Belmont Stakes Racing Festival

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) have placed Barn 85 at Saratoga Race Course under a 14-day precautionary quarantine until further notice due to a positive case of strangles in that barn. Strangles is a contagious bacterial infection that generally affects a horse's respiratory system and causes symptoms similar to those of strep throat in humans. When properly diagnosed and treated, strangles is not considered a life-threatening infection and horses recover fully. Barn 85 contains horses trained by Jeremiah Englehart and...

Officials at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) have laid out guest policies for the upcoming Belmont Stakes Racing Festival (BSRF) at Saratoga Wednesday, June 4 through Sunday, June 8. Gates will open at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, with a first post scheduled for each program at 12:40 p.m. ET. Admission will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday (first post 11:40 a.m.) and at 9 a.m. on Belmont Day, with the first race set to jump at 10:45 a.m. ET. While the Saratoga main track will be...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will open two new special exhibitions and host several public events to coincide with the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival held June 4-8. The Museum's latest exhibits, A Look Through the Eyes and Life of Charlotte C. Weber and Greg Montgomery: 40 Years of the Travers Poster open to the public Wednesday, June 4. On exhibition in the Museum's McBean Gallery through Nov. 2, A Look Through the Eyes and Life of Charlotte C. Weber chronicles the remarkable journey in thoroughbred racing...

Saratoga Springs and Malta Ridge Fire Departments responded to a small fire in a kitchen area of the Clubhouse at Saratoga Race Course on Tuesday afternoon. The fire was quickly extinguished and caused minimal damage, per NYRA Vice President, Communications Patrick McKenna. "Upon arrival, firefighters witnessed smoke emanating from the third floor Clubhouse windows," McKenna said. "The fire was quickly extinguished and caused minimal damage, which will have no impact on track operations for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival next week. NYRA thanks Saratoga Springs and Malta Ridge Fire Departments...

Harrell Ventures and Starlight Racing's Colloquial (Vekoma), tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following a scintillating seven-length maiden victory at Aqueduct in February, continued preparations for his graded stakes debut in the June 7 GI Woody Stephens Stakes with a five-furlong work in 1:03.25 over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga last Thursday. "We've been happy with him," trainer George Weaver said. "We've been waiting for this race for a long time, and now we're getting close." Colloquial followed up his 6 1/2-furlong maiden win with a 2 1/4-length victory going...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has rolled out post times for the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which will be held at Saratoga Race Course from Wednesday, June 4 through Sunday, June 8, the track said in a Friday release. Post time for the 10-race programs on Wednesday, June 4 and Thursday, June 5 as well as Sunday, June 8 is 12:40 p.m. (All times Eastern) with admission gates open to the public at 11 a.m. The 14-race program on Friday, June 6 will feature a post time...

Five of Chad Brown's Grade I-winning brigade hit the work tab at Saratoga over the weekend, led by MGISW Raging Sea (Curlin) and MGISW Spirit of St Louis (Medaglia d'Oro). Heading out Friday in her first work since pulling the upset in the GI La Troienne on Kentucky Derby weekend, Raging Sea was clocked doing four furlongs over the Oklahoma training track in :49.25 (8/32) while in company with GSW & MGISP Occult (Into Mischief). She is being pointed to the GI Ogden Phipps June 6 during the Belmont Stakes...

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) is rolling out a participation incentive program for owner and trainers during the five-day 2025 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course in early June, the track said in a release on Friday. Owners will be eligible for a starter bonus for horses finishing fourth through last with $1,500 awarded for stakes starters and $1,000 awarded to owners of starters in overnight races. Trainers whose horses start in stakes races that week will receive a $750 bonus, while a $500 bonus will be...

As part of the Breeders' Cup challenge series, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) will host 17 stakes in the 'Win and You're In' series, which will offer a berth to the winners into the corresponding divisional event at the World Championships, the group announced Sunday afternoon. The first offerings will kick off during the Belmont Stakes Racing festival at Saratoga Friday, June 6 with the GI Ogden Phipps Stakes followed by the GI Metropolitan Handicap and the GI Jaipur Stakes Saturday, June 7. The berths are for the Distaff,...

A special Belmont Stakes Racing Festival three-day admission pass is now available at nearly 200 Stewart's Shops throughout the greater Capital Region, the New York Racing Association, Inc. announced in a press release Thursday. The pass includes general admission to Saratoga Race Course for three of the five days of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival: Thursday, June 5, Friday, June 6, and Saturday June 7--Belmont Stakes Day, featuring the third leg of horse racing's Triple Crown--for $99. The admission pass, which represents a savings of 15 percent based on individual...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a job fair on Wednesday, Mar. 19 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET to support the 2025 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course, the track said via an early morning Friday release. The job fair will be held in the 1863 Club at the Spa. Attendees should enter through the Wright Street entrance (Gate 8) with parking available in the 1863 Club lot. Festival positions include mutuel clerks, cashiers, merchandise clerks, customer service representatives, white caps, security guards,...

After a very successful mini-meet highlighted by the running of the GI Belmont Stakes, NYRA is set to return to Saratoga for the start of the 2024 meet. Guiding the ship will be NYRA President and CEO Dave O'Rourke, who will be hoping for sunny skies, no breakdowns and record attendance and handle numbers. That's a lot to ask, but it is Saratoga, where magical things happen. To talk about the meet, O'Rourke joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast Presented by Keeneland. He was the Green Group Guest of...