Reach the Thoroughbred world. Get involved with a popular editorial mission. Put your company in front of tens of thousands of racing enthusiasts who travel to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., every summer. The Saratoga Special and thisishorsracing.com create editorial products people want to read and businesses want to support.
With the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival’s five days of world-class racing in June and the summer meet extending to 10 weeks (July 3-Sept. 7) in 2026, Saratoga Race Course hosts 51 total days of racing under a variety of schedules including three, four, five and six days of racing per week depending on the week. As a result, The Saratoga Special will look a little different – and the same all at once – this year.
FULL 2026 ADVERTISING GUIDE
BELMONT STAKES RACING FESTIVAL
For the third, and final, time Saratoga Race Course hosts the finale of Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown and all of its accompanying major stakes, high drama and racing hoopla. The Special will be there with full coverage. Racing starts Wednesday, June 3 and continues through Sunday, June 7. The Special will publish print editions Thursday-Sunday, June 4, 5, 6, 7.
2026 Belmont advertising rates/schedule. NYRA stakes TBA.
SARATOGA RACE COURSE SUMMER MEET
With the early opening and short racing weeks, The Special will cover the first seven days of racing at the full summer meet (July 3-12) via its website, thisishorseracing.com, and/or via email newsletter and other digital platform. The editorial flavor will be the same with news, features, column, handicapping and more, it’ll just arrive in a different format.
2026 Saratoga advertising rates.
2026 Saratoga publishing calendar. NYRA stakes TBA.
FULL PRINT EDITIONS
The Special will produce full editions, in print and online as PDFs or other electronic document, Thursday, July 16 and follow the schedule of the last several years with 20 total editions – Thursdays and Saturdays July 16, 18, 23, 25; Wednesdays and Saturdays July 29, August 1 and 5; a six-day daily run August 7-12 (Friday-Wednesday) to cover the Hall of Fame ceremony, Fasig-Tipton yearling sales and major racing weekend; and a return to Saturdays and Wednesdays August 15, 19, 22, 26, 29 and September 2 and 5.
Yes, it’s a little different but the changes to the racing schedule forced us to adapt. The new Belmont Park opens in September 2026 and – like everyone else – we can’t wait.
For more about our readers – in print and online – see our Testimonials section.
MORE ABOUT THE SPECIAL
The Special covers the Saratoga season from Broadway to the backstretch. Opened in 1864, Saratoga Race Course is one of the world’s great sporting venues – and The Special covers everything that happens there during the season. The Saratoga Special was founded in 2001 and has become a fixture of the racing season with coverage you – literally – can’t get anywhere else. We’ve got the best handicapping around, stellar photography and various pieces of editorial content – news, features, opinions, this and that – from a crack team of writers and editors.
The Special will again focus on twice-weekly editions during the season – plus a Sales Week schedule of six consecutive editions August 6-12 to capture the always-memorable Fasig-Tipton yearling sales. Select Sale dates are August 10-11 with the New York-bred sale August 16-17.
The Special is distributed in print all over Saratoga – 5,000 copies per edition – and online as a PDF of the full print edition with at least 2,500 downloads per edition. Combined, the two distribution methods mean more than 150,000 opportunities for readers to see your advertisement over eight weeks. The Special is the choice of major Thoroughbred farms, auction companies, racetracks, wagering platforms, racing partnerships, hotels, restaurants, veterinary hospitals, feed companies and more.
Advertising is available in page fractions for the season, partial season or single issues. Call (410) 392-5867 or [email protected] to find out more.
thisishorseracing.com
The website covers Thoroughbred racing while specializing in original content you won’t find anywhere else and focusing on our print products. The site will take you to the tracks, the barns, the fields, the stands, the roads and more with a backdrop of racing in the various places we live, work and travel. The site is the online platform for The Saratoga Special newspaper, and offers year-round coverage of major events from the worlds of flat racing and jump racing. The site offers numerous advertising options, and we’re open to creative ideas so fire away.
Examples
728×90 pixel banner.
300×250 pixel button.
300×600 pixel tower button.
Article category sponsorship.
And anything else we can dream up together.
*All rates and schedules subject to change.
