NYRA

NYRA Abandons Aqueduct Card Due to Property Maintenance Issue

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) has canceled Friday's nine-race card at Belmont The Big A due to an ongoing maintenance issue at the racetrack, according to a release from the organization. Per the statement, Resorts World Casino was treating the roof with a product that has since created air quality issues on the building's top floor. Said area is occupied by live racing officials, and as a result, the entire card was abandoned. Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcasting and the featured Listed Glen Cove Stakes will be...

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Belmont Rebuild: Tapeta Training Possible Spring '25; Option Still Open for '26 Belmont Stakes to Revert Downstate

Timelines for the massive-scaled, $455-million rebuild of Belmont Park were brought more clearly into focus Wednesday during a construction update presented by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) at a meeting of the New York State Franchise Oversight Board (FOB). In chronological order: 1) Belmont's new one-mile Tapeta track could open for training as early as the spring of 2025. 2) NYRA is keeping open the option of running the 2026 GI Belmont Stakes back downstate at the new facility under a festival-meet scenario in which all four racing surfaces...

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FOX Sports To Broadcast Arc De Triomphe From ParisLongchamp

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will partner with FOX Sports to present live coverage and analysis of Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe from ParisLongchamp, the track said in a release on Friday. Sunday's special broadcast will air on FS1 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. ET., with Greg Wolf offering stateside updates live in studio from Aqueduct Racetrack. Post time for the race, which is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and offers entry into the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, is set for approximately 10:20 a.m....

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NYRA Names MacLennan To Racing Secretary Post

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has promoted Rob MacLennan, effectively immediately, to the position of racing secretary, according to a press release from the track on Wedensday. MacLennan joined NYRA in April 2021 as a racing official and was serving as the assistant racing secretary. He arrived at NYRA after employment as the racing secretary at Century Mile and Century Downs in Canada. A licensed racing official, MacLennan joins Keith Doleshel, senior director of racing, who also holds the secretary title in overseeing the writing of condition books...

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Computer Assisted Wagering: Different Worlds, Different Fixes

Calling extreme odds changes the "Achilles heel of pari-mutuel wagering," Michael Fitzsimons, the Hong Kong Jockey Club's executive director of racing products, recently sold the audience at the Asian Racing Conference on a plan to standardize global access to the World Pool by sophisticated computer teams. "For the first time, we are proposing this year to work on the World Pool professional hubs, where we come together with operators to agree to the rules and through our smart contracts technology, we will enforce these rules no matter where the professional...

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Rainfall Forces Aqueduct's Miss Grillo Stakes To Sunday Oct. 6 Says NYRA

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has moved Sunday's featured GII Miss Grillo Stakes [eighth race], a 1 1/16-mile turf test for 2-year-old fillies at Belmont at the Big A, due to significant rainfall and is now scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 6, the track said in a release early Sunday morning. The Miss Grillo offers a "Win and You're In" berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Nov. 1 at Del Mar. The graded race, which will be offered as an extra and redrawn, will join a...

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NYRA Mourns The Loss Of Mutuels Chief Pat Mahony

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) mourns the passing of Pat Mahony, who spent more than 50 years in the racing industry, many leading NYRA's mutuels department, and was known nationally as a leading expert in wagering operations, protocols and rules, the track said in a Friday press release. "New York's racing community is deeply saddened by the passing of Pat Mahony, whose contributions to the fabric of NYRA and Thoroughbred racing will be long remembered," said NYRA President & CEO David O'Rourke. "As Vice President of Mutuels, Pat's...

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HISA Pens Letter in Support of NYRA Synthetic Decision for Belmont Winter Racing

As renovations continue at Belmont Park, The New York Racing Association (NYRA) divulged a plan July 1 to conduct approximately three months of winter racing annually at Belmont exclusively on an all-weather surface. A one-mile Tapeta track is currently under construction at Belmont, while the facility is scheduled to reopen in 2026. Lisa Lazarus, the CEO of the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority (HISA) provided a letter Friday to NYRA in support of the decision. The letter appears in full below. To Whom it May Concern: The Horseracing Integrity and...

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DraftKings Travers Day Wagering A Record With Over $63 Million

Saturday's 14-race DraftKings Travers Day card generated a record-setting all-sources wagering handle of $63,023,405, according to a press release from NYRA on Saturday. The 2024 figure represents a 13.4 percent increase over the prior record of $55,559,317, which was established in 2022. Paid attendance on Saturday was 47,844 with on-track handle of $11,267,864. THE CHAMP IS BACK! Fierceness, son of @LanesEndFarms stallion City of Light, wins the G1 @DraftKings Travers Stakes, leaving no doubt that he's back on top! The legendary @ljlmvel was aboard for @PletcherRacing and @RepoleStable. pic.twitter.com/M8KY6h4sQr —...

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Velazquez To Serve Three-Day Suspension For Spa DQ

John Velazquez, the winningest jockey in the history of Saratoga Race Course, will serve a three-day suspension Aug. 28-30 stemming from the disqualification of his mount from a win in the tenth race there Aug. 16. Velazquez waived his right to an appeal, according to an Aug. 20 stewards' ruling posted on the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) website. The race in which Velazquez got disqualified was an $80,000 optional claiming/allowance turf route. He was aboard the 4.9-1 fourth choice in the betting, Vino Rouge (Vino Rosso), a filly...

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TERF Awards Grant To Belmont Childcare Center

The Thoroughbred Education and Research Foundation (TERF) has awarded $10,000 to the Belmont Childcare Association, Inc. (BCCA) for their early childhood education program, the organization said in a release Thursday. The mission of the BCCA is to provide a safe, supportive and academically inspiring environment for the children of parents working in the Thoroughbred racing backstretch area located at NYRA's three tracks. BCCA has received funds from TERF over the last five years and will once again use the grant to prepare students for elementary school as they develop physically,...

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Connections Of Carson's Run May Accept Invite To Cox Plate

By winning last Sunday's GI Saratoga Derby Invitational, Carson's Run (Cupid) secured a spot in the AUS$5-million Ladbrokes G1 W. S. Cox Plate on October 26 in Australia. In U.S. dollars, the race is worth about $3.3 million. It's an invitation his connections  are seriously considering. "We're interested," said Terry Finley, the managing partner of West Point Thoroughbreds, which owns the horse with Steven Bouchy. "It is a very lucrative package. I haven't talked to (trainer) Christophe Clement about it yet but we are definitely game. That's an awful lot...

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