New York Racing

The New York Racing Association has named multiple Eclipse winning jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. as the recipient of the 2025 Mike Venezia Memorial Award, according to a press release from the track on Friday. Ortiz, Jr., based this summer at Saratoga Race Course, was chosen by a committee comprised of members of the Venezia family, representatives of The Jockeys' Guild and retired Eclipse Award-winning rider Richard Migliore. A ceremony at Saratoga will be held on Friday, Aug. 22. "Joining the list of winners of the Venezia Memorial Award is a...

John and Leona Velazquez were publicly recognized for their longstanding commitment to the backstretch community at Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct on Wednesday when they received the Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson Award from the New York Race Track Chaplaincy at the 18th annual fundraising brunch at the Saratoga National Golf Club, the non-profit said in a press release on Wednesday afternoon. On hand to assist with the award presentation was Marylou's Whitney's daughter, Heather Mabee. The brunch set a new record for fundraising. "Anyone who has spent much time around...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has appointed Eric Johnston to the position of stakes coordinator, according to a Friday morning press release by the track operator. Johnston brings more than four decades of racing industry experience to his new role, and was previously the director of racing and sportsbook at Penn National. As the new coordinator, Johnston succeeds Andrew Byrnes, who had held the position since 1999 and will retire at the conclusion of the summer meet at Saratoga. Johnston will assume his stakes coordinator responsibilities Oct. 3....

SARATOGA SPRINGS - The first six days of Saratoga have been hot. As in really hot. Blast furnace type hot. Trainers have felt it. Jockeys. Patrons. New York Racing Association executives. Parking attendants. Everybody. And, of course, the horses. But the stars of the show have been watched very carefully by those entrusted to take care of them. Some horses, like people, can't stand the heat. "Some horses can be extreme sweaters," trainer Gary Contessa said on yet another steamy Saratoga morning on Thursday outside his barn at the Oklahoma...

One day after an arbitrator ruled that Phil Serpe would be suspended for two years in a contested clenbuterol positive case from last summer at Saratoga Race Course, the 66-year-old trainer was back in federal court Tuesday seeking to renew his request for a preliminary injunction in his nine-month-old lawsuit against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). At the same time, Serpe's legal team also wasted no time in filing an immediate appeal with the FTC to have his July 14 Horseracing Integrity...

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued 304 entries for the New York Bred Yearlings Sale, to be held Sunday and Monday, Aug. 10 and 11, in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, New York, the company said via a release on Friday morning. The Sunday session will begin at 7 p.m. ET., and the Monday session will begin at noon. "The New York Bred Yearlings sale annually offers the highest concentration of quality New York-breds of any Thoroughbred auction," said Fasig-Tipton President Browning.  "It's the 'go-to' source for those looking to...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - From her office at Barn 83 on the Oklahoma Training Track, all trainer Cherie DeVaux has to do to get a glimpse of the horse is look out the window. And she sees him, across the way, standing in his stall. "He has this big, white face looking at you," DeVaux said, and she smiles. Gets her every time. 'He' is a 2-year-old colt who goes by the name of Dr. Agne (Into Mischief). He has never run but will on Friday when he starts his...

Like so many others, Acacia Clement's favorite meet is Saratoga. As part of the Saratoga broadcast team and the wife of trainer Miguel Clement, she has to work long hours and juggle a hectic schedule. Preparation is something she takes seriously. But Saratoga also means great racing in a beautiful and historic location, a lively nightlife and so much more. There's a lot to like about this place. Appearing on the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland as the Gainesway Guest of the Week, Clement said what she loves...

The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) has established the D. Wayne Lukas Award, to be given annually to a New York-based assistant trainer who demonstrates the qualities that the late Hall of Fame trainer himself exemplified-- dedication, a strong work ethic, and a high commitment to excellence--the organization said in a press release on Wednesday. Owners and trainers will be invited to nominate an assistant trainer for the $10,000 award, which will be presented each year on Sept. 2, D. Wayne Lukas's birthday. "'The Coach' mentored countless young people,...

Miguel Clement, the 34-year-old son of the late Christophe Clement, is sure to win many major races during his career, but the one he will surely never forget was when Deterministic (Liam's Map) took the GI Manhattan Stakes June 8. The win came just 13 days after his father passed away from cancer. But for this one race and one moment in time it was as if nothing had changed. Christophe Clement collected three Manhattans over the course of his career and Miguel almost pulled off a one-two finish as...

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...

In a federal court case involving the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) that is being closely watched because it involves a trainer's allegations of a wrongful denial of Seventh Amendment rights to a jury trial, a judge in Florida on Thursday denied conditioner Phil Serpe's request for preliminary injunction in a lawsuit initiated last October against the HISA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The civil complaint involves "banned substance" sanctions stemming from the alleged detection of clenbuterol in an Aug. 10, 2024, Saratoga Race Course winner from the...