A public hearing held by the New York Racing Association at Belmont Park June 15 was intended to focus on racing, wagering, and marketing, but within minutes of its 9:30 a.m. EDT start, it turned into an acrimonious, impromptu union meeting. Dozens of NYRA employees and union representatives packed the small room in which the…
As Mid-Atlantic trainers reflected on Friday morning about Ramon Dominguez’s retirement, they talked about his talent as a rider and his commitment to horse racing. But their first reactions were about Dominguez the man, not Dominguez the jockey. “#1, he’s an exceptional person,” said Linda Gaudet. Read more at The Racing Biz…
On June 19 and 20, Belmont Park will host a certificate program for the Racing Officials Accreditation Program. Consisting of one day of general education and one day of job-specific modules, the event offers education and certification for seven racing official positions: clerk of scales, horse identifier, paddock judge, patrol judge, outrider, and starter/assistant starter.…
Talk to most of the jockeys around your local racetrack, and you’ll find that they’ve taken one of a few paths to get to where they are. They grew up around horses; they started riding at a young age; they attended a jockey academy. Talk to jockey Samantha Colvin, and you’ll get quite a different…
Charles “Chip” Reed and Mike Zanella first met on a gambling trip organized by a mutual friend. “He said to me, ‘I want you to meet my friend Chip. I think you’re really going to like this guy,’ ” recalled Zanella recently. “That’s how it started.” It was, as they say, the beginning of a…
New York Racing Association board chairman David Skorton said April 29 he would be “less than happy” if a new chief executive officer had not been named by June 8, day of the Belmont Stakes (gr. I). When a June 10 board meeting was announced in the run-up to the Belmont, rumors circulated broadly that…
When racing returned to New York State after nearly three years, shuttered due to stringent anti-gambling restrictions, the Brooklyn Handicap, first run in 1887, came with it. With survival, though, came transplantation, as the race was moved out of its eponymous borough, from the Gravesend track to Belmont Park. And with transplantation came a whiff…
On Belmont day 2006, the name of one New York Hall of Famer and racing legend was swapped out for another, when the Riva Ridge Stakes became the Woody Stephens. Stephens’ legacy is cemented in his long list of accomplishments, among them the 11 champions he trained, the Eclipse he won as the nation’s top…
Belmont Park: The Grade I, $1 million Belmont Stakes at 1 1/2 miles #1 Frac Daddy: Hit-or-miss type was a decent second to fellow entrant Overanalyze in a painfully slow GI Arkansas Derby, then was 16th in the Kentucky Derby in his last, so he’ll need a massive form reversal to factor. McPeek charge will…
With no Triple Crown on the line in this year’s Belmont Stakes, we don’t need to worry about rooting for history and we can focus on making money. The race isn’t called the test of the champion for nothing: the winner will have to have the stamina to run a mile and a half, longer…
Brooklyn Backstretch 