David Cassidy on the Web
Saratoga fan David Cassidy talks of love of horse racing
August 9, 2005
By Matt Leon
www.poststar.com
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- A knack for music and drama has taken David Cassidy to stages all over the world.
A passion for thoroughbreds has brought him to Saratoga.
Cassidy, star of the 1970s television hit, "The Partridge Family," was the keynote speaker at the National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame's induction ceremony Monday, telling a group of racing's finest about his love for the sport and his concern for its future.
"The passion that I have has been since I was a little boy," he said. "It is as my wife said, 'Just imagine, and having been doing it for so many years, if you'd had the same passion for the entertainment business."
Cassidy, 53, bought a house in Saratoga Springs four years ago and spends his summers here. He also owns 25 race horses.
He was still playing Keith Partridge on television when he bought his first yearling in 1974 at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs, the site of Monday's ceremony. The New York native has been back to Saratoga every summer since.
"It has been a place that I have visited at least for one day, whether I was touring the world, being on Broadway, making films, being on tour in Europe, being in the west end of London, playing in Las Vegas, every contract said, 'His week off is between Aug. 7 and Aug. 14,'" he said. "That's no lie."
On Monday, Cassidy had another reason to be in the Union Avenue area. One of his horses, Half Heaven, was running in the fifth race.
As he left the paddock to watch the race in a box with his family, he paused for photographs and gave autographs to adoring fans. Trainer Gary Contessa, who works with all of Cassidy's horses, has seen this reaction as he has walked through tracks around the country with Cassidy.
"It's like walking through a sea of love," Contessa. said. "It's probably what it was like for him in the 1970s."
Half Heaven went off at 3-1, led the race early on, and came in fifth.
When he's not watching his horses run, or playing his music on the road, Cassidy hopes to leverage his popularity to boost the presence of horse racing nationally. It is vital that the sport reach a larger audience, he said, asking those in attendance at the induction ceremony to take him up on the offer.
"I want to be an ambassador for this sport. We need an ambassador; we need a face," he said. "I would be delighted and honored if I could assist all of you in taking the next step to see that thoroughbred racing becomes the No. 1 sport in our country again."
Cassidy also said that the New York Racing Association should be commended for recent positive reports that it is an honest, socially responsible organization. NYRA recently completed 18 months under the eye of a federal monitor as part of a deferred prosecution for allegedly facilitating tax evasion among some betting clerks.
He made reference to the anticipated video lottery terminals at NYRA's Aqueduct track in Queens when he said that New York racing is the best in the country and is on the verge of getting better.
Standing in the sales pavilion on East Avenue, he called the track just a couple blocks away the "crown jewel of North American racing."
"I want to celebrate the fact that we are in the greatest race place of all time," Cassidy said. "It has been so for 120 years, and I hope it will be so for another 120 years."
