NYRA

The Paul Sapienza Elmont/Belmont Parade will be held on Saturday, June 1, revealed the New York Racing Association. This year will mark the 16th edition of the one-mile parade celebrating the Elmont community and the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets. This year's Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will be held in Saratoga Springs. The parade will kick off from the Covert Avenue School at 10 a.m. and continue west on Hempstead Turnpike before concluding at the Alva T. Stanforth Sports Complex adjacent to the Elmont Library (700 Hempstead Turnpike). Participants in...

The Week in Review On a day when there were three stakes races, two of them Grade I's, at Santa Anita, the biggest draw on the Monday card was a maiden, Eagles Flight (Curlin). He drew more fans to the paddock than were there for any of the stakes. That's what happens when you're making your first start and are a half-brother to the great Flightline (Tapit). Crank up the hype machine. Eagles Flight, sent off at 11-10, won by 2 3/4 lengths, drawing away with ease inside the final...

The Pick 6 carryover of $44,200 will be transferred to the Thursday, June 6 program at Saratoga Race Course after a pair of races included in the multi-race wager were taken off the turf on Monday's card. Following the conclusion of Race 4--the opening leg of the Pick 6 wager--and a weather delay which included significant rainfall, the New York Racing Association, Inc. took Race 6 and Race 7 off-the-turf. A total of $230,327 in new money was wagered into Monday's Pick 6 pool at a carryover takeout rate of...

A Grade I-winning juvenile at Saratoga, Leave No Trace picked up her second consecutive victory of the season in Saturday's GIII Vagrancy S. Stalking Beguine (Gun Runner) from second through fractions of :22.24 and :44.72, Jose Lezcano called on his charge for more in the lane and she responded, collaring Beguine entering the final furlong. The 8-1 chance took over from there and held the favored California invader Big Pond, making her first start for Bill Mott, safe. Leave No Trace, winner of the 2022 GI Spinaway S., ended a...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) have formed an agreement that the GII Belmont Gold Cup, slated for Thursday, June 6 at Saratoga Race Course, will be a 'Golden Ticket' event offering the winner an automatic berth into the G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup, NYRA said in a Friday release. The new partnership will provide the winner of the Belmont Gold Cup, a two-mile test for older horses, a place in the starting gate for the Lexus Melbourne Cup on Nov. 5, 2024, at...

The New York Trainers Health Insurance Program (NYTHIP) has seen rising participation each year since being signed into law in October 2021. Trainers who compete on the New York Racing Association circuit over the course of a calendar year are eligible to enroll in the program for the following year, provided they meet two criteria: Minimum of 43 starts at NYRA tracks (Aqueduct, Belmont & Saratoga) Minimum of 60% of all starts must be at NYRA tracks Legislation was originally proposed by the New York  Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and its...

Samantha Randazzo will no longer serve as The Jockey Club steward at New York Racing Association Inc. (NYRA) racetracks, the Jockey Club announced Thursday. The move was made with immediate effect. Current NYRA safety steward Juliet Kagno will fill the vacancy for the remainder of NYRA's Aqueduct spring meet and for the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet from May 2 to July 7. Former Jockey Club steward at NYRA Dr. Ted Hill will assume the steward position during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga from June 6-9...

The Whitney Viewing Stand at Saratoga's Oklahoma Training Track will open to the public beginning Thursday, Apr. 25, the New York Racing Association said in a release Wednesday afternoon. Prior to the start of the summer meet, the site will be open free of charge from Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ET. The Oklahoma Training Track is accessible to pedestrians through Gate 21 on East Avenue. Parking is not currently available within the Oklahoma grounds. The opening of the Whitney Viewing Stand also coincides with the...

Expected to require four to six months of work, on Friday, Apr. 5 the New York Racing Association, Inc. will embark on the initial stages of the demolition of the current Belmont Park grandstand and clubhouse, the track said in a release Thursday. To bring down a 1.25 million square foot building will require a host of engineers and experts tasked with deliberately removing usable materials from a building that opened to the public in 1968. A total of 75 percent of the materials will be recycled including concrete, steel,...

Track announcer John Imbriale has announced that he will retire following a 44-year career with the New York Racing Association. Imbriale's tenure with NYRA dates to 1979 when he won a New York Daily News contest, giving him the opportunity to call a race and work with the NYRA press office. In 1990, the Queens, New York native became Tom Durkin's backup and along the way, took on other responsibilities at NYRA by working with Harvey Pack on the Inside Racing program, and in a variety of roles within NYRA...

DraftKings Inc. and the New York Racing Association, Inc. have made an agreement to establish the digital sports and gaming company as an official betting partner of both Saratoga Race Course and the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, as well as the presenting sponsor of the GI Travers S., the track said in Thursday release. Under the sponsorship, DraftKings's advance deposit wagering offering--DK Horse--will play a prominent role throughout the festival. Along with the DraftKings Travers, NYRA's new partner will also become the presenting sponsor for the GI DK Horse Acorn...

Linda Rice continued to assert her dominance on the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit when capturing the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet training title with 23 wins at the 45-day meeting which ran from Jan. 1 through Mar. 30. Rice has now won the training title at six of the last seven NYRA meetings, along with year-end honors last year as the circuit's top trainer with a record-tying 164 wins. She also came out on top at last year's Big A winter meet with 37 wins. "It's great," said...