This Week At Saratoga, Week 4

Monday, August 4 At the track… Today’s stakes races: the New York Stallion Series for horses sired by New York-based stallions. The Cab Calloway and Statue of Liberty Divisions, each worth $100,000, will be run at a mile on the turf for three-year-olds and three-year-old fillies respectively. Live-money, low roller handicapping tournament. $40 entry fee.…

Jonathan Sheppard, super-trainer?

When you think about super-trainers, you might think Todd Pletcher. You might think Chad Brown. You might think Bob Baffert. You probably wouldn’t think Jonathan Sheppard. But get the Pennsylvania-based trainer talked about his racing operation, and you might change your mind. Continue reading at The Racing Biz… Featured image: Photo credit NYRA/Adam Coglianese

Happy anniversary, Saratoga Race Course

Just about a year ago, on Saturday, Aug. 3, this city, in partnership with Saratoga Race Course, celebrated the 150th anniversary of the first Thoroughbred meet here, the culmination of years of planning and a nearly year-long series of festivities. Another anniversary, ignored but no less significant, will take place this Saturday. On Aug. 2,…

Saratoga Without The Chief

The sign isn’t hanging on barn 5 in Clare Court at Saratoga Race Course this summer; there’s no sign there at all, no one resident that’s claimed the spot that for so many years housed Allen Jerkens and his horses. The sign is at Gulfstream Park this summer for the first time, the summer meeting…

Spinning at Saratoga: “It’s a business proposition.”

Beer cans popped open. The pages of The Daily Racing Form rustled. A voice boomed through the loudspeakers, accompanying the replays of the previous day’s races. And in the near distance, the whirling turnstiles at Saratoga Race Course clattered rhythmically, admitting some patrons only once, but others — those who came to spin, not to…