Saratoga Race Course

To the Editor: The campaign to abolish dirt racing in favor of synthetic surfaces may be well-intentioned, but is a dangerous knee-jerk overreaction that would accomplish little but the destruction of Thoroughbred racing as we know it. These advocates seem to have forgotten that we tried this a generation ago, when Southern California, Keeneland, and Dubai all switched to synthetic racing--and then tore out those tracks when it became obvious that they were producing misleading results and undeserving Grade I winners and champions. As Bob Baffert correctly said at the...

A field of eight juveniles will head postward in the 1 1/16-mile GIII With Anticipation S. over the lawn at Saratoga Thursday. West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey's Carson's Run (Cupid) is already a winner over the course and trip where he broke his maiden by a late-running neck July 29. Carson's Run has worked back three times since his victory, most recently covering five furlongs in 1:03.25 (3/4) over the Oklahoma turf training track last Thursday. "He had a good work on the grass the other day. He's trained...

The Horseracing and Safety Integrity Authority has added two new safety precautions to be in place for the remainder of the Saratoga Race Course meet. HISA rule 2142(a) requires all horses running under the authority's jurisdiction to undergo post-entry screening between the time the entry is taken and the time the regulatory veterinarians perform their in-person physical inspections on race day. This function is generally carried out by local regulatory veterinarians, but going forward through the remainder of Saratoga's summer meet, a HISA veterinarian will perform these post-entry screenings to...

2nd-SAR, $136k, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:46 p.m. Stonestreet Stables' JUSTICE JULIA (Medaglia d'Oro) becomes the latest daughter of Grade I winner Dreaming of Julia (A.P. Indy) to be saddled by trainer Todd Pletcher, following in the large hoofprints left by two-time champion and multiple Grade I winner Malathaat (Curlin) and graded winner and Grade I placed Julia Shining (Curlin). Stonestreet will also be represented by the debuting in this affair by Emery (More Than Ready) from the Brad Cox barn. The dark bay filly was a $235,000 Keeneland November purchase...

In racing, there is nothing more horrific than watching a horse break down in front of you. My heart goes out to every person connected with each of the horses that has lost its life in this manner and to each fan who's witnessed this. As my husband said after Maple Leaf Mel's tragic end, "They're just innocent animals!" He left immediately after her death, horrorstruck, and, fortunately, was not at the track on Travers Day. Like countless other casual fans who've seen such awful things, it is unlikely that...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY. - In the wake of two fatal breakdowns during the Travers day program Saturday, New York Racing Association officials faced the questions of if they should immediately cancel the remaining races on the card at Saratoga Race Course and whether to run on Sunday. After fact-finding sessions both days, NYRA President and CEO David O'Rourke said the courses were deemed safe for competition--the jockeys were in agreement--and racing continued as scheduled. The catastrophic leg injuries that led to two horses being euthanized Saturday brought the total of...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - During a ceremony Sunday morning prior to the annual upstate New York Showcase Day, some of the ashes of the late GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness winner Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) were interred at Saratoga Race Course. The popular New York-bred foaled at the nearby McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, and owned by the New York-based Sackatoga Stable, died at the age of 23 on July 16 from complications of colic at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. He won the 2003 Derby and Preakness...

After getting brushed and shuffled in the early stages of Saturday's GI Travers S. while losing momentum and position, Javier Castellano decided to wing his trip aboard 2.7-1 second choice Arcangelo (Arrogate). He would later explain with a laugh--in the way that only winning jockeys can find humor when their riding tactics go off-kilter--that "it seemed to me that everybody had a plan, except myself." Sometimes no plan ends up being the best plan, as demonstrated by Arcangelo's artful dissection of a "loaded" Midsummer Derby that brought together not only...

After watching the best horse he ever trained, New York Thunder (Nyquist), suffer a catastrophic injury in Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., trainer Jorge Delgado had to get out of Saratoga. Shortly after the race, he drove back to his base at Monmouth Park, arriving there about 4 1/2 hours after the field crossed the wire in the Jerkens. It was 9 o'clock, but he needed to be with his horses. "I had to go to his stall to make sure he wasn't there," Delgado said. "It was...

6th-SAR, $136.5K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:31 p.m. With some bullet works under her belt at Saratoga (Aug. 23, 3f, :36.00, 1/11), $475,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase SHOP LIFTING (Into Mischief) heads to the post for Team Spoor for her debut. The bay filly's dam GI Personal Ensign S. heroine Miss Shop (Deputy Minister) is a half-sister to the dam of GISW Power Broker (Pulpit) dam and GSW Trappe Shot (Tapit). She also produced GIII Miss Grillo S. winner Tin Type Gal (Tapit). Trained by Tony Dutrow, she will...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Unbeaten and hardly challenged so far through four starts, New York Thunder (Nyquist) will not be an unknown Saturday in his second visit this summer to Saratoga Race Course. New York Thunder made a grand entry on the big stage at the Spa on July 28 with a resounding victory in the GII Amsterdam S. Sent off at 11-2 in his first race on dirt, he rolled to a 7 1/2-length score under jockey Tyler Gaffalione. Though he was eased up in the stretch when the...

Connections from champions Dayatthespa (City Zip), Mind Your Biscuits (Posse) and Saratoga Dew (Cormorant) will be honored by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. during their Showcase Day program after the sixth race on Sunday, Aug. 27 at Saratoga Race Course, the organization said in a release Thursday. The trio were chosen by a panel of New York turf writers and represent the second class of honorees, joining last year's inaugural group of Fio Rito (Dreaming Native), Commentator (Distorted Humor), Fourstardave (Complicance), Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) and Tiz The Law...