Saratoga

Edited Press Release Jean Claude Jaramillo says his favorite memories working at the New York Racing Association, Inc. are easy choices: being a part of the security horse detail of the last two Triple Crown winners: Justify in 2018 and American Pharoah in 2015. But it's not the highlight. "That I get to be a part of this team is what I'm proudest of here," says Jaramillo, an equine investigator specialist on NYRA's four-person Safety & Integrity team and the new chair of the global Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI)....

The New York Racing Association will increase the amount of green space available to fans by removing the group hospitality tent positioned alongside the paddock at Saratoga, it announced Tuesday. The removal of the Paddock Tent, which has been a permanent fixture at Saratoga for more than a decade, will return 240 square feet of picnic space to fans where they can enjoy an unimpeded view of the historic Saratoga paddock. The Paddock Tent will be eliminated prior to the start of the 2020 summer meet at Saratoga Race Course,...

The funeral visitation for Canadian Hall of Fame trainer John A. DiMario, who trained Runaway Groom to a memorable upset in the 1982 GI Travers S., will be held at Lindenhurst Funeral Home in Lindenhurst, New York, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Feb. 22. The address is as follows: Lindenhurst Funeral Home 424 Wellwood Avenue Lindenhurst, NY 11757 The family requests that any donations be made in his name to the Best Backstretch Organzation to support backstretch workers.

John A. DiMario, who trained Runaway Groom to a memorable upset in the 1982 GI Travers S. at Saratoga, passed away Thursday at the age of 91. Runaway Groom famously defeated the winners of all three Triple Crown races in that year's Midsummer Derby-Gato Del Sol (Kentucky Derby), Aloma's Ruler (Preakness) and Conquistador Cielo (Belmont). That feat had only occured once before when Sun Briar pulled it off back in 1918, per Jonathan Stettin of Past the Wire. Runaway Groom also captured two-thirds of that season's Canadian Triple Crown. "I've...

The Jockey Club's 2020 Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing will be held Sunday, Aug. 16, at the Saratoga Springs City Center in Saratoga Springs, NY, The Jockey Club announced Tuesday. Additional details, including the conference agenda, will be released this summer. The Jockey Club Round Table Conference was first held July 1, 1953, in The Jockey Club office in New York City. The following year, it was moved to Saratoga Springs, where it has been held every August since. The two-hour conference has featured a myriad of...

Bruce Johnstone was, without question, one of the finest persons I ever met in the Thoroughbred world. At the beginning of 1977, he was 34, I was 30. It was my first year at Fasig-Tipton, then headquartered at the back gate of Belmont Park. A few years on, Bruce opened a public stable at Belmont, under the kindly eye of Horatio Luro, who remained his mentor and friend until Horatio passed away in 1991. Bruce trained there for the colorful Dr. Jose (Pepe) Sahagun and his Villa Blanca Farm, taking...

Senator Howard C. Nolan, who grew up in nearby Mechanicville, attended his first horse race with his father at Saratoga in 1946--when the track re-opened following World War II--and caught the racing bug. He was just 14 at the time, so it would be another 30 years before he purchased his first Thoroughbred and eventually developed a large breeding operation in New York. Now, with his 87th birthday approaching, Nolan has decided to wind down his involvement in racing and is offering eight mares at next week's Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed...

Tired of all the bad news? So were we. So, in our new series, we focus on the positive, asking people from non-horse racing families two questions: how they get hooked, and how they'll hook someone else on horse racing this year. TOM DURKIN What was the experience that made you fall in love with horse racing? I really had no particular interest in horse racing in my early childhood. My dad would go to the track and that was about it, I never really went with him a lot....

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D-NY) today announced legislation in the FY 2021 Executive Budget to authorize The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) to use capital funds to finance, construct and equip a new state-of-the-art equine drug testing laboratory and research center. The Executive Budget also proposes enabling New York to enter the Mid-Atlantic Drug Compact, which is designed to facilitate uniform passage of previously agreed-upon rules pertaining to equine medication and testing procedures. "Horse racing remains an important industry in many communities across New York, but preserving integrity in...

Professional handicapper and owner of PastTheWire.com Jonathan Stettin won the inaugural Handicapping for Horses Tournament this past August in Saratoga and donated his prize money to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. The prize money will be presented to the TAA during the Jan. 24 card at Gulfstream Park. The tournament, which lasted the duration of the 2019 meet at Saratoga, featured notable horseplayers and included a weekly Friday meet and greet at The Diamond Club at Embassy Suites in Saratoga. The meet and greet offered select beverages provided by Maker's Mark...

Tired of all the bad news? So were we. Tonight, we start our new series where we ask people from non-horse racing families two questions: how they get hooked, and how they'll hook someone else on horse racing. SOL KUMIN What was the experience that made you fall in love with horse racing? Lady Eli. When we bought our first group of horses 5-6 years ago we knew absolutely nothing about the sport of horse racing. In that first group, we ended up with future champion and Breeders Cup winner...

In our ongoing series, New Stallions, the TDN is visiting first-year sires around the country and giving readers a chance to take a look at them on video. Today, we're at Claiborne Farm visiting Catholic Boy (More Than Ready-Song of Bernadette, by Bernardini), one of only three North American 3-year-old colts to win Grade I races on both turf and dirt. In accomplishing that feat, he joined Secretariat and California Chrome. Kelsey Riley spoke to Bernie Sams about the 5-year-old new stallion. TDN: Catholic Boy is pretty unique in that...