One of the fondest memories of the 2006 season, when we spent the entire racing season in Saratoga, was the final weekend, when downtown Saratoga turns into Nashville of sorts with the Final Stretch Music Festival. Nine bands are crammed neatly into the cracks and crevices of the town on the final Saturday and Sunday nights; one can pick a favorite and spend the night, or wander around to sample each.
I've alluded from time to time about all of the great free shows during what was a glorious summer in NYC this year. Amongst the bands and performers we saw were Wire, Orchestra Baobob, A Place to Bury Strangers, John Hammond, Steel Pulse, Die! Die! Die!, Eric Mingus, Jay Farrar, Bill Withers, Sonic Youth, the Feelies, Nona Hendryx, David Bromberg, Swell Season, Laura Cantrell, King Khan and the Shrines, Marshall Crenshaw, John Doe, The Ex, Either/Orchestra, Mahmoud Ahmed, Getatchew Mekurya, The Knitters, Patti Smith, James "Blood" Ulmer, and the late, great Isaac Hayes. So it seemed fitting that we would end the Saratoga summer digging on the bands at the Final Stretch.
A special shout-out here for the Brian Patneaude Quartet, pictured above performing at the intersection of Division Street and Broadway. I see that this local band - Brian was born in Schenectady - has scored some impressive press clippings over the years. It was certainly easy to hear why, especially on the sublime original compositions. Check it out.
I was so mesmerized by how tight this band was that I forgot to take any video. However, here's a sampling of some of the other performers we saw. Rich Ortiz, playing in the parking lot of Ben and Jerry's, was a virtual one-man band. Check out the footwork on the peddle bass!
The scene on Caroline Street is always particularly cool. With the band playing down at the bottom of the slope from Broadway in what is more like a tight, bar-lined alleyway than a proper street, it gives the venue the most intimate feel of the festival. They were dancing in the street to Big Medicine, who also performed at the track on Monday.
Aged in the Hills performed in the Collamer Building Parking Lot. And it's a wrap.
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Monday, September 01, 2008
It's Final
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Horse sense
The filly that former Sen. Joe Bruno sold to real estate millionaire Earle Mack is proving Mack a good judge of yearlings but a poor judge of broodmares.
The now-3-year-old, which Mack named Exonerated after purchasing it from Bruno, has made money just about every time it has raced and the horse won her last race going away two Sundays ago at Saratoga.
She has two wins and a third place out of seven starts, good for total winnings of $74,777.
Bruno gets 10 percent -- the breeder's award -- from the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding Fund, so far good for $7,470.
Bruno sold the horse to Mack at an auction in September 2006 for $105,000. Exonerated was out of Ladies Night In, one of two mares Mack sold to Bruno for a total of $50,000, largely because Mack had downgraded his expectations for offspring from the horses.
Exonerated ran 1 1/16 miles on the turf and she won by 3 lengths against a field of previous winners.
The values of that filly and of Bruno's broodmare have risen because of the good racing performances.
Federal investigators last year subpoenaed records involving the horses and Bruno's breeding farm.
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