It was a wise decision by NYRA to cancel Sunday’s racing. The heavy rains and winds didn’t relent until 4:00 pm and, even then, being in Saratoga would have felt like being at Aqueduct in April. This morning brought clear skies and sun and the forecast that the next several days will seem like summer...

Three exceptional displays of philanthropy occurred at the 14th annual Belmont Child Care Association’s fundraiser at the Gideon Putnam Hotel on Wednesday evening. First, Michael Dubb, the charity’s chairman and one of New York’s leading horse owners, paid $11,500 for a Breeders’ Cup trip that included...

A succession of locally-produced television shows about horse racing occurs every weekend morning on Channel 12. For the most part, they’re produced by Capital District OTB (Albany, NY). Horse ownership partnerships such as Karakorum Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, Hibiscus Stables and Whitehall Stables...

Beau Mistral won the first race at Saratoga for Dave Collins of Lenox, MA. The two-year-old Irish-bred filly took the opener at Nottingham Racecourse in a simulcasted British maiden race that the fan of international horse racing wouldn’t bet. “I would never be here if it wasn’t for this,” Collins said...

No sooner had the Michael Matz-trained Union Rags beat Stat in the Saratoga Special that people started comparing the two-year-old colt to Barbaro. Matz entered the splendid son of Dixie Union in the grade 2 stakes off one victory in one start, which, in itself, should speak for his respect of the animal...

Steve Asmussen, one of the world’s most accomplished Thoroughbred trainers, watched his undefeated filly My Miss Aurelia win the gr. 2 Adirondack Stakes from a spot on the rail among the free tee-shirt people. It’s not often that fans who take in the races from the grandstand apron see a tall, handsome...

Wednesday in Saratoga offered up a mixed plate of emotions. It was the first Foxwoods Mardi Gras Day, a promotion that was pitched as an afternoon on which the racecourse would be turned into New Orleans. Alas, it seemed like a drummed-up excuse to promote something so that one day didn’t pass without...

Owner Mike Repole wasn’t on horseback Saturday. But he rode an emotional bucking bronco that would unseat most people. His Repole Stables sent out four runners – two won, and the first one, a promising maiden two-year-old colt by Giant’s Causeway named Giant Surprise, was taken off the track in a van...

The rematch between Winter Memories and More Than Real, her lone conqueror, in the gr. 2 Lake George Stakes never took shape. That puts added pressures on the powers to be to keep horse racing’s real rivalry going. The connections of Blind Luck and Havre de Grace have said that they intend to bring their...

NYRA officials seem very pleased with the numbers posted for the first four days of horse racing. Considering that the first two days were conducted in sweltering heat and the fourth was held in the rain, that the track was able to attract 350 more people each day on average than last year is a development...