurts business.

Downtown/area merchants/restaurants object to it. Negatively impacts their traffic/turns.

That is surprising. To use Arlington as an example, which obviously they are completely different tracks, but it has helped the local area. Trackside used to be dead on a Friday night and now, everyone goes there or Jimmy D's after the races.

I would think drunker people would help the bottom line

There are other places for people to go in Chicago. In Saratoga the downtown area is really the only option.

apples and oranges... for saratoga springs they really only have 6 weeks a year to really make the :$: . If people are eating dinner at the track, then they arent going to the restaurants.

People will drink beer all night no matter what time racing ends!

It's more the restaurants than the pubs. They lose a seating at 6 or so and dinner ends up starting at 7:30.

Works for me! :D

That place right outside the Nelson Ave gate (Trackside Grill?) will be a huge beneficiary of the late start times. You can get a decent hamburger, hot dog, chicken sandwich, etc for little money, and their beer prices (although on the rise) are much better than Siros (next door). And you dont have to deal with the riff raff that those cheesy cover bands attract.

By the time people leave track on Friday, its too late for many people to want to deal with the traffic downtown and the ridiculous waits for tables.

This place will do great every day, especially on the 2 Fridays that they are starting late.

I think they are full of it - I have reservations this Friday, just back to 830pm. It's the restaurants that should adapt and serve food longer!

Few people will either hang out or be sober enough to want a full sit down meal at 10:30, and the restaurants know this.

So instead of the races ending at 6, they end at what, 7:30?, not a big difference IMO

I've heard the same thing you mentioned but why is the tail wagging the dog?
The last time I went to Saratoga was the first weekend of the 2007 meeting.
After the races on Twilight Friday we went to a sportsbar in town. I don't remember the name of the place but we waited nearly an hour for a table and did not walk out of the establishment until around 10pm.

If the restaurants were smart they'd make a huge marketing campaign to push to get people down there for lunch instead of eating at the track. The extra two hours at lunchtime could offset many of the people that don't want to eat dinner at 10:30.