SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — They stood in line in a drizzle, some here since 6 a.m., toting coolers and lawn chairs and picnic baskets. Hundreds of them waited for the wrought iron gates to swing open.

Suddenly, at 7 a.m., they were off! Moms and dads. Twenty-somethings and teenagers. They scattered like buckshot, turning the well-trodden grass and dirt paths into a highway. All in search of a patch of horse heaven to call their own.