Tag: Belmont Park

Swiss Skydiver owns stakes victories at five tracks, including two here at Santa Anita Park. She attempts to add Belmont Park to her stakes resume in Saturday's Grade 1 Ogden Phipps. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Swiss Skydiver Finally Lands at Belmont Park for Deep Ogden Phipps

Somehow, the Swiss Skydiver Stakes Tour bypassed Belmont Park. Somehow, the Champion 3-Year-Old Filly missed the biggest racing sandbox of them all – Big Sandy. How did a filly who won six graded stakes races over five racetracks miss America’s largest racetrack, Belmont Park? An oversight? Well, it’s an oversight […]

With no Charlatan in the gate, Knicks Go becomes a likely favorite for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on the June 5 Belmont Stakes undercard. (Image: Coady Photography)

Cox Calls a New Play for Knicks Go — The Met Mile

Even Brad Cox understands how the avoid Bob Baffert game is played, which explains why he moved his star older horse, Knicks Go, to the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. That June 5 race is the first-among-equals Grade 1 on the Belmont Stakes undercard. Cox originally targeted Knicks Go for the […]

Malathaat, seen here gaining on her Kentucky Oaks rivals, won't do the same against the boys in the Belmont Stakes. She needs to eat extra oat buckets to gain weight for the summer campaigns. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Undefeated Malathaat Won’t Tease the Boys in the Belmont Stakes

Without a Triple Crown storyline, race fans were salivating at the prospect of filly Malathaat jumping into the Belmont Stakes pool and tangling with the boys in the final jewel of the Triple Crown. But connections for the undefeated filly said Tuesday she will pass up the Belmont. Instead, the […]

Irish import Sovereign seeks his first victory on US soil and his first win since 2019 in Saturday's Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes at Belmont Park. (Image: Irish Thoroughbred Marketing)

Can the Man o’ War Stakes Become Sovereign Territory?

The Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes draws its name from one of the most iconic horses in American racing history. Yet, it’s an Irish import who’s stealing all of the attention in the New York Racing Association’s first Grade 1 turf race of 2021. That would be Sovereign, who […]

Ny Traffic opened his 3-year-old campaign last January winning this Gulfstream Park allowance. He opened his 4-year-old season Sunday, winning a Belmont Park allowance by 6 1/2 lengths. (Image: Lauren King/Gulfstream Park)

Ny Traffic Returns With a Vengeance, Takes Apart Belmont Park Allowance

Whatever rust Ny Traffic possessed during a seven-month layoff disappeared in less than 90 seconds on Sunday, when the colt dismantled a Belmont Park allowance field of New York-breds by 6 ½ lengths. The Cross Traffic progeny made his 4-year-old debut nearly seven months to the day after he finished […]

Tiz the Law's 2020 Belmont Stakes victory came in front of empty stands at Belmont Park. NYRA has the go-ahead to sell tickets at 20% capacity to the Belmont Stakes and the rest of its Spring Meet. (Image: AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Cuomo Green-Lights Fans at NYRA Racetracks Starting April 23

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo caught the New York Racing Association by surprise on Wednesday when he announced fans could return to the state’s racetracks as early as April 23. That’s one day after Belmont Park’s Spring Meet opens. According to Cuomo’s edict, attendance at the three NYRA tracks, Belmont […]

The 153rd Belmont Stakes moves back to 1 1/2 miles and its early June starting date. It headlines a massive day of racing at Belmont Park June 5. (Image: Chelsea Durand/NYRA/Coglianese Photos)

Belmont Stakes Headlines NYRA’s Belmont Park Stakes Schedule

With the Belmont Stakes headlining eight Grade 1 races that day, Belmont Park will play host to one of the biggest days in American racing on Saturday, June 5. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced Belmont Park’s Spring/Summer Meet stakes schedule, which features 11 Grade 1 races among 59 […]

Aqueduct Racetrack served Queens as more than a sporting institution. It's first floor is now a New York COVID-19 vaccination center. (Image: NYRA)

Aqueduct Racetrack Doubles as State COVID-19 Vaccination Center

Aqueduct Racetrack once played host to a Pope and the only triple dead heat in a stakes race. Now, the New York track plays host to a state-run COVID-19 vaccination distribution center. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) opened Aqueduct’s first floor to state health officials, who began distributing the […]

Decorated Invader owns four stakes victories on four different tracks. He leads the field in the Grade 2 Hill Prince Sunday at Belmont Park. (Image: West Point Thoroughbreds)

Decorated Invader Looking for More Wins at Less Distance in Hill Prince

Those extra three-sixteenths of a mile Decorated Invader tackled in his last race apparently did what few other horses could do to the standout 3-year-old — slow down the son of noted sire Declaration of War. This explains why Decorated Invader cuts back to a mile for Sunday’s Grade 2 […]

Unbeaten in three races, including this Saratoga Special win, Jackie's Warrior is the favorite for Saturday's Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park. (Image: Coglianese Photo)

Champagne Stakes Uncorks Juvenile Horses in Vintage Race

The Champagne Stakes dates to 1867, making this a vintage race if there ever was a non-American Classic vintage race. Yet, it holds its vintage status while turning loose 2-year-olds upon the racing world. Call it a vintage race with fledgling racers. But while you’re at it, call Saturday’s Grade […]

Vequist and Luis Saez raised their profile winning the Grade 1 Spinaway last month. Now, they try validating that victory in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes Saturday at Belmont Park. (Image: Janet Garaguso/Coglianese Photos)

Vequist Skips Baby Steps Trying for Second Grade 1 Win in the Frizette

Vequist didn’t bother with a slow procession up the class ladder as the usual baby steps just wouldn’t work for the juvenile daughter of a Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup champion. The daughter of Nyquist did this whole maiden-breaking thing backward. She finished second in her first race – a […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. ranked No. 1 in North American jockey wins the last three years and earnings the last two. He became the latest prominent jockey testing positive for COVID-19. (Image: Gregory Bull/AP)

Top Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Latest Rider Testing Positive for COVID-19

Two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. became the latest high-profile jockey testing positive for COVID-19. As a result, Ortiz goes back on the shelf for at least 10 days. The Daily Racing Form reported that Ortiz took the test Monday at his current Saratoga Springs, New York, residence. His […]

Antoinette's ability to hold off Stunning Sky down the Saratoga Oak stretch bodes well for her in Saturday's Belmont Oaks. (Image: Coglianese Photos)

Will Antoinette Tell Her Belmont Oaks Foes, ‘Let Them Eat Turf?’

A British invader by way of France taking on a Kentucky-bred horse sporting a French name. The prime storyline surrounding Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Oaks can be confusing, to say the least. Just remember, Magic Attitude is the foreign invader and Antoinette is the home-bred filly in the five-filly field. […]

The Belmont Park turf will provide the scene for some of Big Sandy's best fall races. (Image: NYRA/Coglianese Photo)

Fall Into Belmont Park’s Autumn Meet: 27 Days, 22 Graded Stakes

Even as the New York Racing Association cuts racing days in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, organization officials announced its 27-day Belmont Park fall meet. That schedule features 38 stakes races worth $5.58 million in purse money. NYRA officials announced Wednesday that they are cutting days from both the Belmont […]

The Saratoga racing season is a crucial financial engine for the New York Racing Association. One of the country's largest racing organizations lost $6.7 million in the second quarter and will cut races out of its Belmont and Aqueduct fall meets. (Image: Erica Miller/Daily Gazette)

NYRA Reduces Belmont, Aqueduct Meet Dates, Reports Financial Stability

Despite reducing race days for the Belmont Park fall meet and the Aqueduct winter meet, the New York Racing Association told New York state regulators it can financially operate under current conditions into the first half of 2021. The concerns about NYRA’s financial viability came because of the coronavirus pandemic, […]

Vekoma won the Met Mile as the 5/2 second-favorite. He is one of the top older horses in the country, with a stud career at Spendthrift Farm awaiting him after this year. (Image: Eclipse Sportswire)

Spendthrift Farm Adds Sizzling Vekoma to Already Deep Stud Stable

Spendthrift Farm acquired the breeding rights to its third Met Mile winner in the last four years when it secured stud privileges to multiple Grade 1 winner Vekoma. Spendthrift, the famous Kentucky breeding farm owned by billionaire B. Wayne Hughes, the founder and chairman of Public Storage, adds perhaps the […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. sent Instilled Regard through a slim opening to win Saturday's Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont Park. This was Instilled Regard's second stakes victory in less than a month. (Image: Joe Labozzetta/Coglianese Photos)

What Can Chad Brown Do for Instilled Regard? Make Him a Turf Terror

That Instilled Regard snatched and grabbed victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park isn’t surprising, coming from a horse with nearly $1 million in career earnings. That the Chad Brown-trainee took Manhattan wasn’t surprising either, considering this was Brown’s sixth Manhattan title in nine years. It was […]

One of the most underrated horses in the country, Vekoma splashed home to win the Carter Handicap by 7 1/4 lengths last month. The competition increases dramatically in Saturday's Met Mile at Belmont Park. (Image: NYRA)

Meet the Many Contenders in the Met Mile

The beauty for horseplayers and horse racing fans alike in Saturday’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Stakes, popularly known as the Met Mile, is the variety of runners meeting in the Belmont Park starting gate for a one-turn mile. Sprinters? They’re there with Vekoma, Hog Creek Hustle and Network Effect. Routers? How […]

Given his advantages, pedigree and training, betting on Tacitus makes sense on paper. But the Tapit progeny is without a win in 15 months. (Image: Seth Wenig/AP)

Tacitus Brings Everything to the Track — Except Winning Tickets

You can say many things about Tacitus, your 9/5 morning line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 2 $200,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park. You can call him a disappointment — $2.7 million in earnings aside. You can say the 4-year-old Tapit progeny should own more than three victories in 11 career […]