NYRA

On Thursday in Palm Beach, Bob Duncan was honored with a Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence acknowledging his contribution to the sport of horse racing through his work at the starting gate. I loudly applaud the NTRA, DRF and National Turf Writers & Broadcasters for recognizing Bob's unique talent and gift to racing with this award. I applaud Bob himself for his approach to his craft and the shining example he has set in handling horses with respect as partners in winning races. Bob and his craft are known...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has canceled Saturday's live racing program at Aqueduct Racetrack due to arctic temperatures and sub-zero wind chill values forecast to impact the metropolitan area throughout the day, the association said in a press release on Friday morning. Additionally, Laurel Park in Maryland has also canceled their 10-race Saturday card due to the expected frigid temperatures. As previously reported, NYRA has also shifted Sunday's live racing program to Wednesday due to a powerful winter storm expected to bring heavy snowfall to the region. Saturday's...

Already an Eclipse Award winner from last year, Flavien Prat has gone back to back and has once again been named Best Jockey. His 2025 campaign of 1,256 starts earned a record of 309-234-188 with earnings of over $40,460,428. His picked up wins aboard Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in the GI Whitney Stakes and was named the Leading Rider for Keeneland's Spring meet. He also set a new NYRA record for wins on a single card, earning seven wins on the final day of the Belmont the Big A meet...

With winter weather on the way, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will move the live racing program scheduled for Sunday, January 25 at Aqueduct Racetrack to Wednesday, January 28, pending approval from the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC), the organization announced Wednesday. In a press release, NYRA says, "due to a winter storm with the potential to bring significant snowfall and arctic temperatures to the New York metropolitan area on Sunday, NYRA, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) and New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. (NYTB) have...

The Week in Review - Last month, when parties on both sides of a pending class-action lawsuit over computer-assisted wagering (CAW) argued in federal court over allegations that the nation's biggest racetracks have conspired with "insider" high-volume bettors to rig pari-mutuel pools at the expense of small-scale horseplayers, the defendants in the case-the New York Racing Association (NYRA), The Stronach Group (TSG), Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), Racing and Gaming Services (RGS), AmTote International, United Tote, and Elite Turf Club-wrote letters to the judge purporting that plaintiff Ryan Dickey was using...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has canceled the remainder of Saturday's nine-race card at Aqueduct Racetrack following Race 4 due to inclement weather in the New York City area affecting track conditions. The $135,000 Ladies S., which was slated as Race 8 on Saturday, will be brought back on Friday, Jan. 30 with entries to be taken on Saturday, Jan. 24. Live racing will resume Sunday at Aqueduct with an eight-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. ET.

The nearly four-year rebuild of the new Belmont Park is scheduled to hit a significant milestone by the end of February, when training on the innermost Tapeta track is set to open. Glen Kozak, the New York Racing Association (NYRA)'s senior vice president of operations and capital projects, delivered that news nugget Friday as part of a broader overview of the track's $455-million reimagining during a meeting of the New York State Franchise Oversight Board (FOB). Before delving into details, Kozak underscored an overall message of "on schedule [and] on...

Last November, Democratic Kentucky state representative Matt Lehman told the TDN he was considering legislative intervention in an effort to curb computer assisted wagering (CAW) play in the state to a more equitable standard for all players. The debate around CAW players typically surrounds the edge they wield over regular gamblers thanks to their use of sophisticated technologies that allow them to precisely read the markets and to place massive wagers across many pools in the final seconds of betting--which can lead to extreme late odds changes--as well as the...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and trainer Rudy Rodriguez have reached an agreement that will end Rodriguez's provisional suspension and allow him to return to training, HISA and Rodriguez announced jointly in a statement released Tuesday. His suspension will officially end on Wednesday. Rodriguez has not started a horse since Dec.  13. Rodriguez's problems began in November when HISA alleged that the NYRA-based trainer had violated rules related to "cruelty, mistreatment, neglect or abuse" of Thoroughbreds. At that time, HISA served Rodriguez with a "notice of violation and...

Trainer Leo O'Brien, a long-time New York fixture as well as father-in-law of rider John Velazquez, has passed away, according to a release from the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA). He was 85. Officials at NYRA penned a tribute to O'Brien. It appears here in its entirety: NYRA mourns the loss of the legendary Leo O'Brien--trainer of New York-bred millionaires Fourstardave, Fourstars Allstar and Irish Linnet--who passed away Thursday morning following a lengthy battle with Lewy Body Dementia, at the age of 85. O'Brien and his late wife, Joan,...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) wrapped up Aqueduct's fall meet Wednesday with Flavien Prat taking the leading rider title and Linda Rice taking the leading trainer honors. Prat's 46 wins included nine stakes victories and five graded victories. His record for the fall stands at 136-46-21-15, earnings of $3,247,016, and a win percentage of 33.82%. Manny Franco was second with 33 wins, while Kendrick Carmouche was third with 25 victories. Rice notched her fourth consecutive Aqueduct fall meet training title with 31 wins and an overall record of...

In the days leading up to and after Christmas, parties on both sides of the pending class-action lawsuit involving computer-assisted wagering (CAW) have sparred in federal court over whether allegations that the nation's biggest racetracks have conspired with "insider" high-volume bettors to rig pari-mutuel pools at the expense of average horseplayers constitute valid claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The defendants in the lawsuit-which include The Stronach Group (TSG), Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the New York Racing Association (NYRA), AmTote International, United Tote and Elite Turf...