Whitney Viewing Stand unveiled at Saratoga

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and the Saratoga 150 Committee

Thursday unveiled a new landmark designed to reinstate public access to the

Oklahoma Training Track as well as to celebrate the legacy of one of Saratoga's

most philanthropic families.

Overlooking the Oklahoma Training Track, the Whitney Viewing Stand offers the

public the opportunity to view the morning workouts at Oklahoma for the first

time in more than a decade with an unprecedented vantage point to experience the

training ritual. The viewing stand is named in honor of one of Thoroughbred

racing's most prominent families and dedicated patrons, the Whitneys.

Saratoga 150 Committee Chair Charles Wait was joined by Honorary Chairs John

Hendrickson and Marylou Whitney, NYRA CEO and President Chris Kay and Saratoga

historian Paul Roberts to officially unveil the Whitney Stand as part of the

150th anniversary season celebration.

"As we celebrate 150 years of racing in Saratoga, it is impossible to ignore

the site of the meet, located at Horse Haven just yards from where we stand,

that started it all back in 1863. The Whitney Viewing Stand is the ideal vehicle

to showcase this historic piece of Saratoga," Wait said. "The Whitney Viewing

Stand serves as a permanent landmark to commemorate the 150th anniversary season

and the contributions of the Whitney family to Saratoga for more than a

century."

The family dedication to the industry continued with Cornelius Vanderbilt

"C.V." Whitney and his wife, Marylou. Following C.V.'s death in 1992, Marylou

has continued the Whitney tradition of horse racing. She bred and raced Belmont

Stakes, Travers and Kentucky Oaks winners. She was honored in 2010 with an

Eclipse Award and was elected to the Jockey Club in 2011.

In recent years, Marylou and her husband John Hendrickson have organized and

underwritten the Saratoga Backstretch Appreciation program, which includes

Sunday dinners, English lessons and various social activities for backstretch

workers and their families during the 40-day racing season at Saratoga Race

Course.

"The Viewing Stand is a truly fitting tribute to the contributions of W.C.

Whitney and the Whitney family," Mrs. Whitney said. "It has been an honor to

carry on the Whitney family tradition of philanthropy and racing here in the

city that hosts the best race meet in the world. It is a privilege to live in

Saratoga."

The Whitney Viewing Stand is designed to model the original 1892 Judges'

Stand, which stood before the Grandstand. The timber-framed, three-story

building is set upon a newly landscaped section of the grounds and has a

steeply-pitched roof capped by a weather vane finial.

The Whitney Viewing Stand is flanked by two plaques -- an original plaque

that has been refurbished from the Saratoga Race Course centennial celebration

in 1963 and a new plaque honoring this year's sesquicentennial.