New York Racing Association

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) has released a variety of downloadable content to accompany next Saturday's GI Belmont S. Branded as Your Belmont Stakes, features include contender information, race-day activities and more. This year's Belmont will be contested without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "'Your Belmont Stakes' is a great way to get involved and follow the action on one of the best days of the year in American racing," said Don Scott, Vice President, Marketing at NYRA. "These interactive tools are our way of providing 'the next...

While the Thoroughbred industry is set to welcome back racing at Belmont Park this Wednesday, the races will not be shown on TVG. Reporting for HorseRacingNation, Ron Flatter said that NYRA races will appear only on FOX Sports, MSG+ and across advance-deposit wagering platforms, including TVG. "FOX Sports has significantly increased its commitment to horse racing every year since our partnership began in 2016," said Tony Allevato, Chief Revenue Officer for NYRA and the president of the company's advance-deposit wagering platform NYRA Bets. "This year, FOX Sports presented NYRA with...

As the racing world mostly returned to order last week with the reopening of Santa Anita and Churchill and dates for two-thirds of the rescheduled Triple Crown being locked in, eyes turned to the New York Racing Association. Located in the epicenter of the world's coronavirus pandemic, NYRA hasn't run a race card since Mar. 15 at Aqueduct, and has remained in limbo like much of the state as the virus peaked, then slowly--painfully slowly--retreated. But with Governor Andrew Cuomo's proclamation that racing could resume in New York beginning June...

In addition to the news about the GI Belmont S. and stakes schedule at the upcoming Belmont meet, the New York Racing Association announced new safety initiatives and entry rule changes for the 25-day meet. Among them are new rules for horses coming off of long layoffs and horses making belated career debuts. Horses which have not started in more than 180 days, but fewer than 365 days, will be placed on the Veterinarians' List and must be presented to the NYRA Veterinarian prior to racing, while horses which have...

The sale of new t-shirts with the slogans "Belmont Tough" and "Saratoga Tough" will be used to raise funds for the New York Racing Association backstretch community during the COVID-19 pandemic. NYRA will donate all net proceeds from t-shirt sales in equal allotments to three non-profit organizations which serve the Belmont Park backstretch community: the Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA); the Backstretch Employee Service Team of New York (B.E.S.T.); and the New York Race Track Chaplaincy of America (NYRTCA). "The backstretch workers are the unsung heroes of our sport," said...

Legal challenges filed last autumn by the Village of Floral Park to try and halt construction of a $1.3-billion hockey arena, hotel, and retail project adjacent to Belmont Park have been tossed out by a New York State Supreme Court judge. The two state agencies that green-lighted the project--the Empire State Urban Development Corporation and the New York State Franchise Oversight Board--were defendants in the lawsuit. The initial lawsuit cited an allegedly flawed bidding process and "secret master plan" for the arena's development that was allegedly floated by the New...

This is the second installment in a series highlighting racetrack photographers. We'll be asking about the most memorable horses, races, and people they've viewed through the lens and talking about how the craft of equine imagery has evolved. Each time we profile a photographer, TDN will feature their hand-selected favorite shots in multiple editions throughout the week. Members of the Coglianese family have been photographing horses at New York racetracks since the early 20th Century. Bob Coglianese, 85, first started shooting horse races in 1952 under the tutelage of an...

Keeneland Race Course will be seeking a short summer race meet after losing its spring season to COVID-19 closure. Yet management at the Lexington track is trying to be mindful that such a move would have a ripple effect not only on Ellis Park, which traditionally has the Kentucky circuit all to itself during that time frame, but also the horse populations and stakes programs at Saratoga and Del Mar, the bi-coastal heavyweights that dominate American racing in the mid-July through Labor Day window. "We're looking to run an abbreviated...

The New York Racing Association and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association have announced they will match the projected per start owners' aftercare contribution to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance through the end of the now cancelled Aqueduct Racetrack spring meet. New York's owners donate $10 per start to the TAA, and NYRA matches that donation at the conclusion of each meet. Based on a projection of 1,200 starters through the end of April at Aqueduct, NYRA and NYTHA will contribute $24,000 to the aftercare program. "It is important that we...

As the calendar turned to mid-April, suddenly opening day at Saratoga doesn't seem that far off. The meet is set to begin in less than three months, on July 16. And while resuming racing at Belmont is of more immediate concern, it's not too early for the New York Racing Association team to begin to explore options for Saratoga, options that should include racing downstate throughout the summer. That's assuming that NYRA is allowed to race at all. The only thing we know now is that Belmont will not open...

The late Triple Crown nomination deadline, which was scheduled for Monday, will be extended to an as-yet undetermined later date under an extension agreed upon by racing officials at Churchill Downs Racetrack, the Maryland Jockey Club and the New York Racing Association. While the date of the GI Kentucky Derby has already been pushed back to Sept. 5, officials are still considering possible alternate dates for the GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. When all three Triple Crown dates appear to be firm, a late Triple Crown nomination closing...

Sunday training at Belmont Park will cease starting Mar. 29, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has confirmed. The cutback to a six-day weekly training schedule comes in the wake of Thursday's news that a Belmont backstretch worker tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The worker and his roommate, who live in a Belmont backstretch dormitory, have been in isolation since Mar. 13. That coronavirus diagnosis led to the indefinite suspension of live racing at Aqueduct Racetrack as of Mar. 20. NYRA had phased out stabling at Aqueduct at the...