Join The Saratoga Special Readers Club for exclusive access to news, swag, discounts, special events and more
Joe Clancy 
Epicenter in the Jim Dandy, Jackie’s Warrior in the Vanderbilt, Gunite in the Amsterdam. Trainer Steve Asmussen had himself a weekend at Saratoga Race Course. We catch up on all the action from Saturday and Sunday, plus take a quick look ahead to Thursday’s Alydar and run a guest column from the often-imitated, never-duplicated Terry … Read more
The third Saturday of the meet and the action heats up with an appearance by cover boy Jackie’s Warrior in the Vanderbilt, the Jim Dandy Travers prep with Early Voting, Epicenter and Zandon. Plus we catch up from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday stakes and recaps. How about that Kimari? And Artorius served some notice in … Read more
Week Three, here we go. The Wednesday paper covers ripper performances from Nest, Clairiere and Robin Sparkles plus takes a look ahead to Wednesday’s featured Honorable Miss with Bella Sofia and Friday’s Curlin Stakes with Creative Minister. Plus, Wednesday entries and handicapping, columns and world-class photography. Jump in, read, enjoy. While we’re here, think about … Read more
Secret Oath and Wayne Lukas. The coach returns to the big stage at Saratoga with the Kentucky Oaks winner going for the Coaching Club American Oaks in a showdown with Belmont Stakes runner-up Nest. Saturday’s card also includes the Caress Stakes. Our Saturday edition takes a Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour with Al Stall, covers the A.P. … Read more
In Italian ripped through the Diana. Mo Strike rules the Sanford. And Down Royal ships north from South Carolina to take part in the A.P. Smithwick steeplechase. Week Two at the Spa kicks off and The Special is here for it. Read a Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour with Ian Wilkes, columns from two Clancys and loads … Read more
Seven. She’s won seven in a row and now she gets a Grade 1 test in Saratoga’s historic Diana – a $500,000 turf stakes going 1 1/8 miles. Bleecker Street, the only American-bred horse in the race, faces five rivals (three from her trainer Chad Brown) including world traveler Creative Flair. The first Saturday edition … Read more
We’re back. After fighting through the usual logistical spider webs built by the gremlins of the publishing/racing world (mechanical, technological, you name it, we’ve had it happen) Edition 1 of The Saratoga Special’s 2022 season is available now. Read it here. Highlights include a stakes preview of the Schuylerville – where Vedareo tries to fill the … Read more
That happened fast. The July edition of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine – where the thisishorseracing.com team spends much of its time – is out and includes plenty to read. Early Voting’s storm through the Preakness stretch makes the cover from a wild angle and Tom Law has the whole story, plus we connect the dots … Read more
The year was 2007, The Saratoga Special’s seventh in business. We were young (or less old), the paper was a tall tabloid (today’s version is more square), the participants were at once familiar and unfamiliar and the magic was still there. The Special set up in a half-under-construction house on Lincoln Avenue with a staff … Read more
New website? In what’s-getting-to-be-late June? Sure thing, what could go wrong? Hopefully nothing. As the photo shows, and the SEO optimizer tells us, it’s time the new version of thisishorseracing.com breaks from the gate. We gave TIHR a much-needed facelift, which should be noticing right about now. It’s been a few months of work, some … Read more
