AT a steamy Saratoga Springs yesterday, 42,000 racing fans braved the heat for the 75th running of the Whitney Handicap – and the belle of the ball was the race’s namesake heiress, Marylou Whitney.
The ageless, 70-ish Marylou, considered the grande dame of New York racing, held court in a private viewing box, where she and a group of prominent guests watched Left Bank take the race and the $750,000 prize.
One of the onlookers was daytime-TV diva Susan Lucci, who used a novel way to pick the winner in the big race.
“I hadn’t bet all day,” she chirped. “But I like the name of the horse [Left Bank] in this one.”
The night before the prestigious Handicap, Whitney hosted the party that unofficially kicks off the six-week racing season in Saratoga Springs, a quaint village of Victorian homes and charming shops.
The ball’s theme was “A Night in Africa,” and Marylou went all out – even hiring a troupe of stage performers to entertain the 200 onlookers who camped in front of the casino for a look at the guests. Whitney got a huge cheer when she entered the casino, escorted by her young husband, John Hendrickson, along with Lucci, Lucci’s husband, Helmut Huber.
Inside, the soaring ballroom was decorated in an African theme replete with tents and tiki huts. There were fortunetellers, bamboo plants, palm trees, spears, leopard and zebra prints, animal mannequins, stilt-walkers and a contortionist.
Everything went off without a hitch, unlike last year when a camel named Prissy spat on the crowd during Whitney’s “Road to Morocco” fete.
One of the acts, a contortionist, was on the floor swinging back-and-forth with his legs behind his head.
“John would never look at another woman if I could do that,” Whitney laughed.