It happens every racing season around this time of year. Boxes with shipping labels start appearing outside the offices of each department at Belmont Park. The pace of everyday life picks up. Attention becomes split on what's happening today and what's just a few weeks away.

A joyous sense of anticipation grows among the fans with each passing day. Saratoga is at hand.

The 147th season at upstate New York's precious oasis for racing begins on Friday, July 24 when the gates open at historic Saratoga Race Course. Like most years, there's grand optimism for another banner 40-day meet at a racetrack and city where thoroughbred racing is celebrated like a national treasure by large, festive crowds that dwarf the daily turnout at NYRA's downstate venues.

"It's refreshing to have a meet like Saratoga where the enthusiasm is high and people want to participate in the sport," said Martin Panza, NYRA's Senior Vice President of Racing Operations. "We run about 240 days a year and it can be a struggle at times, but it's great to be at a place like Saratoga where people want to come and where they want to run their horses. The strongest point of Saratoga is that you're in a place where you can deliver quality racing, and I feel confident that we'll have another string meet."

As much as the mere mention of Saratoga and its 69 stakes races is enough to make some racing fans giddy, this year's meet could produce the kind of excitement and electricity the Spa has not seen in nearly four decades.

In American Pharoah the sport has its first Triple Crown champion in 37 years and there's a strong chance he might spend the afternoon of Aug. 29 inhaling the fresh, mountain air at Saratoga while racing in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes.

In telling ESPN.com last week that American Pharoah would make his first start since the Belmont Stakes by running in the $1 million William Hill Haskell Invitational, owner Ahmed Zayat added that if all goes well at Monmouth Park he would consider sending him to the Spa's Mid-summer Derby next.

"The hope is that he does in the Haskell what he loves to do, and that is winning," Zayat said. "We'll see how he comes out of it. We have not ruled out running at Saratoga. It's something I'm happy and willing to do, as does [trainer Bob Baffert]. I don't want to commit and put too much pressure on Bob or the horse. We want the horse to tell us. But if he's ready, he'll go there."

Zayat, who added last week that the prestige surrounding a champion like American Pharoah was a perfect match for the prestige embodied in Saratoga and the Travers, reaffirmed to ESPN.com early Sunday that nothing has changed since his initial announcement and the Spa, with some racing luck at Monmouth and in subsequent weeks of training, is still the likely next step for his homebred 3-year-old.

Panza, for his part, understands there's much that can happen between now and late August, but he can't help but ponder the delicious possibility of American Pharoah following in the hoof prints of past Triple Crown winners Affirmed and Secretariat by racing at Saratoga.

"We'll take it one race at a time," Panza said. "We'll see how [he] runs in the Haskell and then see if we can get him to the Travers. It would be a huge day for Saratoga and the city of Saratoga Springs and we're going to do whatever we can to make that happen.

"If Mr. Zayat and Bob Baffert bring the horse to the Travers it will be a great day of racing for the entire country. We'll have 50,000-plus at the track. We'll handle between $50 and $70 million across the country. That makes it a huge day for all of American racing, not just Saratoga and NYRA. It will help every track out there and of all the tracks out there at that time in late August we are the one most capable of handling a day like that. The Travers is already on television [NBC] which will only enhance the glamour of the horse and the prestige of the race. There are a lot of pluses in coming to Saratoga for the Travers over other races out there. We have great respect for Mr. Zayat and Bob's opinion and we're sure they'll do what's best for the horse. We know Mr. Zayat wants to help American racing."

While Baffert already owns seven wins in the Haskell, he has only captured the Travers once (in 2001 with Point Given). A year ago, he took the Haskell with Bayern who then returned in the Travers and promptly finished last. That ignominious defeat has sparked conjecture that Zayat and Baffert might seek a softer spot than the mile-and-a-quarter Travers, but Panza believes the events of 2014 will play no role in dictating plans for a horse with a regal stature unseen since 1978.

"I don't think Bob is afraid of running a horse at Saratoga. He's won the Travers before and I really don't think Bayern's performance last year there is going to keep Bob from running this year. He's applied for six stalls and he's got them," Panza said. "Bob will do what's right for the horse. He's a world class trainer. If for some reason he brings the horse to Saratoga and he hates the main track, Bob would have to make a decision. This is a tremendous horse and the connections will do what is right by the horse and we have to respect that."

One factor that might inadvertently help Team American Pharoah stay on the path to Saratoga came with the announcement of NYRA's fall stakes schedule. Normally held on the final weekend in September, the mile-and-a-quarter Jockey Club Gold Cup will be contested on Oct 3, positioning it a beneficial five weeks after the Travers.

"The Breeders' Cup moved up a week to October 30-31 instead of its usual early November spot," Panza said. "Since the Woodward is always held during the closing week at Saratoga in September, we didn't want to have just three weeks from the Woodward to the Jockey Club Gold Cup so we moved the Gold Cup. Now there's four weeks to the Gold Cup and then four weeks to the Breeders' Cup. It was purely dictated by the Breeders' Cup moving a week early.

"I won't take credit for it, because that's not what we were thinking, but, yeah, it would be five weeks from the Travers to the Gold Cup and then four weeks to the Breeders' Cup, which is good timing for horses that race in the Travers."

While the specter of American Pharoah will hover over the meet, Saratoga will be anything but a one-day show.

Though the handicap division is in flux with Shared Belief and 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome sidelined with injuries and 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern failing to regain top form, the benefits of an usually deep handicap division promise to make the $1.25 million Whitney on Aug. 8 a highlight of the meet.

Noble Bird and Lea, who were 1-2 in the recent Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs, plus 2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and Metropolitan Handicap winner Honor Code are the big names pointing toward the race . Moreno, winner of last year's Whitney, Wicked Strong, V E Day, Effinex and Coach Inge are also possibilities for the Grade 1, mile-and-an-eighth test.

"There's still four weeks to go, but right now it looks like it should be an interesting race," Panza said about the Whitney. "It could still be one of the stronger editions. There's a lot of depth which you usually don't find."

Three-year-old racing, as usual, will be in the spotlight, and while the attention of the racing world will be on American Pharoah and the Haskell on Aug. 2, Saratoga's stepping stone prep for the Travers on Aug. 1 -- the Jim Dandy -- figures to attract a solid field with horses like Belmont Stakes runner-up Frosted, 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red and Easy Goer winner Japan among the top candidates.

"With American Pharoah in the Haskell, I'm not sure if a whole lot of people will be willing to take him on and that will help a race like the Jim Dandy," Panza said.

Among the newcomers at the meet will be trainer Mark Casse, who did not ship to Saratoga last year, but will have 40 stalls this year, and Keith Desormeaux, who trains Texas Red.

"We have some new outfits coming in and that will help bolster the meet," Panza said. "Stalls are pretty much full with a lot of trainers trying to get more but they're not available. That's always a good sign because those trainers usually have horses that are ready to run. I'm optimistic that if the weather cooperates, we'll have a good meet."

This year Panza will take over for Frank Gabriel as racing secretary at Saratoga and he hopes to craft a condition book that will allow the famed Grand Dame of racing to host quality cards on a daily basis.

"I think it's important that when you write a condition book and there are 10 or 11 races a day in it, you should run those races. A lot of people are flying in, or driving up and renting rooms," Panza said. "You can't make it happen all the time, but if we can run those races in the condition book 85 or 90 percent of the time, and be consistent, that's what you should try to do. I'm not a big believer in extra races. I believe a racing secretary's job is to write a book that will go, and that's what we'll try to do. Frank did a great [job] of doing that last year and we'll try to continue that."

Of course, if there's one day and race that will serve as the lasting image of the 2015 meet, it promises to be the one fans have been waiting 37 years to see.

'We talk about Saratoga as a racetrack. We talk about the prestige of the Travers. But we have a town that loves racing and it would be great to have him come there," Panza said. "You have to figure for the three or four days leading up to the race the city will be electric. The town is going to be packed and people are going to be in the restaurants talking about the race and the horse. That doesn't happen in a lot of places. Only a few racetracks can create a buzz like Saratoga and that would be a cool thing to see."