New York Racing Association

Andrew Offerman, who has served Canterbury Park in Minnesota as its senior vice president of racing operations for the last five years, has been appointed to the newly created role of vice president and general manager of operations for the New York Racing Association (NYRA). Offerman, who will assume his new responsibilities beginning Nov. 11, will oversee front-side operations at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga. "Andrew is a seasoned executive and proven leader who will bring considerable skills to the talented team we have assembled at NYRA," said Dave O'Rourke, NYRA...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY-With a five-word quip, New York Racing Association president and CEO Dave O'Rourke provided plenty of context about the record-setting 154th season of racing in Saratoga. "It didn't rain much, huh?" O'Rourke said. Indeed. Though the 40-day meet concluded Monday on cool, dark, sodden afternoon where jackets and umbrellas were needed, almost all of the programs at Saratoga Race Course were run on tracks listed as "fast" and "firm." When the final grass race of the closing day card was moved to the main track, it was just...

While retaining announcing duties at Belmont Park, John Imbriale will retire as the full-time announcer at the New York Racing Association at the end of 2022, the organization announced Sunday. Frank Mirahmadi will take over the race calling duties at Saratoga Race Course and Chris Griffin will become the primary track announcer at Aqueduct Racetrack beginning in 2023. Imbriale's 43-year tenure with NYRA dates to 1979 when he won a New York Daily News contest, which gave him the opportunity to call a race and work with the NYRA press...

Trainer Bob Baffert spent 2 1/2 hours on the witness stand testifying at a Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) appeal hearing Monday. Baffert's intent by filing the appeal is to clear from his record a 90-day suspension he has already served while also reversing the KHRC's disqualification of Medina Spirit from the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. Those penalties were the result of the Baffert-trained colt returning a positive for betamethasone after crossing the finish wire first in America's most historic and important horse race. Beyond the already-served suspension (which ran...

Veterans and active-duty military personnel will be honored during the New York Racing Association (NYRA)'s annual Military Appreciation Day at Saratoga Thursday, Aug. 25. "The New York Racing Association is honored to recognize the dedication and sacrifices made by the brave men and women who serve our country," said NYRA President and CEO Dave O'Rourke. "We look forward to welcoming them to this special day at Saratoga Race Course and we thank them for their service." All vets and current active-duty members of the military will receive free grandstand admission....

Churchill Downs Inc. has entered into an agreement to sell 49% of United Tote Company to NYRA Content Management Solutions, LLC, a subsidiary of the New York Racing Association. The transaction is subject to usual and customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory notices and approvals, and is expected to close by the end of 2022. As part of the agreement, the United Tote pari-mutuel settlements business will be excluded and will remain with CDI. CDI and NYRA intend to work together to create and provide a comprehensive and efficient industry-leading...

Since last summer, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has trialed on thousands of runners a discreet sensor technology capable of detecting minute changes in a horse's gait at high speed. Called StrideSAFE, the biometric sensor mechanism slips into the saddle cloth and works like a traffic light signal, providing a green for all-clear, an amber for possible warning (light amber better than dark amber), and a red for possible danger. The ultimate aim of StrideSAFE--a focus of discussion during the recent Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation Welfare and Safety of...

Saratoga's seventh race Sunday, a 1 1/16-mile turf event for maiden juvenile fillies, was declared a no contest after a mechanical issue with the starting gate tractor caused an outrider to attempt to stop the field on the backstretch (click for replay). While the starting gate was ultimately moved in time and the majority of runners finished the race, several were pulled up prematurely. Towhead (Malibu Moon), a third-time starter stretching out off a pair of on-the-board efforts on the Churchill dirt and part of a 5-1 entry, battled back...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - D. Wayne Lukas is back and so is the Wilson Chute, after a much, much longer absence, for the 154th summer of Thoroughbred racing in Saratoga. The 40-day season at historic Saratoga Race Course launches Thursday and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 5. It will be the 77th consecutive year of competition at Saratoga--since the closing for three years during World War II--which coincidentally makes it the second half of the very long run since the first meet was held in 1863. During the eight-plus weeks...

The New York Racing Association, New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and the New York Thoroughbred Breeders will host the second annual New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day at Saratoga Race Course July 21. The day will include a variety of events and demonstrations to highlight the work of the New York State aftercare community. The featured race will be the $125,000 Rick Violette, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for New York-bred sophomores named for the late trainer and NYTHA President who spearheaded the creation of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program...

Edited Press Release The New York Racing Association (NYRA) and the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will highlight the career and accomplishments of the renowned cartoonist Pierre "Peb" Bellocq during a ceremony at Belmont Park Saturday, July 9, as part of the Stars and Stripes Racing Festival. In 2020, Bellocq was selected to be a member of the National Museum of Racing's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, NYRA and the Racing Museum have yet...

Sixteen months after a widely criticized rule forcing the pari-mutuel coupling of married jockeys cost an estimated $4.2 million in handle loss at Aqueduct Racetrack, the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) on Wednesday finally voted in a rule change that resolved a bureaucratic logjam by changing four words in a regulation that is about 50 years old. So after nearly a year and a half of the rule resulting in truncated field sizes, being widely bemoaned by the betting public, and being termed as sexist by critics because it...