Tag: NYRA

Fans will be welcomed back to historic Saratoga Race Course this summer. All they have to do is show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to access most of the storied track. (Image: NYRA Photo)

NYRA Giving Vaccinated Fans a Shot to See Racing at Saratoga

The New York Racing Association and the State of New York want to give racing fans seeking a seat at storied Saratoga this summer a literal shot in the arm. All eager fans have to do for a shot at visiting the famed track is to get a COVID-19 shot. […]

The 153rd Belmont Stakes anchors three of NYRA's six, two-day special wagers Belmont Stakes weekend at Belmont Park. (Image Chelsea Durand/NYRA)

NYRA Offers Wagering Menu Smorgasbord for Belmont Stakes Weekend

The New York Racing Association unveiled its wagering menu for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, headlined by a two-day Pick 6 that begins Friday, June 4, and ends with the 153rd Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 5. The NYRA’s wagering menu includes six, two-day wagers incorporating many of the Belmont […]

Trainer Bob Baffert's travails continued Monday, when the New York Racing Association suspended him from racing at any of its Thoroughbred tracks. (Image: Luke Sharrett/Getty)

NYRA Temporarily Suspends Trainer Bob Baffert From its Tracks

Adding to the fallout from Kentucky Derby champion Medina Spirit’s post-Derby positive medication test, the New York Racing Association temporarily suspended Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert from entering horses for any of the association’s races. The ban extends to Baffert horses occupying stall space at Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack, […]

At 10%, Canterbury Park offers the lowest Pick 6 takeout of any North American track. Both the Minnesota track and NYRA's Belmont Park return to a traditional Pick 6 for their upcoming meets. (Image: Canterbury Park)

NYRA, Canterbury Get Traditional With Their Pick 6 Wagers

The New York Racing Association revamped its Pick 6 wager for Belmont Park’s upcoming Spring/Summer Meet, returning to their traditional format. When Belmont Park’s Spring/Summer Meet begins on April 22, horseplayers will ride back to the future with a $1 Pick 6 featuring a 15% takeout. That takeout comes on […]

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 […]

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo prevailed over state legislators on a mobile sports wagering bill. Horse racing tracks, arenas, stadiums and other non-casino venues were not included in the agreement, part of a state budget bill. (Image: Al Bello/Getty)

New York Mobile Sports Wagering Coming, Horse Racing Not Going Along

A bid to include horse racing in New York’s mobile sports wagering law didn’t make it into the final draft agreed upon by state legislators and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The mobile sports wagering agreement, which will become part of a state budget plan, allows online wagering on college […]

Mind Control owns seven victories and more than $1 million in career earnings. He's also the only one of the five Carter Handicap entries with a Grade 1 victory. (Image: Susie Raisher)

The Carter Handicap Knows Its Place on the Wood Memorial Undercard

The Carter Handicap is that rare Grade 1 race sitting on an undercard featuring no other Grade 1s. But there it sits, the sixth race on Aqueduct’s Saturday card, almost an afterthought on Wood Memorial Day at the Big A. The $300,000, seven-furlong Carter, however, holds court as the first […]

Eric Cancel completed his six-pack of Sunday victories with this neck score aboard My Boy Tate in the Haynesfield Stakes. Going 6-for-8 on Aqueduct's Winter Meet final day, gave Cancel his first riding title. (Image: Chelsea Durand/NYRA)

Cancel Culture Sweeps Aqueduct: Rider Wins Six for First Title

It took Eric Cancel tying the New York Racing Association record for single-day wins to bring him his first career riding title. So with that flair for the dramatic, Cancel won six races on Aqueduct’s Winter Meet closing day Sunday. Call it his own stretch drive. Cancel came into Sunday’s […]

Arrogate's record victory in the 2016 Travers Stakes was Fox Sports' first telecast of that iconic race. Along with purchasing an equity stake in ADW NYRA Bets, Fox Sports signed an extension to television NYRA races through 2030. (Image: Jesse Caris/Caris Photography)

Fox Sports Buys Share of NYRA Bets, Extends NY Race Coverage to 2030

Fox Sports and the New York Racing Association unveiled an expanded partnership agreement Thursday that extends the regional sports network’s television rights for NYRA races through 2030. The agreement opens up options for a Fox Sports subsidiary to purchase a 25% stake in NYRA Bets, the association’s advance deposit wagering […]

Unfortunately, there is no morning line on the snowplows at Oaklawn Park. The Arkansas track lost eight days of racing over two weekends to the winter storms. The snowplows (Image: Coady Photography)

Oaklawn Fights Winter Postponements With More Races, Bigger Purses

Scrambling to make up eight lost days of racing, Oaklawn Park officials announced a revamped schedule that reschedules its five canceled stakes races, and adds races and purse money to the Arkansas track’s schedule. Oaklawn isn’t the only American racetrack feeling the polar blast buffeting the Central and Eastern US. […]

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 […]

Louisiana native Eric Guillot won't be holding court at Saratoga like he was here in 2016. NYRA banned him from its tracks after he gave horse a racist name. Guillot said he is retired and the horse has another name. (Image: Skip Dickstein/Albany Times Union)

NYRA, TSG Ban Trainer Guillot Over Racist Horse Name, Twitter Reference

Both the New York Racing Association and The Stronach Group’s 1/ST Racing affiliate banned trainer Eric Guillot from racing any of his horses or reserving barn space at any of their tracks after Guillot tagged one of his horses with an apparent racially offensive name. The horse’s name was Grape […]

Next summer's high-profile stakes races at Saratoga will be Lasix free under a re-instituted ban on the anti-bleeding medication in all New York Racing Association stakes races. (Image: NYRA)

New York Becomes Latest State Banning Lasix in Stakes Races

The New York Racing Association became the latest racing organization to ban the use of furosemide (Lasix) for stakes races when it announced the prohibition of Lasix use within 48 hours of all NYRA stakes races. The new rule takes effect Jan. 1. Instituted by the New York State Gaming […]

Mutamakina (4) edged Traipsing to win the Long Island Stakes. Both horses are trained by Christophe Clement, who won the Aqueduct training title. (Image: Chelsea Durand/Coglianese Photo)

Aqueduct Records Daily Handle Increase During Shortened Fall Meet

Aqueduct continued the trend of spectator-free racetracks racking up handle increases, reporting a 12.8% increase in average daily, all-sources handle for its just-completed fall meet. The New York Racing Association announced Aqueduct checked in with an average daily handle of $9,261,276. This daily increase came despite a drop in overall […]

Kendrick Carmouche still hasn't come down from his first Grade 1 win, piloting True Timber to the Cigar Mile winner's circle last Saturday. Carmouche won his first NYRA riding title during Aqueduct's fall meet. (Image: Eclipse Sportswire)

Carmouche Breaks Into Big Time with First NYRA Riding Crown

Between 2008 and 2011, Kendrick Carmouche won seven riding titles at Parx, outside Philadelphia, staking his claim as that track’s dominant jockey and earning a spot in its Hall of Fame. But that was at Parx; a nice track, but a track out in the riding provinces. Now, Carmouche is […]

Sadler's Joy won the 2017 Sword Dancer Stakes for his lone Grade 1 win. As the 8/5 favorite, he tries defending his Red Smith Handicap title at Aqueduct Saturday. (Image: Joe Labozzeta/NYRA)

Get the Geritol: Red Smith Handicap Features Three Older Favorites

Two of the contenders for Saturday’s Red Smith Handicap at Aqueduct are 7-year-olds. One of the other favorites is 6-years-old, confirming that the 60th Red Smith Handicap is the race where older horses head before heading out to pasture. Or not. There’s 7-year-old Sadler’s Joy taking on his fellow 7-year-old […]

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 […]

Only a handful of essential personnel watched a geared-down Tiz the Law win the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga Aug. 8. But despite no fans, Saratoga's handle surpassed $700 million for the second consecutive year. (Image: AP)

No Fans? No Problem as Saratoga Surpasses $700 Million in 2020 Handle

Bettors proved they could handle the magic of Saratoga’s racing season without being at Saratoga, passing the $700 million mark in all-sources handle for the second consecutive year. The numbers for the 40-day 2020 Saratoga meet remained surprisingly strong, despite the lack of fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Saratoga […]

Aqueduct's fall 2020 season offers only one Grade 1 race -- the Cigar Mile. but it provides candid views of some of the most promising 2-year-olds in the country. (Image: ZUMA Photography)

Aqueduct’s Fall Slate Light on Grade 1s, Heavy on Juvenile Prospects

The New York Racing Association published its Aqueduct fall meet on Thursday, announcing an 18-day meet featuring 29 stakes races worth $3.41 million in purse money. Even with a reduced schedule, a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, Aqueduct’s stakes calendar offers bettors 11 graded stakes among those 29 stakes. Headlining […]