Sue Finley
Sue Morris Finley grew up in Weston, Connecticut, the daughter of a high school French and Spanish teacher and a homemaker–both of whom loved horse racing. She spent her childhood driving back and forth to Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga with her family. A cum laude graduate of New York University with Bachelor's Degrees in French and Journalism, she began an internship in the NYRA press department while still a senior at NYU and accepted a full-time position at the track in her final term. She worked for NYRA for eight years, where she made the early morning line and was in charge of promoting the sport through television. In 1991, she went to work as a researcher on ABC's Wide World of Sports, where she covered horse racing as well as amateur sports, spending six weeks at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. In 1993, she was part of the team that took over the production of the Thoroughbred Daily News, and oversaw its move to Red Bank, NJ, becoming its co-publisher. For 12 years, she was the First Vice President of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, a national organization dedicated to the humane retirement of former racehorses, and served three years on the board of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. A native New Englander and lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, she lives a stone's throw from the TDN's Red Bank, NJ offices with her two children, two rescue dogs, and the occasional foster dog.
Not This Time Share Kicks Off Tuesday Night at Fasig Saratoga
August 6, 2023
A share in leading sire Not This Time figures to provide some fireworks when it kicks off the action Tuesday night at Saratoga. The sale of the share is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Not This Time is the sire of five Grade I winners from three crops to race, and is the leading fourth-crop sire [...]
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Technology, Engagement, and the Future the Focus of Annual Round Table Conference
August 3, 2023
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A panel on computer-assisted wagering (CAW) and its pros and cons, and another on trainers' reactions to the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) regulations, took center stage at the 2023 Jockey Club Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing held in Saratoga Springs, New York on Thursday. Patrick [...]
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HISA Changes Provisional Suspension Rules; Will Wait for B Sample
July 28, 2023
The Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has changed their provisional suspension policy regarding banned substances and will now wait to suspend a trainer until the split (B) sample is returned, according to a press release from HISA Friday morning. “Last Friday, HIWU was informed that a split (B) sample did not confirm the [...]
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Ray Handal's Suspension Lifted by HIWU; Feed Toxin Blamed
July 5, 2023
After considering the findings submitted by attorney Clark Brewster, the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) has lifted the provisional suspension imposed on trainer Raymond Handal on Saturday, July 1 after a test detected the presence of Zeranol and Zearalenone in the urine sample taken from his horse, Barrage (War Dancer), May 28 at [...]
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Raymond Handal Provisionally Suspended After Zeranol Positive; Brewster Says Feed Contamination
July 1, 2023
Trainer Raymond Handal has been provisionally suspended by the Horse Racing Welfare and Integrity Unit after his horse Barrage (War Dancer) returned a positive test for the banned substance Zeranol after finishing second in an optional claiming allowance at Belmont May 28. Handal's provisional suspension starts July 1. Under the regulations, Handal has the right [...]
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Len Green Issues Challenge Grant in Memory of Wife Lois
June 28, 2023
Len Green has issued a $25,000 challenge grant to raise money for the New York Racetrack Chaplaincy's Summer Enrichment Program, in memory of his wife, Lois, who passed away May 31. The Chaplaincy's summer enrichment program provides the children of backstretch workers the opportunity to attend local summer camps when their families travel to Saratoga [...]
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Heider Family Foundation Issues Challenge Grant for Chaplaincy Summer Enrichment Program
June 24, 2023
Scott and Cindy Heider and their Heider Family Foundation have issued a $10,000 matching grant to raise money for the New York Race Track Chaplaincy's Summer Enrichment program, the focus of a TDN feature earlier this week. The Chaplaincy started the summer program 10 years ago to allow families to stay together when racing shifts [...]
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Porta Fortuna Is Medallion Racing's Lucky Charm at Ascot
June 23, 2023
Ever since Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio)'s win in the G3 Coolmore Stud Irish EBF Fillies Sprint S. at Naas last month, bloodstock agent Mark McStay had been pestering Taylor Made's Mark Taylor to make his plans to come to Royal Ascot. But the Taylor family is more known for probity and hard work than they [...]
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With Valiant Force, Spendthrift's Rangel Is a Royal Ascot-Winning Breeder
June 22, 2023
He's the first one to admit he's a “little guy,” a small breeder who owns two mares, two breeding rights, and all the good and bad luck that comes along with any such small operation. Losing his farm in the economic crisis of 2009 was just about as bad as it gets. Winning a race [...]
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NTL Kickoff Event at Hudson Yards Promises Change for Racing
June 14, 2023
An event to announce the team owners, names, colors and logos for the six National Thoroughbred League teams promised the assembled crowd at Hudson Yards in Manhattan to do racing in a new and different way, and at least on this night, they delivered. The evening featured a fashion show—not of the racing silks or [...]
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NYRA: If Necessary, We'd Prefer Belmont-at-Saratoga
June 12, 2023
With the construction of the new Belmont Park scheduled to begin after the spring 2024 meet, and plans for the 2025 event still uncertain, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) expressed their preference that a non-Belmont-Park Belmont Stakes be held at Saratoga rather than Aqueduct. “Should the construction of a new Belmont Park require the [...]
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Lois Green of DJ Stables Passes Away
June 1, 2023
Lois Green, the co-owner of DJ Stables with her husband Len, passed away Wednesday morning, May 31, according to her husband. She was 84. Green graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Biology. She was a trustee of the Leonard and Lois Green Charitable Foundation. “Lois was an avid reader of the TDN and [...]
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