The Special - Sean's Cup of Coffee

Goodnight, Saratoga

09-02-2007
Fine time to get writer’s block. Last issue. Last page. Last gasp. I turned up the stick a mile ago and the wire hangs here somewhere. Forget the wire, how about a soft landing, anywhere to get off this ride.

Looking for a crescendo to six weeks of writing, racing, selling, socializing and hustling. I’ve handed off the Woodward recap to my brother, who finally gets to write something after six weeks of solitary confinement in the office.

The Forego rests securely with Brian Nadeau, who became a writer this meet. Summer intern David Kosak finished his final story before going back to school. Editor Jamie Santo adventures through another safari of words and ideas for Volume 7, Issue 32. And here I am trying to put six weeks into 800 words. This will be the longest 800 words of the season. This is the seventh time I’ve been here – trying to produce the leaving-town column. Good night, good bye, see you next year.

I hate writing this one. Freedom flees when it’s the last column of the year, writing starts feeling contrived. Words stutter instead of flow. See, daily publishing means you’ve got another shot tomorrow to do better. Tonight, it hangs in the air, nothing to replace it come Monday.

That might be part of the problem or maybe it has nothing to do with it – sometimes writing’s only fun when it’s over.

Not that I haven’t sat here trying to stretch a slim idea into a healthy column before. I think it’s what we did the entire first year. At the end of 2001, our first, we weren’t sure we’d really be back. We were in debt, every relationship we had – from wives to brothers – were strained and most of the racetrack didn’t know we were here. That was the one that gutted us. We can weather debt and relationship bumps but it was the brush-off that stung. We couldn’t get horsemen to pick up the paper.

Charlie Boden, Toadie, Mark Hennig, Doc Richardson, Lisa Lewis, Kip Elser, the Tom Voss stable and a few other key readers got us through that first year.

Back then, we had to drive the paper on a disk to the printer, dial-up Internet was still an option and the people were leery about two brothers with a background in steeplechasing trying to charge a buck for a newspaper. We didn’t get many bucks but we made it through the first year, with a “Surely, it can’t get any worse,” attitude toward our project.

We’re just closing out our seventh year as I type this. Street Sense has replaced Point Given as the big horse around town, Bill Mott is back at the top like he never left and the paper has its foothold. To be exact, we’ve carved 227 notches that have become a niche. This is the 227th time I’ve sat down to write this column, the 227th time my brother has made a check list and started arranging ads and editorial copy that somehow turns into a newspaper by morning.

That first year, we weren’t sure we were coming back. Now, it’s not an option. We’ve created this monster, and we’ll be coming back for our eighth year next summer. It looks like our 250th edition will land sometime during Travers Week. We’ll give any advertiser who’s been here for all seven years a discount for the celebratory edition. Chime Bell Farm, Fasig-Tipton, Gainesway, Claiborne, Keeneland, Breeders’ Cup, Japan Racing Association, National Steeplechase Association, Lyrical Ballad, Pin Oak, Lavin/Longfield and maybe a few others I can’t recall, you get the prize.

Every year, we come to Saratoga to write while horsemen come to compete and fans come to revel in the sport’s best offering. As we know, Saratoga is where the sport thrives.

For me, it was on the final Saturday of the meet when the sport came into focus.

Andrew Lakeman, paralyzed from a summer fall, gets pushed into the paddock for the Woodward. Edgar Prado was somewhere in Albany, foot in a machine, getting X-rays on his ankle. The sport doesn’t always play like a game and the game doesn’t always play like a sport. But, in the end, it’s all we’ve got so tie on and enjoy it.

I hate re-using an ending but it’s worked six years running – see you next year.

Cup of Coffee Archives...

• Goodnight, Saratoga, 09-02-2007 • Missing and Hitting, 09-01-2007 • It’s SHAV-eee-ay ICE-peru, 08-31-2007 • Wayne's New World, 08-29-2007 • Special 3, Blackouts 0, 08-26-2007 • Still hitting the Hard road, 08-25-2007 • Hill Climbing, 08-24-2007 • Posted: Help Wanted, 08-23-2007 • Film deserves winner's circle, 08-22-2007 • Morning Lines, 08-21-2007 • Letters, We Get Letters, 08-19-2007 • The Man in the Saddle, 08-18-2007 • Mountain Views, 08-16-2007 • A Day Off at the Races, 08-15-2007 • Saratoga Meaux-jo, 08-10-2007