John Hendrickson

Andy Serling, the longtime New York Racing Association television analyst and handicapper, was honored at a Wednesday morning brunch by the New York Race Track Chaplaincy for his ongoing support of the backstretch community at the organization's 15th annual fund-raising brunch at Saratoga National Golf Club in Saratoga Springs, New York. "Anyone who has been around our sport knows that the backstretch community is the lifeblood of our sport," he said. "I greatly admire all those people who dedicate their lives to the care of Thoroughbreds and I'm immensely grateful...

Officials at NYRA Cares and Backstretch Employee Service Team (B.E.S.T.) announced that a new healthcare clinic will be built at Saratoga Race Course and is due to open in 2023. As a tribute to his late wife, Marylou Whitney, philanthropist John Hendrickson is funding construction of the new clinic, which will replace a double wide trailer that has housed on-site healthcare services at the track. The new clinic will provide a dramatically improved experience for those receiving primary and emergency healthcare services at Saratoga Race Course, which will be provided...

Godolphin's once-beaten Maxfield (Street Sense), the impressive 3 1/4-length winner of Churchill's GII Stephen Foster S. when last seen June 26, tuned up for his next appearance in the Aug. 7 GI Whitney S. with a half-mile breeze over the Oklahoma training track Friday morning that was timed in :49.09 (14/46). Working in the company of stablemate Longpants Required (New Year's Day), the son of Velvety (Bernardini) covered his first two furlongs in :25.3 and was out five-eighths of a mile in 1:01.1 according to NYRA clockers. "I just wanted...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - Four days short of two years after her death, Marylou Whitney managed to upstage Thursday's feel-good, season-opener at Saratoga Race Course. Pretty Birdie (Bird Song), bred and owned by Marylou Whitney Stables, struck just the right emotional note--bridging the past and the present--with her gate-to-wire victory in the 103rd running of the GIII Schuylerville S. "It's a little bittersweet. I wish she was here," Whitney's husband John Hendrickson said. "She would love this. Saratoga is open and she's won a race. Things are the way they...

Gainesway Farm's three-time North American champion sire Tapit will be the featured stallion for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's Foal Patrol Season 4, which will debut online at www.foalpatrol.com on Dec. 29. One of the most influential and breed-shaping stallions of the past half-century, Tapit has sired 27 Grade I winners, 31 yearlings to bring $1 million or more at auction, and earners of more than $162 million on the racetrack. He stands at historic Gainesway in Lexington, Ky., for a 2021 fee of $185,000. Foal...

The Marylou Whitney Collection Auction, an online event featuring items owned by the late philanthropist, will benefit the new backstretch medical clinic operated at Saratoga Race Course by Saratoga Hospital and the Backstretch Employee Service Team. Among the offerings up for auction are a diamond choker necklace and a pristine 1985 red Jaguar XJ6, as well as couture ensembles and cocktail dresses by Bill Blass, Arnold Scassi, and Chanel; evening purses by Judith Lieber Couture and Chanel; fur coats; hats; vintage dresses; and designer scarves by Hermes and Tiffany. The...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame announced the 2020 Hall of Fame induction ceremony and the Museum Ball has been canceled as a result of the ongoing health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are incredibly disappointed we won't be able to have these time-honored special events this summer, but the health concerns we are facing right now take precedence," said John Hendrickson, president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. "The Hall of Fame ceremony is an experience we want...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame opened in 1959, and it was showing its age. With out-of-date plaques, no interactive exhibits and new technologies, it was a 20th-century museum in a 21st-century world. That, however, is about to change. An effort to modernize started when John Hendrickson was named the museum's president in 2017. He vowed to improve the facility and the fan experience. Some three years later, and after $12 million was poured into the project, future visitors will find a new, better and more modern...