but it was a beautiful day and bond enjoyed absorbing the saratoga idiom , the mixture of brooklyn and kentucky in the milling crowds , the elegance of the owners and their friends in the tree-shaded paddock , the efficient mechanics of the pari-mutuel and the big board with its flashing lights recording the odds and the money invested , the trouble-fre , e starts through the tractor-drawn starting-gate , the toy lake with its six swans and the anchored canoe and , everywhere , that extra exotic touch of the negroes who , except as jockeys , are so much a part of american racing .