Saratoga

Tiz the Law (Constitution) continued his preparations for the $1-million GI Runhappy Travers S. Wednesday morning, working five furlongs in a solid 1:01.10 over a Belmont main track labeled as fast. It was the New York-bred's second breeze since winning the GI Belmont S. June 20. He went a maintenance half-mile in :50.06 July 1. "He looked perfect," trainer Barclay Tagg said. "He's got a lot of energy. He wouldn't blow out a candle." Tiz the Law is perfect in three starts this season, having won the GIII Holy Bull...

A pair of sophomores from trainer Saffie Joseph's barn tuned up for graded stakes engagements with five-furlong works at Gulfstream Park Sunday. Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic), currently seventh in the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby qualifying-points standings, breezed five furlongs in :58.64 (1/12) in preparation for a likely start in the July 18 GI Haskell S. at Monmouth Park. "I worked him Monday last week, so he came back in six days. I wanted to get a good work into him and he worked super. He finished up really good....

The only female in Belmont's GIII Poker S. field Saturday, Gary Barber's Got Stormy (Get Stormy) enters the eight-furlong test packing top credentials as one of only two Grade I winners in the field of nine. Victorious in last summer's De La Rose S. against fillies at Saratoga, she returned a week later to score by 2 1/2 lengths over the boys in the GI Fourstardave H. Not ducking anyone when second in the GI Woodbine Mile and GI Breeders' Cup Mile last fall, she came from off the pace...

Headlined by three automatic qualifiers for the $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic and three "Win and You're In" starting positions at York's Ebor Festival in Britain, the Breeders' Cup announced its August schedule of Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races Wednesday. There will be 16 Breeders' Cup Challenge races in August, beginning Aug. 1 with two races at Saratoga Race Course and one at Del Mar. Saratoga will host the GI Whitney S., which will give the winner an automatic berth into Classic, as well as the GI Personal Ensign...

Coming off a smashing win in the GII Fleur de Lis S., Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) will ship to Saratoga Wednesday, where she will prepare for the Aug. 1 GI Personal Ensign S. "After she gets settled in in Saratoga we will start gearing her up for her summer campaign with the expectation that she will run next in the Personal Ensign," said Jeff Bloom, whose Bloom Racing Stable is the majority owner of the Eclipse-Award winning 5-year-old. Bloom said the main goal after the Personal Ensign will be to...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame recently resumed construction on the new Hall of Fame Education Experience after a two-month delay because of the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent "New York State on PAUSE" executive order. The Museum, which has been closed for the renovations since January, was originally scheduled to open to the public on July 16 coinciding with opening day at Saratoga Race Course. A new opening date for the Museum will be announced later this summer. "We're excited that we are able to move forward...

With the GI Kentucky Derby moved to Sept. 5 and the GI Kentucky Oaks pushed to Sept. 4, a quartet of Saratoga stakes will be added to the qualifying prep races. The GIII Peter Pan S. July 16 and the GI Traver S. Aug., 8 will be part of the Road to the Derby at 100 and 50 points, respectively. Added to the Oaks trail are the GI CCA Oaks July 18 and the GI Alabama S. Aug. 15, both 100 points. Churchill Downs has also announced three additional Derby...

The GI Runhappy Travers S, normally run on the next-to-last weekend of the Saratoga meet, has been moved up to Aug. 8. The shift of the Travers date was one of a handful of changes made to the 2020 Saratoga stakes schedule, which was released Friday by the New York Racing Association. Had the Travers stayed in its normal slot on the calendar, it would have been run Aug. 29, just one week before the repositioned GI Kentucky Derby. With the race having been moved back three weeks, it sets...

The Oklahoma Training Track at Saratoga Race Course will open for training Thursday, June 4, with the barn area set to open to horsemen beginning Tuesday, June 2, officials at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced Friday. Both the training track and the Whitney viewing stand are to remain closed to the public and access will be restricted to essential personnel licensed by NYRA and the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC). In consultation with the NYSGC and state and local public health officials, NYRA has implemented a comprehensive...

In any other year, the spring steeplechasing season would have concluded last week with the races at Fair Hill, Maryland, the latest hunt meet to draw a large and energetic crowd, there for the party as much as the races. Instead, the jump racing community is trying to figure out how it can salvage what has so far been a lost year. No slice of Thoroughbred racing has been hurt more by the coronavirus than steeplechase racing. With 14 of the 16 spring meets having been cancelled due to the...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame announced the 2020 Hall of Fame induction ceremony and the Museum Ball has been canceled as a result of the ongoing health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are incredibly disappointed we won't be able to have these time-honored special events this summer, but the health concerns we are facing right now take precedence," said John Hendrickson, president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. "The Hall of Fame ceremony is an experience we want...

As the racing world mostly returned to order last week with the reopening of Santa Anita and Churchill and dates for two-thirds of the rescheduled Triple Crown being locked in, eyes turned to the New York Racing Association. Located in the epicenter of the world's coronavirus pandemic, NYRA hasn't run a race card since Mar. 15 at Aqueduct, and has remained in limbo like much of the state as the virus peaked, then slowly--painfully slowly--retreated. But with Governor Andrew Cuomo's proclamation that racing could resume in New York beginning June...