In some ways, 2014 was just like a lot of other years in New York racing: unstable, unpredictable, a waiting game to see what will happen next, as the first full year of the newest NYRA leadership put its stamp on racing in the state. While the state-controlled NYRA board held its first meeting in…
With an eye on the future, New York Racing Association president and chief executive officer Chris Kay extolled the successes of the present and the recent past at a meeting of NYRA’s board of directors Sept. 29. On the heels of a Belmont Stakes (gr. I) with a Triple Crown on the line and the…
Nearly every day at Saratoga, I’d stop somewhere—in the backyard, walking down the clubhouse steps, standing on the second level and looking back out over the trees and the old saddling shed—and I’d marvel. I’d marvel at the beauty of the place, and I’d marvel that day after day, thousands of people came: to watch…
If you can play, you can play. Those seven words sum up the message of the You Can Play Project, founded two years ago by Patrick Burke, Brian Kitts, and Glenn Witman. “Dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation,” You Can Play began with one video, in which Burke…
California Chrome didn’t win the Triple Crown, but within hours of his failed bid to make racing history, the New York Racing Association was nonetheless declaring Belmont Stakes day a success, pointing to high attendance and record-setting handle numbers. Official attendance was 102,199, lower than the announced (and oft-questioned) attendance of 120,139 in 2004, Smarty…
Since Chris Kay became CEO and president of the New York Racing Association nearly a year ago, he has repeatedly said that one of his goals for the organization’s customers is an “enhanced guest experience.” Bringing experience at Toys ‘R’ Us and Universal Parks and Resorts to his position at the racetrack, he has made…
At Saratoga Race Course last summer, Chris Kay proved himself to be a man who likes a big event, as he embraced a summer of stakes and celebrations in honor of 150 years of racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Through the fall, winter, and early spring, Kay’s profile was decidedly lower, but as he approaches…
“The second richest day in North American racing” will come to Belmont Park on June 7. That’s what the New York Racing Association (NYRA, and an occasional freelance client of mine) announced last week, in a reconfiguration of its springs/summer stakes schedule designed to create a blockbuster race card on the day of the Belmont…
Last Wednesday, the Reorganization Board of the New York Racing Association approved a 2014 budget that included hikes in admission fees at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course, from $3 to $5 for the grandstand, and from $5 to $8 for the clubhouse. The increase is designed to offset an expected $1.8 million deficit caused…
Brooklyn Backstretch 