SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK- Mohawk Ambulance paramedic Ed Marchand and EMT Becky Rosko are seen literely chasing jockeys during the 2007 Travers Cup in Saratoga Springs, NY. New York Racing Associtation (NYRA) require that an ALS ambulance be on the track and must "chase" each race in the event a jockey falls and becomes injured. Depending on where the jockey falls, the ALS crew may need to quickly evacuate the jockey before the horses return to the finish.

Trying to shoot an image of the ambulance chasing the horse race proved to be a bit of a challange for it was difficult to get a shot that showed the ambulance in relation to the running horses. This image was shot on the backstretch turn with me shooting across the full length of the turn. The horses are already in the turn and the ambulance is just coming up to the turn. Using a Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 VR lens at 200mm allowed the ambulance to compress into the shot giving it the appearence that it is closer to the horses then it actually is. I opened the lens up to allow a shallow depth field to throw the horses out of focus since the ambulance is the subject I want the eye to go to.

On a side note, several scenes from the motion picture "Seabiscuit" were filmed from this very location.