Tag: Saratoga

The 2019 Louisiana Derby was one of By My Standards five wins in 10 career races. He shoots for No. 6 in Saturday's Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. (Image: Scott Serio/Eclipse Sportswire

By My Standards Seeking to Do It His Way at Whitney Stakes

- 3 min read

By My Standards ran his last race – June’s Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs — exactly by his standards. He chalked a 102 Beyer Speed Figure, tying his career-best mark. He raced exactly out of trainer Bret Calhoun’s playbook, even down to the strong gallop-out afterward. This should […]

Uncle Chuck won't find his next race as easy as he and Luis Saez found the July 4 Los Alamitos Derby. The undefeated 3-year-old ships to Saratoga for the Grade 1 Travers Stakes. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Uncle Chuck Heads to Saratoga for Travers Tangle With Tiz the Law

- 2 min read

You won’t have to wait until the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby to see Uncle Chuck take on Tiz the Law. Not after trainer Bob Baffert confirmed he will send Uncle Chuck to New York for the Aug. 8 Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga. With Belmont Stakes champion Tiz the […]

McKinzie, seen here winning the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes, will run the six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar. It is the shortest race of his career. (Image: Benoit Photo)

McKinzie Goes on the Road to the Crosby, Improbable off to Whitney

- 3 min read

Go long and far, or go short and stay home. When it came to deciding where prize colt McKinzie would run next, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert opted for the six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar over the 1 1/8-mile Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. Instead, Baffert sends Improbable […]

Starship Jubilee proved to bettors again why she is one of the best older turf mares in North America. She won Saturday's Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga, beating 2/5 favorite Sistercharlie. (Image: NYRA)
Javier Castellano

Starship Jubilee Flies Off With Adventurous Upset at Ballston Spa Stakes

- 3 min read

While the horse racing world was focused on Maximum Security’s return on Saturday (spoiler alert: he won), the other end of the country produced one of the more surprising upsets in the graded stakes world. That, courtesy of Starship Jubilee, who took down 2/5 favorite Sistercharlie in the Grade 2 […]

This volatile display of Volatile's speed went on display at June's Aristides Stakes. He opens as the 4/5 favorite for Saturday's Alfred Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga. (Image: Coady Photography)

Vanderbilt Handicap Short on Entries, Long on Volatile Speed

- 3 min read

The secret is already out. But you can confirm exactly how volatile a sprinter Volatile is in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. The featured race on Saratoga’s Saturday card gives you a glimpse of some of the best sprinting talent in the country. Only five horses are entered […]

Whitmore won his third Count Fleet Sprint Handicap in four years in April. He goes for his 15th career win and second Grade 1 in Saturday's Alfred Vanderbilt Stakes. (Image: Richard Rasmussen/Hot Springs Sentinel-Record)

Whitmore Shows the Youngsters How This Sprinting Game Works

- 3 min read

Usually, horses of Whitmore’s age are working in the breeding shed or are retired. They’re not doing morning workouts. Usually, horses with 14 career wins are … well, rarely do horses with this portfolio get to 14 career wins. But here is Whitmore, a 7-year-old gelding, seeking career win No. […]

Mike Smith and Authentic holding off Paco Lopez and Ny Traffic in Saturday's Haskell Stakes keyed a record handle day for Monmouth Park. The New Jersey track broke $20 million in daily handle for only the second time in its 75-year history. (Image: Peter Ackerman)

Saratoga, Monmouth Break Out Fast with Strong Handles

- 3 min read

There were no fans in the stands at Saratoga for opening weekend, and few fans in the stands at Monmouth Park on Haskell weekend. But both tracks notched increased handles year-over-year from 2019. Saratoga’s opening weekend all-sources handle came in at $80,325,660, up 9.4% from 2019’s $73,441,101. The historic upstate […]

Because of the coronavirus, Monmouth Park won't have this many fans watching its biggest racing day of the summer. But the New Jersey track will play an active role in an international Pick 5 of all graded stakes races Saturday. (Image: Monmouth Park)

Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Presents Bettors High Stakes Choices

- 3 min read

You have your cross country Pick 4s and Pick 5s, which demand you pick winners from different tracks around the country. But the latest betting novelty for horseplayers takes the Cross Country Pick 5, boosts its class, and takes it international. Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 gives bettors a swing […]

If you're riding this summer at iconic Saratoga Race Course, you're riding no place else. NYRA placed a travel ban on jockeys -- the latest effort to curb the coronavirus. (Image: Getty)

NYRA Bans Outside Riders From Prestigious Saratoga Meet

- 3 min read

In an effort to control the rampaging coronavirus among jockeys, the New York Racing Association took an unprecedented step for its crown-jewel Saratoga meet on Tuesday, closing the meet to out-of-town jockeys. That means only members of the NYRA jockey colony, which currently consists of 22 regular jockeys and three […]

Keen Ice (left) beat Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the 2015 Travers Stakes. The historic race moved up three weeks this year to Aug. 8. (Image: Dan Heary/For the Boston Globe)

Saratoga Schedule Features 39 Stakes, Tiz the Law Expected in Travers

- 3 min read

The New York Racing Association put one of the final Kentucky Derby Trail pieces in place on Friday, releasing its Saratoga Race Course summer stakes schedule. It puts the Grade 1 Travers Stakes on Saturday, Aug. 8, four weeks before the Kentucky Derby. That date conveniently fits Tiz the Law’s […]

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo explained why he approved horseracing's resumption during his Saturday coronavirus briefing. (Image: WRVO)

New York Racing Resumes in June After Governor’s Approval

- 2 min read

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo put his state back in the horseracing game Saturday when he announced during his daily coronavirus briefing New York may resume spectator-free racing June 1. Along with Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields resuming in California and Churchill Downs resuming in Kentucky, this is […]

While racing will soon return to Churchill Downs, the surreal sight of empty stands will stick around for the foreseeable future. (Image: Pat McDonogh: Courier-Journal)

Kentucky, New York Officials Cautiously Plan Return to Live Racing

- 4 min read

Government officials in two of the country’s biggest horse racing states, Kentucky and New York, opened the doors for live, spectator-free racing to begin amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcements came separately and, in both cases, contained few details on exactly when live racing would begin again. But in the […]

Dating to 1863 and defining the sport of kings in the United States, probably no race track in the country holds the history, charm and heritage of Saratoga in upstate New York. (Image: AP)

As Horse Racing Considers Its Future, NYRA and Churchill Downs Extend Track Closures

- 3 min read

Both the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Churchill Downs on Wednesday announced delays in opening or re-opening training facilities after coronavirus-related track closures. But the two influential racing organizations diverged as to when facilities should be ready to return for spring/summer meets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

McKinzie in tight quarters can't rundown Mitole in the Met Mile on June 8. (EquiSport Photos/Jessie Holmes)

Elite Older Horses to Square Off Saturday in Whitney Stakes at Saratoga

- 3 min read

A quartet of top-level older horses head an eight-horse field Saturday in the $1 million, 1 1/8 mile Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. McKinzie, Thunder Snow, Vino Rosso and Yoshida are all Grade 1 winners. But, the top four will have to deal with four other emerging runners in […]

It's upsetter Tax to win the 2019 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. (Chelsea Durand/NYRA)

Tax Files in Plenty of Time, Wins Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga

- 3 min read

Former fringe player Tax is now front and center as a contender in the 1 1/4 mile, $1.25 million Travers Stakes Aug. 24 at Saratoga in Upstate New York. The former claimer disposing of a solid group of rivals in the $600,000 Jim Dandy, the local Travers prep. He’s now […]