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Editor’s Note: Saratoga Race Course hosted the first edition of the Leo O’Brien Stakes Sunday, July 5. One of the last times someone from The Special interviewed him, he talked about what it was like to gallop champion 2-year-old of 1970 Hoist The Flag. From the Aug. 6, 2019 edition of The Saratoga Special. It’s … Read more
Opening Day 2.0 of the 2025 Saratoga Race Course season kicks into gear Thursday with the start of the July 4 Racing Festival. Did you miss Opening Day 1.0? That came last month for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. And there’s one more to go, the proper opener of the 40-day season next Thursday. We’ll … Read more
The Keeneland Library Lecture Series Wednesday night featured three guys talking about covering horse racing at one iconic racetrack, while sitting a few furlongs from another. “Celebrating 25 Years: An Evening with The Saratoga Special” was an event originally scheduled to mark 20 years of The Special, but the pandemic got in the way. For … Read more
Bill Mott leaned on the outside rail deep in the trees near the half-mile pole of the Oklahoma Training Track early Friday morning. Alone. A horse trainer and his horse. Sovereignty and exercise rider Jimmy Quispe galloped past, loping the first time, rolling the second time. The Kentucky Derby winner’s final gallop went smoothly, a … Read more
Encore. Sovereignty duplicates Derby victory with decisive score over Journalism, Baeza and others in 157th running of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Bill Mott and the Godolphin team made the decision to bypass the middle jewel of the Triple Crown in favor of the third and made it count in front of a … Read more
Belmont Stakes Day. Another star-studded 14-race card – and hopefully drier weather – awaits racing fans and horsemen at Saratoga Race Course for the final jewel of the Triple Crown. Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty meets Preakness winner Journalism, with the talented Baeza also in the mix with five others looking to make racing history. The … Read more
The stars are out Friday. A 14-race card awaits racing fans in Saratoga and around the world for “Belmont Friday.” Kentucky Oaks winner Good Cheer puts her unbeaten record on the line in the Grade 1 Acorn, Raging Sea bids for another Grade 1 in the Ogden Phipps, She Feels Pretty looks to keep rolling … Read more
Saratoga goes Belmont, again. Call it 2.0, a redux or whatever you choose, the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival returned to Saratoga Race Course for its five-day run Wednesday and we covered all the action. The day started with Proven Innocent in the Grade 1 Beverly R. Steinman over jumps and continued through the six stakes … Read more
The five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course kicks into gear Wednesday with the New York Showcase Day card and Grade 1 Beverly R. Steinman Handicap for jumpers. Six flat stakes make up the Showcase Day portion of the card, each worth $200,000 and featuring interesting fields. There’s long and short, turf and … Read more
Michael McCarthy felt some bad déjà vu, letting doubt creep in and thinking that maybe the deck was stacked against Journalism yet again on the second stop on the 2025 Triple Crown. Brendan Walsh thought the opposite and that maybe the third Saturday in May was the day for Gosger. Turns out neither trainer was … Read more
The main event, an historic anniversary and the final curtain in front of the tattered old stand marks the third Saturday in May and the 2025 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. The middle jewel of the Triple Crown goes down for the 150th time and the last in front of the grandstand that This … Read more
