Saratoga

If the Kansas City Chiefs need any advice on achieving the historic three-peat come Super Bowl Sunday, they need only ask Dr. John Eaton who, in conjunction with First Row Partners and Team Hanley, achieved the milestone at last Thursday's Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards. As a co-owner of two-time champion sprinter Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) during her racing career (she sold to John Stewart's Resolute Racing for $6,000,000 at FTKNOV in 2023), Eaton was honored Thursday as the breeder of yet another champion sprinter when Straight No Chaser (Speightster) earned the...

Due to the overwhelming demand in 2024, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has adjusted the 2025 pre-sale for Belmont Stakes Day tickets to ensure the most equitable opportunity for fans to purchase reserved seating and hospitality, the organization announced Monday via press release. Beginning Jan. 28 and running through Jan. 31, fans will enter a drawing on the Belmont Stakes homepage to secure access to various pre-sale opportunities. The selections will be at random, and winners will be directed to select ticket preferences based on available inventory. Entering the...

Don Alberto homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Senza Parole (Gun Runner), sidelined since posting a jaw-dropping, 7 3/4-length debut victory at Saratoga last summer, has resumed training with Chad Brown at Payson Park. Senza Parole was scratched from the GI Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct Oct. 5 due to a "very minor physical problem," per Don Alberto's Chief Operating Officer Reed Ringler. Senza Parole was the 3-5 morning-line favorite for that 'Win and You're In' contest for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, which was won in runaway fashion by the...

The New York racing Association (NYRA) will host a job fair Thursday, Feb. 13 for individuals interested in employment opportunities during the 2025 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga, the organization announced Friday afternoon. Running just one day from 2-7:00 p.m. at the 1863 Club at the racecourse, prospective workers will be able to meet with a variety of groups representing several staffing positions, including mutuel clerks, cashiers, merchandise clerks, customer service, and restaurant staff. Applicants should enter through the Wright Street entrance (gate eight), and must be at least...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will open a new exhibition to celebrate its 75th anniversary Jan. 15. Titled "Laying the Foundation: The Architecture of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame", the new exhibition will chronicle how the Museum has physically evolved with the times since its founding in 1950. "We have a lot of plans to celebrate the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's 75th anniversary in 2025 and this exhibition is a great starting point to chronicle that journey," said...

Paul F. Oreffice, who spoke fewer than 50 words of English when he arrived in America in the mid-1940s and went on to become a partner in multiple Classic-winning Thoroughbred horses in addition to a successful career in the business world, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, at his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona. He was 97 years old. Born in Venice, Italy, on Nov. 29, 1927, Oreffice moved with his family to Quito, Ecuador, and came to the U.S. in 1945, attending Purdue University...

Ten events from Thoroughbred racing in North America last year were nominated for the 2024 FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year, a distinction determined by fan voting and recognized at the annual Eclipse Awards, according to a press release from the NTRA on Thursday morning. Voting is now open on the NTRA website and via X, where every retweet or use of the official hashtag for the moments as presented on the @NTRA account will be counted as one vote. The FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year will be recognized...

Beginning in January 2027, the prize money on offer for all New York-bred overnight races on the New York Racing Association (NYRA) circuit will equal that which is available to their open-company counterparts, officials at NYRA said on Monday. As was announced in 2023, beginning in January 2026, all New York-bred overnight races for 2-year-olds will offer equal purse money. In 2024, NYRA staged 548 races restricted to New York-breds for total purses of $42,817,000, and the new program is expected to raise New York-bred overnight purses by 15% versus...

Jockey Dylan Davis earned 209 wins across six race meets in 2024 to pace all riders and secure top honors as the leading rider at the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA). This is Davis's second year-end NYRA title, adding to a 2022 campaign which saw him win 186 races. This year, Davis, who is represented by agent Mike Migliore, scored a pair of meet titles at the Aqueduct winter [54] and Belmont at the Big A fall [44] meets. "It means a lot," said Davis. "Me and Mike put...

It's been nearly a year-and-a-half since Chantal Sutherland last rode. Her career was sidelined May 6, 2023 after a freak accident at Gulfstream when she pulled her mount up when the horse was frightened by geese crossing the track. Sutherland was thrown from the saddle and suffered a very serious injury. She snapped the humerus bone right off the shoulder and with her arm hanging grotesquely it was no longer attached to any part of her body. At time, the 48-year old rider grew so despondent that she feared that...

Champion Lemon Drop Kid (Kingmambo--Charming Lassie, by Seattle Slew) has died of an undisclosed cause at the age of 28 at Lane's End, the farm said via a press release on Friday morning. Foaled at Lane's End and bred by W. S. Farish and W. S. Kilroy, Lemon Drop Kid is out of Charming Lassie, a half-sister to Broodmare of the Year Weekend Surprise (Secretariat). The Lane's End sire was closely-related to the impactful A.P. Indy. Lemon Drop Kid was sold for $200,000 at the 1997 Keeneland September Sale to...

Fitriani Hay's Clock Tower (Not This Time), the 4-5 favorite, glided up and over from his outside post to take the early lead and never looked back in a wire-to-wire victory in the GIII Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at Del Mar Sunday. The dark bay gelding was in control through an opening quarter in :23.62 and was under a strong hold while getting a breather down the backstretch as the half went up in :48.75. Second choice Scipio (Caravaggio) made eye-catching progress on the turn and loomed a threat while...