Seat holders say changes at track usher in trouble

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

Catherine Audette of Round Lake has been a white cap for 32 years.

Some fans in the reserved sections at Saratoga Race Course want to put officials from the New York Racing Association on the hot seat.

They’re mad about new policies in the grandstand and clubhouse.

One new practice has moved ushers away from sections where they have been stationed for many years, escorting people to their seats and making sure the chairs are clean. Fans and ushers have become friends over the years.

The new idea at NYRA is usher rotation; the men and women in red shirts, black slacks and white baseball-style caps move to a new section every Wednesday.

Another new policy has eliminated the “red sticker” requirement. In past years, fans with reserved seats in the clubhouse and grandstand were given red stickers with their tickets. They would put the stickers on their shirts, blouses, jackets or dresses to prove they belonged in the sections designated by their tickets. The system kept people from trying to steal seats for the afternoon card.

People opposed to the new usher-rotation policy say it tampers with tradition — one of the powerhouse words at the race course.

“We’ve known them for our whole lives; for 25 years we’ve been coming here,” said Saratoga Springs resident Marlene MacFarlane, referring to two ushers she has befriended. “They know where everybody sits, so if somebody comes in and doesn’t belong in the section — and sometimes they come in and they’re disruptive — they can get them out. And if they don’t move, they call security. They watch out for us.”

MacFarlane so dislikes the new policy that she circulated a petition in her section to lobby against the new usher rule.

“I got 140 signatures in one day,” she said.

George L. Partain, of Logan, West Virginia, said ushers who manned the same stations year after year knew everyone who came in.

“Now, they’ve put people in that don’t know their section,” Partain said. “People come in, and they’re disruptive. A lot of them come in right before the race, and on the big days, it’s crowded. It’s a mess.”

Bonny Cawley, of Schenectady, also prefers an usher who knows a section and its daily visitors.

“We’ve had a problem since opening day with squatters and people coming in,” Cawley said. “The ushers can’t catch everybody; there are just too many people. They try their best, but it’s very difficult.”

Cawley doesn’t think she should have to tell “disruptive party people” they do not belong in the reserved seats.

“I don’t feel I should have to be a cop, and I shouldn’t have to say to people, ‘You don’t sit there. I know the people who sit around me,'” Cawley said.

White caps working last Saturday said they could not discuss the issue.

Pat McKenna, NYRA’s director of communications, said the rotation is a practice that will lead to better service for the fans.

“It allows some of the more experienced white caps to work in different areas of the grandstand while also allowing some of the younger, less experienced white caps the same opportunity,” he said.

McKenna also said people who miss their traditional ushers of the past can always find them to say hello.

“You can go see that person,” he said. “They may not be in the exact section that you remember, but I’m sure you can walk the grandstand and find your favorite white cap.”

McKenna stressed the rotation policy puts experienced people with ushers who have not been working at the race track for very long. The veteran white caps, he said, can help train and mentor the younger employees.

Racing Association officials do not miss the red stickers.

“That’s been a positive change,” McKenna said. “In order for us to print those stickers, we were working with some pretty antiquated technology. So we have moved away from those stickers.”

Fans are now asked to show their tickets to the white caps.

Joe Russo, who has homes in Saratoga Springs and Palm Beach Garden, Florida, does not think a policy that requires seat holders to flash tickets to ushers will be effective.

“How can they possibly remember every person?” Russo asked. “And they can’t ask every person coming in every time, the lines would be too long.

“It just bothers me so much that the people in the business of horse racing don’t understand the customers,” Russo added. “They’re going to make the mistake of not having customer service until they don’t have any customers. There are not as many horse players as there were. If they’re not smart they’re going to wind up losing the customers and not replacing them with new ones because they’re not as fan friendly.”

Like MacFarlane, Jane Vollmer of Saratoga Springs decided to present her case for the ushers with numbers. She distributed complaint forms to people in her section, asked people to fill them out and then turned them in to NYRA.

“Nobody’s heard a word back from them,” she said.

Vollmer, who said she has been attending races at Saratoga for the past 50 years, said ushers and red stickers have helped keep the peace in her spot.

“The seats are not inexpensive and there’s no way of controlling who’s got them and who doesn’t,” Vollmer said. “Now people who haven’t paid for seats are in there all the time.”

Vollmer also believes in the customer-usher connection.

“If you go to a restaurant and the maitre d’ greets you by name, you are inclined to go back there time after time,” she said. “Now it’s somebody different every week.”

The elimination of the red stickers has other people concerned. People say legitimate seat holders may lose their seats if opportunistic wanderers in the clubhouse sneak into sections when ushers are not close by.

“They’ve already kicked people out and it’s not even the middle of the meet,” said Norman Duby of Rutland, Vermont, a clubhouse regular for the past 30 years. “You’ve got the Travers coming, I’ve seen these guys try to sneak down into the seats, I don’t say nothin’. I just don’t understand why these people did that.”

Paula Luttinen Hage of New Hartford misses her usher friends. She does not miss the sticker, and said tradition is the reason why.

“I’ve never worn the sticker because we’ve always been in a section where the ushers have known us,” Thomas said. “When you get dressed up, you wear a beautiful dress and jewelry. You don’t want anything to detract from that Saratoga tradition of dressing for the track.”

Reach Gazette reporter Jeff Wilkin at 395-3124, [email protected] or through Facebook.