The New York State Gaming Commission Sept. 24 passed several rule amendments related to equine medication, including further restrictions on the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and a total ban on stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. The NYSGC also amended rules regarding the role of veterinary technicians on the backstretch and a requirement for continuing education…
It’s almost time for tricks and treats, and the Belmont Child Care Association is seeking donations of gently used costumes for the children of Anna House, from infants to five-year-olds. The Belmont Child Care Association offers low-cost child care and early child education to children of backstretch workers at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. Located on…
A big sign at the entrance to Parx Racing on Saturday directed the owners of stakes runners to a dedicated dining area on one of the upper floors of the clubhouse, a special hospitality area for the people who had brought their horses to run on the track’s biggest day of racing. Barely an hour…
In 2006, The (U.S.) Jockey Club and the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation held the first Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit. Originally biannual, the summit now takes place yearly, featuring presentations on racetrack health and safety issues involving both horses and the people who work with them. Held in Lexington, Kentucky, the reach of…
On July 26, Carolyn and Fletcher Gray stood in a box near the finish line at Saratoga, watching as their homebred I’m a Chatterbox led a field of accomplished fillies, including a couple of Grade 1 winners, around the historic racetrack in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks. And when she crossed the finish…
In a June 21 op-ed in The Saratogian, New York Racing Association (NYRA) president and CEO Chris Kay chided those who cite attendance as a measure of success of the summer racing meet. “The questionable pursuit of trying to gauge the popularity of Saratoga using attendance as the metric should be apparent,” he wrote. “A…
When John Velazquez’s agent Angel Cordero told him that he was going to Churchill Downs in late November 2011 to ride Wise Dan in the Grade I Clark Handicap, the jockey didn’t hold his back his skepticism. “I said to him, ‘What? We’re going to ride one horse? A horse that I don’t know wants…
When Jack O Liam left New York in March, the 3-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky was a maiden. A veteran of six races in which he’d never been better than third, he started his career in the barn of Gary Contessa, who shipped him south to run at Laurel after a string of New…
At Sunday’s fan forum presented by the New York State Gaming Commission’s Fan Advisory Council, one of the first speakers was a man who was introduced to horse racing by his fiancée’s family, which is from this area. “They said, ‘We’re going to take you to a horse race,’” recounted Bill Sullivan of Beverly, MA.…
At a Sept. 1 summit presented by the New York State Gaming Commission on racehorse aftercare, the New York Racing Association pledged that it would donate $5 per start at its tracks to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. NYRA follows in the footsteps of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which in 2014 began contributing $5…
Brooklyn Backstretch 