Jul 14 2015

Saratoga and Personal Update July 2015

Saratoga

Saratoga is just around the corner, 10 days away. That means it’s time to change the photo on our homepage to be the starting gate for Saratoga race course. Like all horse racing fans who live in upstate New York, I feel this is the “most wonderful time of the year.”

Unfortunately for me, I might have to enjoy it from a distance this year. For those of you who have been following the website recently, you know that I had medical problems early in the year, which were resolved with surgery in May. However, after recovering from those issues, I had a serious back injury that I am still dealing with to this day. With that said, there is some hope. Tomorrow I am going in for a series of injections in my back that hopefully will relieve some of the severe pain in my facet joints, and allow me to return to physical therapy, where I am trying to regain the strength I lost from the prior surgery.

OK, so enough of the bad news. Here is the good news, I have the good fortune of several friends, family members, and people I have met through this website that are going to help me produce material throughout the course of the Saratoga meet. In fact, it will be very interesting to present some material that I probably would not have written due to my own ignorance of the subject matter.  For example, in a survey I did last year there were several requests from readers wanting to learn more about the housing options when visiting Saratoga. Since I’ve lived in this area my entire life, I really had no expertise in providing this information. So, our first contributing author is going to provide an article about housing options in Saratoga.

Following this first article, she will write about sights to see and things to do beyond the race track. Also in a third installment, she will discuss important information for people who are relatively new visitors to Saratoga racetrack. I truly feel these will be a valuable series of articles for people who are not from this area and can use some guidance on what to do when they arrive here for the first, second, third, or tenth time.

In addition to these articles, we will have traditional racing information for our experienced fans, with the help of some experts in the field. And hopefully as my condition improves, I will be able to resume producing the type of material I have been doing for the past two years. And with any luck, I’ll make it to the races for the latter half of the meet. If you happen to see me in the paddock with one of my Getting Out of the Gate T-shirts, feel free to say hello, but hold off on any pats on the back!


Neal Headshot2
By Neal Benoit

6 comments on “Saratoga and Personal Update July 2015

  1. I have never been to Saratoga but it is at the top of my list. I dont think I will make it this year but I intend to be well prepared when I do. I will be looking forward to reading the info you post. Thanks alot and I wish you a quick recovery.

    Rick Hammer on
  2. Wishing you a healing back and good health! Also, looking forward to the Saratoga articles. Have only been once but it was magical! I am looking forward to a return trip in August!

    Jennifer Orr Locklin on
  3. neal, big fan of your website.i also have similar back issues 30 years running..discovered yoga to be better than any pills that they want to push on me.its not a miracle cure, and it takes some effort, but once you reach a level of mastery, it works. maybe you’ve heard, Beyer practices it..good luck and thank you for all of your posts.

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