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The New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. launched the first legal off-track betting operation in the United States in 1971 and took in $66,091 in opening-day handle. It had only two branches and a telephone betting center.NYCOTB eventually grew to 60 full-service branches, plus restaurants and teletheaters. Currently, it employs about 1,500 ...

Shortly before Saratoga racing took its Tuesday Sabbatical, the town's preservationists gathered at the city library to hear what the locals wanted done when NYRA came into some money.  Public forums like this sprout up all over town; you just have to stay alert in order to spot them. More trees, less concrete; a revival of the old ...

Rumors abounded on Monday morning that the jockeys were planning to play a ringer in Wednesday evening's basketball game between the New York Horsemen and them.  Word has it that one of the Siena College Final Four tournament team members - a 7-footer - will suit up on the side of the 5-footers.  If that's the case, Las ...

Four judges, all wearing fancy millinery, awarded prizes to contestants in three categories at the 19th annual ''Hat's Off to Saratoga'' hat contest. A hat at the track is no longer the choice for many women.  Yet, when dressing the part of the main attraction contributes to the whole of the afternoon, you will see some. Cindy Franco, a ...

Well before the call to the post for the Gr. 1 $250,000 Coaching Club American Oaks, about half the crowd of 20,352 fans had left for home or the backyard of Siro's or the Horseshoe.  Who could blame them?  The heat was sweltering and old horse-drawn carriages weren't enough of a draw to excite them. In addition, the ''Hats Off to ...

This story first appeared in the Blood-Horse magazine in 2004. I have been able to resurrect the text from the magazine database and put it online for the first time. The story has been updated and is now current. A photo of Cigar standing on the track at Nad al Sheba dominated the front page of a local newspaper in Dubai several days before the ...

By William Shanklin  CNN.com earlier this year posted an article titled “The Rise and Rise of Fantasy Sports,” in which it reported the activity is expanding at double-digit rates. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates 27.1 million adults in the United States currently participate in and will spend roughly $4 billion on virtual ...

Horse (First-place votes)                Points1 -- Zenyatta  (89)                         1,4362 -- Ruffian  ...

By Alex Waldrop, President and CEO of the NTRA   Earlier this month, I took advantage of the long Fourth of July holiday weekend to spend a few days with family and friends and get away from the constant barrage of phone, e-mail and  text messages which tend to dominate work life for so many of us these days.  Well, honestly, ...

Many racing fans are prepared to state emphatically that Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra are two of the best, if not THE best, fillies of the past half-century. The list from which to chose, however, is longer than most think. Below is a reminder just how extensive that list is. With almost half the year still remaining to define Zenyatta's and ...