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Tom Law 
Seven-time Sovereign Award-winning trainer Mark Casse is back at Saratoga with a strong hand and it was on full display Friday morning when a set including Whitney Invitational-bound Noble Bird and Coaching Club American Oaks-bound Conquest Eclipse went to the track with some maiden 2-year-olds and allowance horses.
Who says all the stars are jammed into the Saturday cards, never to be seen during the week at Saratoga Race Course due to a reconfigured stakes schedule?
Consider Wednesday’s $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap.
Todd Pletcher won his fifth consecutive and 11th overall training title at Saratoga Race Course in 2014, just one of the accomplishments that paved the way to a record seventh Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding trainer. He won 28 races at Saratoga last year, 10 fewer than his career best in 2011 but enough to win by five over Chad Brown.
Talent, determination and a little bit of luck often dictate the success of a racehorse’s career. That’s exactly the case with Sandy’z Slew, a top contender for Monday’s Lucky Coin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
The second and final installment of a Q&A which began in Saturday’s edition of The Saratoga Special.
Martin Panza is in the midst of his second season as the head of the racing department at Saratoga Race Course. He’s wearing multiple hats at the current meeting, in his main role as senior vice president of racing operations and also in the job where his roots are, as racing secretary.
Tim Thornton’s been coming to Saratoga Race Course for four decades, starting as a teenager when he worked for the old Shawnee Farm that brought a consignment to sell across the street at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select sale. He came later as a friend of Hall of Fame trainer John Veitch, “messed around with him, went to the races, that kind of stuff,” and in more recent years he’s come in his role as general manager of Airdrie Stud.
The Saratoga Special intern and 2014 National Handicapping Contest qualifier Billy Blake will serve up some wagering advice for This Is Horse Racing during this year’s Saratoga Race Course meeting. He starts with Saturday’s $500,000 guaranteed late pick 4, which caps a big card at the Spa that includes the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes and Grade 1 TVG Diana Stakes.
Thousands of people milling. Cigar smoke wafting through the air. Women wearing heels. Men wearing ties. A fan rides through the crowd on his cooler. Horses dance into the paddock, onto the track.
The sun rises and sets on the 152nd Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course. And Opening Day offered a little bit of everything – big crowd, big upsets, tornado warning, and even a fallen tree that crushed half a dozen cars on the backstretch.
Martin Panza is in the midst of his second season as the head of the racing department at Saratoga Race Course. He’s wearing multiple hats at the current meeting, in his main role as senior vice president of racing operations and also in the job where his roots are, as racing secretary.
He also played a key role in reconfiguring the Saratoga stakes schedule for 2014 and even more in 2015.
The filly that gave her connections a big scare nearly a year ago is becoming a pretty intimidating force herself heading into the first Grade 1 stakes of the 2015 Saratoga Race Course meeting.
