New York Racing Association

Two New York residents sued the state, its governing bodies, elected officials, and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) on Thursday in an attempt to block the recently announced $455-million loan to renovate Belmont Park. "This case is about the State of New York's unconstitutional appropriation of taxpayer funds by loaning nearly half a billion dollars to NYRA, all while turning a blind eye to NYRA's past two decades of financial mismanagement, malfeasance and scandal, and, more importantly, ignoring the State's Constitutional prohibition against providing State monies--whether by loan or...

New York-breds racing in open company at Saratoga this summer will be competing for increased purses, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday. "NYRA is committed to supporting and enhancing the New York-bred program now and in the future," said Frank Gabriel, NYRA SVP of Racing Operations. "These purse increases reflect the sustained growth of the New York-bred marketplace, while also rewarding owners already invested in the program." The purse for registered New York-breds running in select open-company races will be 30% higher than the purse offered for non-New York-breds....

In a tweet sent out Tuesday afternoon, Gulfstream Park announced that Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado has retired. With 7,119 victories, Prado, 56, is the eighth winningest jockey in the sport's history. He has not ridden since the Jan. 6 card at Gulfstream. At deadline for this story, Prado had not returned a phone from the TDN, but told the Blood-Horse that he wanted to spend more time with his family. "It was getting harder and harder and I was wasting the time that I spent with my family,...

The mission of the New York Racetrack Chaplaincy is to better the lives of the some 3,500 people who care for the horses at the NYRA racetracks, which, among other things, means finding an outlet in the summer for the children of the backstretch workers during the Saratoga meet. It's a huge need given the obstacles backstretch families encounter when it comes to how to care for their kids, but the Racetrack Chaplaincy has come up with an answer. Some 10 years ago, the group started the Saratoga Enrichment Program,...

Not much has changed at the New York Racing Association in recent years, but that's about to change. A new Belmont Park is now in the planning stages and is expected to be ready for the 2026 spring meet. And what about the GI Belmont S.? Will the three Triple Crown tracks stick to tradition or will there be an overhaul of the series, which would likely mean that the final leg of the Triple Crown will be pushed back a few weeks? To answer to those questions and more,...

Blue Rose Farm's Arcangelo (Arrogate), last-out winner of the GIII Peter Pan S., worked five furlongs in 1:02.81 (2/5) at Belmont Park Wednesday in preparation for the June 10 GI Belmont S. New York Racing Association clockers caught the grey galloping out six-furlongs in 1:15 4/5 and seven-furlongs in 1:28 4/5. Javier Castellano was in the irons. "He's a nice, beautiful-moving horse and he did it easy. He's a good work horse. In the morning, you can work him :59 if you wanted," Castellano said. "We all know that [the...

Richard E. Dutrow, Jr., was approved for a training license by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)'s license review committee Tuesday. The voice vote was unanimous and without drama, and Dutrow's license goes into effect immediately. Dutrow in February had regained his license to train horses in New York after sitting out a 10-year revocation imposed by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC). The 63-year-old GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer with the long and controversial history of racing infractions has a 1-1-1 record from six starts at Belmont Park since...

Eye Witness (City of Light) kept his win streak intact with a victory over the soaked turf at Belmont on Saturday afternoon in the Paradise Creek S. After a debut third last fall against state bred company on the grass during the Belmont at the Big A meet, the bay colt went to the sidelines before coming back to his trainer's base at Turfway where he broke his maiden with a front-running score Jan. 1 by 1 3/4 lengths. Stepping up in class in the Animal Kingdom S. in Florence,...

There was a lot to celebrate earlier this month when it was confirmed that the New York State's budget will include a $455-million loan to the New York Racing Association that will go toward a complete rebuild of Belmont Park. That means Belmont will be torn down and replaced by a new structure and that once the new building is up, racing will cease at Aqueduct. But when will it happen? What will the new track look like? And what does it mean for the yearly racing schedule? Here are...

The 2024 New York budget bills approved by Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Senate and Assembly and released to the public Monday includes authorization for the New York Racing Association to utilize a $455-million loan to build new Thoroughbred racing facilities at Belmont Park. With the state approval, NYRA plans construction of a new building that will completely replace the existing grandstand and clubhouse. The current 1.25-million sq foot structure, which was last renovated in 1968, will be replaced with a roughly 275,000-sq ft facility featuring modern amenities and...

Season passes for the upcoming Saratoga Race Course summer meet will go on sale Wednesday at NYRA.com/Saratoga. Available for $75 through the end of May, a season pass provides fans with admission for all 40 days of the Saratoga meet, including the Aug. 26 Travers Day card, at the equivalent of less than $2 per day. Without a season pass, Travers Day advance general admission is $25. Starting June 1, season passes will be available for $85 and beginning July 1 for $95. The summer meet will open July 13...

The main takeaway from Wednesday's meeting of the New York State Franchise Oversight Board is that the Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park of today will look quite different by the end of 2024, with the bulk of the meeting spent outlining a series of proposed and ongoing capital improvement projects, which the board approved. Arguably the news of most significance is planned installation of a new one-mile synthetic track to the inside of Belmont Park's inner turf course. This synthetic surface--the specific material of which is currently unknown--will serve...