SARATOGA SPRINGS — Want some champagne with your breakfast?

On the day before the Travers Stakes, Gary Vaynerchuk will encourage people to pair wines with scrambled eggs, sausage and other breakfast foods.

“Champagne is really flexible as breakfast food,” Vaynerchuk said.

The 32-year-old self-taught wine expert is excited to give a champagne tasting at Saratoga Race Course at 8:30 a.m. next Friday on the clubhouse porch as part of the nine-day Travers Festival.

He’ll also present a champagne toast at the Travers Celebration fundraising gala Thursday evening.

“I just want to make wine much more real,” he said. “Way too many people find a wine they love and they don’t try other things.”

A racing fan, the Manhattan resident used to come to Saratoga in the 1990s before he got busy as a wine expert.

He has appeared on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Ellen Degeneres Show” and has a daily video blog called “The Thunder Show.”

The week leading up to the $1 million Travers Stakes on Saturday, Aug. 23, is chock full of family activities and community events. The Travers Festival begins on Saturdayand ends next Sunday, Aug. 24, featuring more than 40 different events in Saratoga Springs and the region.

It kicks off with two Grade 1 races Saturday — the Alabama and the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap.

Then next week, the public will be invited to compete in hot dog and ice cream eating contests, a beer-tasting competition and the Travers Celebration fundraising gala before the 139th running of the Travers Stakes.

Here’s a rundown of the highlights at Saratoga Race Course:

Monday — Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Competitors down as many franks as they can in 12 minutes to win a year’s supply of hot dogs.

Wednesday — The Stewart’s Shops’ Ice Cream Eating Contest. Three age groups — children, teens and adults — compete to win a supply of ice cream.

11:30 a.m. Thursday — The Tenth Annual Saratoga Fashion Show. Boutiques in the area will show off their best fashions and participants partake of a lunch buffet and silent auction to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region. For ticket information and reservations, call 483-2655.

7:30 p.m. Thursday — The eighth annual Travers Celebration honors 2007 Travers champion Street Sense, owner James B. Tafel, trainer Carl Nafzger and jockey Calvin Borel. It benefits the Backstretch Employee Service Team and the Double H Ranch for critically and chronically ill children. Tickets are $300 per person. For more information, call 584-6200, ext. 4233.

Noon to 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22 — The 11th Annual Battle of the Brews. Patrons sample microbrews and vote for their favorite. Tickets are $25 and include a commemorative 2008 tasting glass. Proceeds benefit the American Red Cross Adirondack-Saratoga Chapter.