The canoe that has been floating in the infield lake at Saratoga Race Course has been around for a long time. Well, maybe not the same canoe, but a canoe nonetheless.
Back in 1959, Bill Laudner wrote in the New York Herald Tribune that the canoe – then painted a cerulean blue – had been in the lake for 91 years, which would make the icon’s first appearance in 1868, four years after the track opened.
The Travers Canoe at Saratoga. NYRA Photo.
Saratoga’s Infield Canoe Abides as Travers Icon
Even more perplexing than its origins is why a canoe was placed in the lake in the first place, along with some swans. One legend posits it was placed in the tideless pond to transport losing horseplayers back home, via the Hudson River, at the meet’s close.
Jimmy Cannon suggested it was placed there as a more or less humanitarian gesture, in case some unlucky bettor decided to drown himself but then changed his mind.
The swans were dispensed of in the 1930’s, for fear they might attack picnickers in the infield. The canoe, apparently, remained moored there to float in serenity, painted the same color blue every season, much to the delight of racing fans, who, as we all know, are hidebound traditionalists.
A Splash of Color: The Red and Blue Canoe that Redefined Saratoga
One can only imagine the horror of those entering the track for the 1962 racing season to find the canoe had been painted red and blue. The New York Racing Association had decided to co-opt Pimlico’s tradition of painting the weather vane in its infield the colors of the Preakness Stakes winner, and it happened that Calumet Farms’ Beau Prince had carried the famed devil’s red and blue silks to victory in 1961.
“Someday, Saratoga’s management may come to regret this daring innovation,” wrote Red Smith. “The mind reels at the thought of a painter trying to reproduce the colors of the Hangover Stable of Ohio, whose silks are decorated with pink elephants or the Hunger Farm, coffee-colored jackets with a donut front and back.”
Unforgettable Travers Moments and Betting Insights
Traditionalists were somewhat mollified the following year, when Jaipur won the Travers Stakes whilst carrying the light blue silks of George Widener, as well as the next year, when Widener’s Crewman took the Midsummer Derby. By the time Quadrangle won the 1964 edition, folks had pretty much forgotten about the original tradition and were happy to embrace the new tradition, especially when the boat was hauled out of the lake after the race and returned the following morning (not the following year) sporting its new colors.
Over the years, pranksters have sought to liberate the canoe from its moorings, but, according to Bennett Liebman, there was only one successful heist, in 1963.
The one departure from tradition that made almost everyone happy came in 2012, when Alpha and Golden Ticket dead-heated for first in the Travers, and fans were greeted by not one but two canoes, each painted in the colors of the winners’ owners.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
