Belmont Park

Bruce Johnstone was, without question, one of the finest persons I ever met in the Thoroughbred world. At the beginning of 1977, he was 34, I was 30. It was my first year at Fasig-Tipton, then headquartered at the back gate of Belmont Park. A few years on, Bruce opened a public stable at Belmont, under the kindly eye of Horatio Luro, who remained his mentor and friend until Horatio passed away in 1991. Bruce trained there for the colorful Dr. Jose (Pepe) Sahagun and his Villa Blanca Farm, taking...

The stakes schedule for the 51-day Belmont Park spring/summer meet, featuring 58 total stakes races worth $18.65 million starting Friday, Apr. 24 through Sunday, July 12, was announced by the New York Racing Association, Inc. Saturday. The meet will offer 11 total Grade I contests and five races with purses of $1 million or higher, with the first four of those contests coming during the three-day GI Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from Thursday, June 4 through Saturday, June 6. The festival will encompass 17 total stakes, including eight Grade Is...

"Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland" is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale who have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages. 'TDN Rising Star' Valid Point (Scat Daddy) isn't exactly following the script his owners envisioned when they bought him as a $140,000 yearling at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. But the improvised rewrite this undefeated colt is orchestrating just might turn out better than the original story line, because the plot thickened considerably last Saturday when Valid Point roared home a length...

A Thread of Blue (Hard Spun), who led every step of the way to cause a 13-1 upset in the 9 1/2-furlong Saratoga Derby Aug. 4, will be pointed for a start in the final leg of the Turf Trinity, the inaugural Jockey Club Derby to be contested over a mile and a half at Belmont Park Sept. 7. "He came out of the race really well, we'll look at [the Jockey Club Derby]," trainer Kiaran McLaughlin told the NYRA notes team. "We weren't sure if he'd get a mile-and-three-sixteenths...

TYRO S., $78,000, Monmouth, 8-3, 2yo, 5fT, :57.08, fm. 1--KARAK, 115, f, 2, by Karakontie (Jpn)                 1st Dam: Down The Well (Ire), by Mujadil                 2nd Dam: Batchelor's Button, by Kenmare (Fr)                 3rd Dam: Boutonniere, by Sir Gaylord ($22,000 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $30,000 RNA Ylg '18 KEESEP; $365,000 2yo '19 OBSMAR). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Breeze Easy, LLC; B-Parrish Hill Farm, Amanda Roach Cole & Karakontie Syndicate (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-Nik Juarez. $45,000. Lifetime Record: SW, 3-2-0-0, $95,000. *1/2 to Aqua Frio (Uncle Mo), SW, $191,007. 2--Now...

Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing's Concrete Rose (Twirling Candy) is 'probable' to proceed to the final leg of the inaugural Turf Tiara series, the $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks, to be contested over a mile and three-eighths at Belmont Park Sept. 7. Also victorious in the GI Belmont Oaks last month, the $61,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile acquisition remains under consideration for Keeneland's GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Oct. 12. "We'll probably run at Belmont," trainer Rusty Arnold told the NYRA notes team. "If she's good, she'll probably run [in the...