Saratoga’s Crowning Moment

Summer on the Spa — a ritual almost 200 years sturdy — began early in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, being held on Saturday for the primary time at Saratoga Race Course, a revered relic the place the elite and in any other case mingle, however the horses rule.

Broadway, the town’s central thoroughfare, bustled. Lines for picnic tables on the observe fashioned earlier than daybreak. A brand new colour — Belmont inexperienced — blended with the observe’s signature red-and-white trimmings. Owners, trainers, horseplayers and the cooler-toting devoted all hailed the break from custom for the race’s 156th operating.