New York Racing Association

Edited Press Release As the final weeks of budget negotiations begin, both the Senate and Assembly majorities included the project to build a new Belmont Park in their "One House" budget resolutions. The project was also included in Governor Kathy Hochul's Executive Budget Proposal last month. The Belmont modernization project's inclusion in the Senate and Assembly One House budget resolutions comes just one day after over 100 New Yorkers--including organized labor, family farmers, small business owners, backstretch workers, and more--joined legislators from both parties to rally in the State Capitol...

The New York Racing Association will offer bonuses to horses shipping in to race at Aqueduct in March and April. Trainers of horses that are not stabled at a NYRA track will see a bonus of $1,000 credited to the owner's account towards shipping expenses. This bonus excludes steeplechase races. The horse must be declared an official starter to be eligible. In addition, the horse will not be eligible if placed on a poor performance or veterinarian list.

The nominees for the Mar. 4 GIII Gotham S. at Aqueduct include four horses that have been under the care of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, but were nominated under the names of new trainers. Baffert is banned from running in this year's GI Kentucky Derby and any horse under the care of a trainer suspended by Churchill Downs must be moved to a new barn by Feb. 28 in order to earn Derby qualifying points. On Friday, a U.S. District Judge ruled against Baffert as he sought a...

Bob Baffert has certainly taken his lumps ever since it was discovered that Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for a banned substance in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. He was hit with a 90-day suspension from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, the New York Racing Association banned him for a year and Churchill Downs banned him for two years. Though Baffert is still fighting the Churchill ban, in all likelihood, he will not be allowed to start a horse in this year's Derby, which would be the second straight year...

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) plans to rollout a pair of new bonus programs for juvenile horses competing at the 2023 spring/summer meet at Belmont Park, which will run from Thursday, May 4 through Sunday, July 9. The newly-launched starter bonus will apply to scheduled juvenile dirt races and awards $2,000 [$1,000 to the owner, $1,000 to the trainer] to each official starter in the race. The starter bonus program, available to open-company and state-bred company, also applies to a pair of 5 1/2-furlong juvenile stakes on Sunday, June...

Fifty-four stakes races worth $15.57 million in total purses will highlight the 40-day Belmont spring/summer meet, which is scheduled to open Thursday, May 4 and continue through Sunday, July 9, the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday. Highlighted by the 155th running of the $1.5 million GI Belmont S. presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 10, the spring/summer meet will include 12 Grade I races, with nine of those contests scheduled during the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from Thursday, June 8 through Saturday, June 10. The Thursday-through-Sunday event...

The New York Race Track Chaplaincy (NYRTC) will honor Tracy and Todd Pletcher for their generous and continued support of the New York backstretch community at its 16th Annual Fundraising Brunch, which will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at the Saratoga National Golf Club in Saratoga Springs, New York. "This honor means the world to Tracy and to me," said Todd Pletcher. "Our record reflects a team effort and the members of the backstretch are key members of our team. The New York Chaplaincy does great work serving those...

Lugan Knight (Goldencents) was not going to be denied as he matched strides down the lane with Arctic Arrogance (Frosted) in the $150,000 Jerome S. at Aqueduct Racetrack on Saturday afternoon. With 10-4-3-2-1 points available to the top 5 finishers on the Road to the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby, it was Lugan Knight's day to shine. Sent off as the second choice at 7-2, the colt set front-end fractions of :23.41 at the quarter-mile marker and :47.70 for the half-mile, all as the favorite Arctic Arrogance dogged his...

In an effort to fight a 90-day suspension and $5,000 fine for "striking a horse excessively" during a 2021 workout at Saratoga Race Course, trainer Orlando Noda has commenced proceedings in Schenectady Supreme Court that he hopes will prove the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) acted unlawfully last month when it rejected an appeal hearing officer's recommendation that his case be dismissed without penalization. Noda's legal filing is known as an Article 78 review, which pertains to a New York state law by which a petitioner can ask a...

With 159 winners from 587 starters (27.09%), trainer Chad Brown secured an eighth consecutive year-ending training title at the tracks of the New York Racing Association (NYRA). Over the course of 196 racing days, Brown's runners finished in the top three 59.28% of the time. It was the Mechanicville native's best season on the NYRA circuit, surpassing the 154 he recorded in 2018. He completed the year with total New York purse earnings of just over $17.9 million. "It means a lot and I'm so proud of my team," said...

Richie Gazer, the longtime NYRA head clocker who is set to begin a 30-day suspension and pay a $2,500 fine for "altering a published work of a horse to make the horse eligible to race," has been denied a stay of his penalties by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) while he seeks to elevate the case to the state court level. Gazer's attorney, Karen Murphy, confirmed the NYSGC's denial to TDN on Friday afternoon, shortly after the commission emailed her the decision stating the stay would not be...

There would be no fairytale ending Thursday at Aqueduct for trainer Rick Schosberg. Silken Dollar (Central Banker), the last horse he will start before retiring from training, finished eighth in Thursday's fourth race at Aqueduct. That's OK. Schosberg, 61, learned a long time ago that the life of a horse trainer is never that easy. "Obviously the game has changed with the emergence of unlimited stall allocations," Schosberg said. "It's really affected the competitiveness of it. It used to be that every barn had a different outfit. Now there are...