Saratoga Race Course

It was just a claiming race, but when Ray Handal was standing in the Saratoga winner's circle Friday after a win by his Thinkaboutit (Upstart) in the day's eighth race, he was overcome with emotion. It was a victory he will never forget, understandable considering what he had just been put through. "A short time before that, I didn't know if I'd ever be in the winner's circle again," the 34-year-old trainer said. "To come back and win with a horse who we didn't have much in the way of...

After breaking her maiden by 5 1/2 lengths Mar. 31 at Aqueduct, Randomized (Nyquist) was last seen running sixth June 9 in the GI Acorn S. behind GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief). Installed here as the 13-10 second favorite to her stablemate Accede (Into Mischief), the bay filly broke alertly from the outside post, carved out a half-mile in :47.49 and off the final turn, the $420,000 Keeneland September Yearling purchase dug down and found the wire by 1 1/2 lengths over Just Katherine (Justify) to collect...

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued 364 entries for its New York Bred Yearlings Sale, scheduled for Sunday and Monday, Aug. 13 and 14, in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, New York, the auction house said in a release Friday morning. The Sunday session will begin at 7 p.m. ET, and the Monday session will begin at noon ET. Hips 301-400 will be offered on Sunday, while hips 401-664 will go through the ring on Monday. "Our catalogue has grown substantially this year, while our quality has remained high," said...

How's your Saratoga opening weekend stakes knowledge? You probably already knew that the Sanford S. is the only race that the legendary Man o' War ever lost. Or that over a five-year span in the '60s, the great Kelso amassed a staggering record of 63-39-12-2. You also knew that the late '80s warrior Quick Call, who lived to the ripe old age of 35, was denied a third consecutive GII Forego H. by a nose to Lay Down. And if you are pretty sharp, then you have it down pat...

Keeneland Sales has become the presenting sponsor of the GI Alabama S. at Saratoga Race Course, and Keeneland November will present the GII Jessamine S. on opening day of the 2023 Fall Meet, the organization said in a release Thursday. This comes on the heels of last week's news that the sales division would lend its name to the GIII Sorrento S. at Del Mar. "Keeneland is excited to team with NYRA and Del Mar in sponsoring these prestigious summer stakes, and for Keeneland November to sponsor our Jessamine Stakes...

With Saratoga opening, NYRA TV Analyst and Handicapper Andy Serling will be ultra busy over the next seven plus weeks, spending countless hours on every card as he tries to pick winners and give his viewers valuable betting advice. But he's not complaining. It's hard to imagine anyone who loves Saratoga more. To talk about the meet, Serling joined the team on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. Serling, who has been attending the meet on a regular basis since 1975, was the Green Group Guest of...

The annual summer meet at Saratoga Race Course generates $371 million in economic activity and 2,937 jobs across the greater Capital Region, according to a new study by the Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency (SCIDA). The report, which was released Monday during a news conference at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), concludes that the overall economic impact generated by the summer meet has increased by 57% since 2014 across the nine-county Capital Region. The newly released study, based on data from 2021, finds that Saratoga Race Course is responsible...

Officials from the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will welcome Assemblymember Carrie Woerner, philanthropist John Hendrickson and representatives from Saratoga Hospital and the Backstretch Employee Service Team (BEST) for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the opening of the new Saratoga Backstretch Clinic next Tuesday, July 11, the organization said in a release Friday. The new clinic will allow Saratoga Hospital and BEST to expand on the existing healthcare services offered to members of NYRA's backstretch community. The modern healthcare clinic was constructed over the past year to replace a doublewide...

The New York Racing Association. Inc. (NYRA) will partner at Saratoga Race Course establishing the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame as the official curator of the space currently known as the Saratoga Walk of Fame, the organization said in a release Thursday. Through this collaboration, the Hall of Fame will present fans with a rotating display of informational panels, multi-media presentations and a variety of relevant historic artifacts culled from its extensive collections. Located behind the grandstand just across the pedestrian path from the Miller Time Fourstardave...

Juddmonte's GISW Elite Power (Curlin) and MGISW Cody's Wish (Curlin) both worked for trainer Bill Mott over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga this past week. Elite Power went three-eighths in 36.02 on Saturday, June 24 in his first breeze since his 1 3/4-length score in the GII True North S. on Belmont Stakes Day. The 5-year-old chestnut is targeting Saratoga's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. on July 29. "He worked fine. We'll run in the Vanderbilt," the Hall of Fame trainer said. Mott indicated that Elite Power's main year-end...

Pat Brown, the director of The Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga, knows what makes an agenda tick. He has seen his fair share of seemingly endless Power Points, glazed-over eyes and the attendees that surf the Internet in an attempt to multitask. The best way to combat the conference malaise? Just a healthy dose of fun. "I've spent over 40 years of in and out of government, thinking about and writing about the gaming and horse racing industry," said Brown, a former advisor to New York's Governor Mario Cuomo...

New York-breds racing in open company at Saratoga this summer will be competing for increased purses, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday. "NYRA is committed to supporting and enhancing the New York-bred program now and in the future," said Frank Gabriel, NYRA SVP of Racing Operations. "These purse increases reflect the sustained growth of the New York-bred marketplace, while also rewarding owners already invested in the program." The purse for registered New York-breds running in select open-company races will be 30% higher than the purse offered for non-New York-breds....