New York Racing Association

Red Oak Stable (Stephen P. Brunetti) and Madaket Stable's (Sol Kumin) Mind Control (Stay Thirsty--Feel That Fire, by Lightnin N Thunder) winner of the GI $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 3 in the final start of his career, will stand at Rockridge Stud in New York under the management of Irish Hill Farm, Dutchess Views Stallions, Hidden Lake Farm and Rockridge Stud. The five-year-old is out of a stakes-winning mare and is priced at $8,500 LFSN. Mind Control won the GI Hopeful S. as a 2-year-old and the...

The Under 20's Challenge, which is open to New York Racing Association trainers with fewer than 20 horses, will be split into two divisions for the upcoming winter and spring meets at Aqueduct. Division A will include trainers with 11-20 stalls and Division B will be limited to trainers with 1-10 stalls. The competition will begin Jan. 1 and will conclude with the end of the Spring meet Apr. 30 The top-six trainers in Division A will share a prize pool of $60,000 with the winner receiving $16,000. The top-five...

The New York Gaming Commission has made so many bad decisions of late that it would be laughable if not for the fact they keep going after good people who have done nothing wrong. The latest chapter is the story of NYRA clocker Richie Gazer. Back in May, Gazer was handed a 30-day suspension and fined $2,500 "for altering a published work of a horse to make the horse eligible to race." The horse in question, Papi On Ice (Keen Ice) was originally credited for a five-furlong workout on May...

The writing is on the wall for Aqueduct Racetrack. There has been no official announcement, but the New York Racing Association has made clear with its plans to 'winterize' Belmont Park that Aqueduct, New York's stalwart winter racing home for decades, is on borrowed time. And while the logic of continuing to operate two racetracks just nine miles apart is undeniably questionable, don't let anyone fool you into thinking that nothing of value will be lost or that no one will mourn when Aqueduct becomes the latest American racing staple...

by T.D. Thornton & Bill Finley The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) on Monday adjudicated two unrelated penalty appeals by a clocker and a trainer by flat-out rejecting two separate hearing officers' recommendations that those cases be dismissed without penalization. In both instances, the commissioners voted unanimously to impose the original penalties that had been handed down by Braulio Baeza, Jr., the NYSGC state steward at the three New York Racing Association (NYRA) tracks. Monday's vote means trainer Orlando Noda now must pay a fine of $5,000, serve a...

The Belmont Child Care Association, Inc. (BCCA) annually hosts a Holiday Shopping Day for all of the families of backstretch workers at Belmont Park and Aqueduct Race Track. This year, BCCA held its event on Saturday, Dec. 3 in the clubhouse at Belmont Park. The Belmont Cafe was transformed into a Winter Wonderland which included a Sugar Plum Cafe and Holiday Shop. Thanks to the New York Racing Association (NYRA), BCCA was provided with a beautiful venue to host its event and NYRA's facilities and security departments provided much needed...

NYRA Bets Holding, LLC, a subsidiary of NYRA Bets, LLC, the official online wagering platform of the New York Racing Association, Inc., and Game of Silks, the online game connected to the real world of Thoroughbred horse racing, announced Wednesday a new partnership resulting in NYRA Bets Holding, LLC acquiring a minority equity ownership position in Game of Silks. In addition to this strategic investment, the partnership establishes Game of Silks as the Official Blockchain Game and Metaverse Partner of NYRA. The agreement will enable the global horse racing industry...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) announced that a team led by Brendan Kumagai has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Big Data Derby competition, beating out 105 other submissions for first prize. Kumagai, together with Gurashish Bagga, Kimberly Kroetch, Tyrel Stokes, and Liam Welsh, took the $20,000 first prize with the submission, "Bayesian Velocity Models for Horse Race Simulation." Kumagai's team created a dynamic model that focused on horses' forward versus lateral speed and examined the results of...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has installed a Tapeta Footings synthetic surface at Belmont's pony track, located just to the northeast of Belmont's training track. The quarter-mile pony track, which is used mostly for jogging horses, will be open seven days a week from 5:30-10:30 a.m. beginning Tuesday, Dec. 6. "Modern synthetic surfaces have a wide range of applications for horsemen and track operators alike, and we look forward to working with the product every day and in all seasons at Belmont Park," said Glen Kozak, NYRA Senior...

America's Day at the Races, produced by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) in conjunction with FOX Sports, will present live coverage of the G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup on Monday, Oct. 31. Monday's America's Day at the Races broadcast will begin at 10:30 p.m. Eastern and will provide viewers with handicapping insights and analysis leading up to the 162nd edition of the "race that stops a nation." Featuring 24 horses racing over 3,200 meters (1.98 miles) at Flemington Racecourse, in Melbourne, Australia, the Melbourne Cup is an annual highlight...

Students enrolled in the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) can now apply for the 2023 Elizabeth Bracken Memorial Scholarship, which aims to support students aspiring to build careers in Thoroughbred racing, NYRA announced. The scholarship was created in 2021 to honor the memory of Elizabeth Bracken, an RTIP graduate who spent 16 years at NYRA before returning to RTIP as Associate Coordinator and an instructor. Bracken died in November 2019; she was 52. "We can't thank NYRA enough for their continued support of the RTIP via this...

Belmont Park will host the eighth National Stair Climb, in partnership with Fire Department City of New York (FDNY) and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), Sunday. Participants will climb 2,200 steps of the grandstand at Belmont Park, symbolizing the 110 stories of the World Trade Center Towers--the ascent that FDNY firefighters took Sept. 11, 2001--and the ultimate sacrifice that 343 first responders made that fateful day. "When first responders die in the line of duty, the entire fire service and country grieves," said Chief Ron Siarnicki, who is the...