New York Racing Association

Churchill Downs Inc. has entered into an agreement to sell 49% of United Tote Company to NYRA Content Management Solutions, LLC, a subsidiary of the New York Racing Association. The transaction is subject to usual and customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory notices and approvals, and is expected to close by the end of 2022. As part of the agreement, the United Tote pari-mutuel settlements business will be excluded and will remain with CDI. CDI and NYRA intend to work together to create and provide a comprehensive and efficient industry-leading...

Since last summer, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has trialed on thousands of runners a discreet sensor technology capable of detecting minute changes in a horse's gait at high speed. Called StrideSAFE, the biometric sensor mechanism slips into the saddle cloth and works like a traffic light signal, providing a green for all-clear, an amber for possible warning (light amber better than dark amber), and a red for possible danger. The ultimate aim of StrideSAFE--a focus of discussion during the recent Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation Welfare and Safety of...

Saratoga's seventh race Sunday, a 1 1/16-mile turf event for maiden juvenile fillies, was declared a no contest after a mechanical issue with the starting gate tractor caused an outrider to attempt to stop the field on the backstretch (click for replay). While the starting gate was ultimately moved in time and the majority of runners finished the race, several were pulled up prematurely. Towhead (Malibu Moon), a third-time starter stretching out off a pair of on-the-board efforts on the Churchill dirt and part of a 5-1 entry, battled back...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - D. Wayne Lukas is back and so is the Wilson Chute, after a much, much longer absence, for the 154th summer of Thoroughbred racing in Saratoga. The 40-day season at historic Saratoga Race Course launches Thursday and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 5. It will be the 77th consecutive year of competition at Saratoga--since the closing for three years during World War II--which coincidentally makes it the second half of the very long run since the first meet was held in 1863. During the eight-plus weeks...

The New York Racing Association, New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and the New York Thoroughbred Breeders will host the second annual New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day at Saratoga Race Course July 21. The day will include a variety of events and demonstrations to highlight the work of the New York State aftercare community. The featured race will be the $125,000 Rick Violette, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for New York-bred sophomores named for the late trainer and NYTHA President who spearheaded the creation of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program...

Edited Press Release The New York Racing Association (NYRA) and the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will highlight the career and accomplishments of the renowned cartoonist Pierre "Peb" Bellocq during a ceremony at Belmont Park Saturday, July 9, as part of the Stars and Stripes Racing Festival. In 2020, Bellocq was selected to be a member of the National Museum of Racing's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, NYRA and the Racing Museum have yet...

Sixteen months after a widely criticized rule forcing the pari-mutuel coupling of married jockeys cost an estimated $4.2 million in handle loss at Aqueduct Racetrack, the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) on Wednesday finally voted in a rule change that resolved a bureaucratic logjam by changing four words in a regulation that is about 50 years old. So after nearly a year and a half of the rule resulting in truncated field sizes, being widely bemoaned by the betting public, and being termed as sexist by critics because it...

The New York Racing Association will welcome several sports and television celebrities to Saratoga Race Course to meet with fans during the brand-new "Stars at the Spa" entertainment series set to debut during the 2022 summer meet. The stars scheduled to visit historic Saratoga include: former New York Knicks power forward Charles Oakley Sunday, July 24; "Real Housewives of New Jersey" TV personality Teresa Giudice Sunday, July 31; and former New York Yankees All-Star and World Series champion Bernie Williams Sunday, Sept. 4. The "Stars at the Spa" series, presented...

They could only scrape together a field of four for Saturday's GII Mother Goose S. at Belmont Park, run two weeks after they had a field of four in the GI Acorn S. Saturday's third race at Belmont fared no better. Only four went in the Wild Applause S., and three of them were trained by Chad Brown. And it isn't just a NYRA problem. The number of stakes run across the country that have attracted five horses or fewer is alarming. Since May 7, GI Kentucky Derby Day, there...

The Caesars Turf Triple, the New York Racing Association (NYRA)'s series for 3-year-olds on the grass, will kick off July 9 at Belmont Park and may include a major European contingent. NYRA released the invitees Saturday for both the GI Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational, worth $1 million, and the $700,000 GI Belmont Oaks Invitational. Both the male and female divisions begin at the distance of 1 1/4 miles. Of the six races in the series--three each for colts and fillies--four were won last year by European-based trainers. Aidan O'Brien, who...

A three-member panel assigned with the task of deciding whether or not the New York Racing Association was justified in punishing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert announced its decision late Thursday afternoon, issuing a one-year suspension from the NYRA tracks, effective immediately. In April, a hearing officer recommended that Baffert be suspended for two years, so Thursday's decision was not a complete loss for the embattled trainer. After a federal judge ordered that NYRA could not impose a ban on Baffert without affording the trainer due process, a hearing...

The Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA) celebrated the Anna House Class of 2022 graduation Tuesday at Belmont Park with 12 students from its early childhood education program for the children of backstretch workers based at Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack and Saratoga Race Course. The ceremony, attended by New York state and local elected officials and community leaders, marked the completion of the children's year-round pre-K program, where they were taught English, math, reading, gardening, art, nutrition and other topics in a STEAM-based curriculum. The students are now prepared to enter...