Now we’re getting serious. The clock ticked past three weeks to go until Opening Day of Saratoga this week and now we’re in the final stages of the biggest countdown of the year. Hard to believe by this time next week we’ll be halfway through 2022. How’s the year going for you so far? Better … Read more
Saratogians are tired of the jokes – just ask our Tom Law – but the snow melted months ago and people really are thinking about the racing season at Saratoga Race Course. Back in March, the New York Racing Association released its stakes schedule, and The Saratoga Special publishing calendar followed right along. Just as … Read more
Deep breath. The Triple Crown and spring steeplechase season in the books, and now less than four weeks until Opening Day of Saratoga. We’re revving up at our ST Publishing outposts in Fair Hill, Middleburg and Saratoga Springs, readying for the 40-day season and Issue 1 of The Saratoga Special. We have 20 on tap … Read more
The annual traffic jam that is the path from the paddock through the tunnel to the owners’ boxes stairway before the Belmont Stakes stopped Mike Repole and his crew cold. Repole, never one to idle and waste time, didn’t take long to find an opening. Surrounded by his usual entourage, Repole spotted a path, pointed … Read more
Anyone got a thesaurus? You’re going to need one to attempt to do justice to Flightline’s performance in Saturday’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park. Dominant. Exceptional. Magnificent. Are we getting warmer? Let’s ask Junior Alvarado, jockey of Speaker’s Corner, who came into the race in the best form of his career, went right … Read more
Get ready Saratoga, Jackie is coming back. After yet another command performance in winning the Grade 2 True North Stakes Friday at Belmont Park, 2021 champion Sprinter Jackie’s Warrior will return to the Union Avenue oval, where he’s been perfect in four starts the last two summers. Of course, Jackie’s Warrior is superb everywhere, having … Read more
The end of the road. Saturday’s 154th Belmont Stakes brings down the curtain on the 2022 Triple Crown season and hopefully brings some clarity to the 3-year-old division. Rich Strike returns, fresh off a five-week break following his monstrous 80-1 upset in the Kentucky Derby. He meets two he beat that day in Mo Donegal … Read more
The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival kicked into gear Thursday and rolls on Friday with a five-pack of stakes to whet your appetite for Saturday’s main event. The day features the usual mixed bag with fillies and mares sprinting and on the grass, older horses going long on the turf and champion sprinter Jackie’s Warrior looking … Read more
The longest of the Triple Crown races attracted the smallest field of any of the 2022 classics when a cast of eight was entered Tuesday for Saturday’s 154th running of the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets. We The People, front-running winner of the Peter Pan Stakes last time out and the expected … Read more
Only a week to go before the 2022 Triple Crown season wraps up, but before we turn our gaze toward Long Island and Belmont Park there’s much to do here on this first weekend of June. Stephen Foster Preview Day looms large at Churchill Downs, which hosts a bunch of stakes Saturday. Our handicappers dug … Read more
