Celebrity watch

For those who were too busy spinning the turnstiles at the track Sunday, the celebrity watch has started: Hawk from the early 80s television sci-fi series Buck Rodgers.

Get your cameras ready, folks, ‘cause Thom Christopher has been spotted in the Spa City. Perhaps he’s better known for his appearances on Law and Order or daytime soap, One Life to Live. He was one of three “celebrities” at a trackside Q-and-A as part of a fundraiser for the Special Olympics.

Joining him was Fox 23’s John Gray, who’s best known for his nightly segment called Tool Time. Oh wait, that’s just his nightly newscast. And who could have a celebrity extravaganza without the Saratoga Racecourse's newly anointed Travers queen Yolanda Vega. Now that’s a lineup to draw out the paparazzi.

True, the work they’re doing is to raise money for the Special Olympics, which everyone can agree is a good cause. But when an aging B-show supporting actor, a local anchor and the lottery queen are the only headliners you can attract to a worthy event, it’s time for organizers to go back to the drawing board, because that’s a lineup that won’t raise much of anything other than questions like who the hell is Thom Christopher.

Were organizers in a pinch for plausible celebrities, they should have asked the Rod Stewart look-alike to answer some questions for the cameras. People don’t even care anymore that he’s not the real thing.