Things are looking up in horse racing this weekend as action resumes Friday at Santa Anita and Saturday at Churchill Downs. There is even more good news as various state lock-downs due to the coronavirus are being relaxed: Belmont Park has reopened its main track for training and Churchill Downs announced a very tentative schedule of new Road to the Kentucky Derby points races. A … Continue reading Churchill, Santa Anita, Back In Business
New York State will build a 1,000-bed emergency hospital at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens to try to help the region accommodate the expected surge of COVID-19 patients in the weeks to come. This construction was announced March 28th by New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo. The remainder of the winter and spring meets at Aqueduct have been canceled. Racing was originally scheduled to conclude at the … Continue reading NYRA & Aqueduct Step Up
Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 dollar Jockey Gold Cup at Belmont Park offers a stage for 3-year-olds to take on the older males for the first time, with CODE OF HONOR and TACITUS, (1st and 2nd in the Travers Stakes) going the mile-and-a-quarter distance again, this time with a Win and You’re In spot to the Breeders’Cup Classic on the line. Since the year 2000, five 3-year-olds have … Continue reading The Jockey Gold Cup
A field of nine will compete in the inaugural running of the $1 million dollar Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday. The turf race for three year-olds also offers a starting berth in the 4 million dollar Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park on November 2nd as part of the Win & You’re In series. Here then is a brief look at … Continue reading The Jockey Club Invitational
The best 3-year-old horses on dirt have finished competing in the 2019 Triple Crown. The $1 million dollar Belmont Derby Invitational on Saturday kicks off a new series for 3-year-olds called the Turf Trinity, with the newly-created $1 million dollar Saratoga Derby and Jockey Club Derby completing the circuit in the upcoming months. As with the Kentucky Derby, the difficulty in the Belmont Derby is in deciding … Continue reading The Belmont Derby
The Stars & Stripes Racing Festival, an annual event at Belmont Park since 2014, features a star-studded schedule of races this year. Event highlights are the Belmont Derby Invitational and the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes, which each carry a prize fund of at least $1 million. Joining these Grade I races is the Grade II Suburban Handicap. While grade III additions include the Dwyer Stakes and the John A. … Continue reading Stars And Stripes Forever
