Belmont Park

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There could be another weekend of racing at Saratoga Race Course in 2025, if a plan being considered by the New York Racing Association is adopted. Although the racing would take place at the historic upstate facility, NYRA officials said it technically would not be an expansion of the 40-day Saratoga season. If the proposal is approved, the Fourth of July weekend--July 4 falls on a Friday--at Saratoga would be the final days of the Belmont of Aqueduct meet. The Saratoga season would begin on Thursday,...

As renovations continue at Belmont Park, The New York Racing Association (NYRA) divulged a plan July 1 to conduct approximately three months of winter racing annually at Belmont exclusively on an all-weather surface. A one-mile Tapeta track is currently under construction at Belmont, while the facility is scheduled to reopen in 2026. Lisa Lazarus, the CEO of the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority (HISA) provided a letter Friday to NYRA in support of the decision. The letter appears in full below. To Whom it May Concern: The Horseracing Integrity and...

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey tells us how he got his unique nickname. He also lets us know who he doesn't like to play golf with. Who do you think is the horse that is closest to his heart out of all of those he has trained? If you thought Easy Goer, you would be wrong. Shug also tells us what his favorite race track is and how long he wants to keep doing this (hint: he isn't going anywhere anytime time soon). Here is the Saratoga Conversation. TDN:...

The Thoroughbred Education and Research Foundation (TERF) has awarded $10,000 to the Belmont Childcare Association, Inc. (BCCA) for their early childhood education program, the organization said in a release Thursday. The mission of the BCCA is to provide a safe, supportive and academically inspiring environment for the children of parents working in the Thoroughbred racing backstretch area located at NYRA's three tracks. BCCA has received funds from TERF over the last five years and will once again use the grant to prepare students for elementary school as they develop physically,...

Manny Franco was the leading rider and Chad Brown took the leading trainer title at the 35-day Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet which concluded Sunday. Franco, 29, topped the table on the heels of a prosperous Aqueduct spring meet where he won the title with 28 wins. He visited the winner's circle 41 times as part of a 210-41-41-25 record with $3,148,141 in earnings at the Belmont meeting. "It's special. I have never won this one before, so it's amazing," said Franco. "I'm so happy to have the...

The one-mile Tapeta track currently under construction at Belmont Park will become the exclusive winter racing surface on the New York Racing Association circuit when the Long Island facility reopens in 2026, NYRA announced Monday. The change will result in approximately three months of racing exclusively on an all-weather surface with the shift from dirt to the all-weather in the winter months expected to enhance equine safety and provide additional opportunities for the circuit's year-round horse population for the benefit of the state's Thoroughbred racing ecosystem. "At its core, our...

The New York Racing Association will be hosting a Belmont Stakes Watch Party just steps from the race's traditional home track on Long Island. The event will be held at Northwell Presents The Park at UBS Arena, a community space unveiled in December featuring two outdoor hockey rinks and a variety of amenities. Northwell Presents The Park at UBS Arena is located in the Belmont Park backyard adjacent to UBS Arena. The Belmont Stakes Watch Party will open at 1 p.m. and is free of charge, with complimentary parking available...

The span between Memorial Day and the third leg of the Triple Crown is often a quiet one in the racing world. Not this year, though. Here's a shaking-out of a reporter's notebook from a week that generated some unexpected headlines. Louisiana's move to more lenient medication rules: TDN's survey of seven trainers--Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, Michael Stidham, Tom Amoss, Al Stall, Dallas Stewart, Cherie DeVaux--spoke volumes about the announcement by the Louisiana Racing Commission that it would be implementing "emergency" standards that softened a number of drug-regulating standards as...

'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) returned to the worktab for the first time since his bang-up second to Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in the GI Kentucky Derby, breezing a half-mile in the company of his GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby-winning stablemate Domestic Product (Practical Joke) in :48.20 (3/31) over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga. With light rain falling, the pair galloped out six furlongs in 1:14 4/5, according to trainer Chad Brown. "I thought the horse worked super," Brown said of Sierra Leone, who was once again...

Pop quiz: The $400,000 GII Man o' War S. is scheduled to run this weekend at Belmont at the Big A at 11 furlongs on the grass. What previous Man o' War winner still holds the course record at Belmont Park for the distance? If you guessed Influent (Ascot Knight--Katerina Key, by Key to the Mint), you'd be right. Two months before he won the Man o' War in 1997, then a Grade I, he covered the same 1 3/8 miles on Belmont's Widener Turf Course in 2:11.06 in the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While most of the racing world was focused on the 150th GI Kentucky Derby run last Saturday at Churchill Downs, the final stop on the Triple Crown series--the 156th GI Belmont S., some six weeks hence on June 8--is already at the top of the charts for plenty of people in this horse-centric upstate city. In order to accommodate the massive makeover of Belmont Park, New York Racing Association officials decided last year to stage the 2024 and 2025 runnings of the Belmont S. at Saratoga...

St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone, C. Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable's Deterministic (Liam's Map) turned in his first work since finishing a well-beaten eighth in the Apr. 6 GII Wood Memorial S. with a five-furlong move in 1:02.63 (11/19) over the dirt training track at Belmont Park Sunday. Deterministic is 16th on the eligibility list for the GI Kentucky Derby thanks to his victory in the GIII Gotham S., but trainer Christophe Clement confirmed the dark bay colt will skip the Run for the Roses. "I spoke to the owners...