If you listen to local news radio in New York City, you might have caught the following advertisement over the last few weeks, in which a man who says he’s a resident of Elmont, one of the towns that borders Belmont Park, voices his concern about New York State “making the right decisions about developing…
In the first of a series of quarterly meetings, executives from the New York Racing Association took questions from customers in an hour-long question-and-answer session Nov. 15 at Aqueduct Racetrack. Located in Longshots, the simulcast facility that opened in April, the meeting provided an opportunity for Chris Kay, NYRA president and CEO, to present the…
A grim winter at Aqueduct In late 2011 and early 2012, horses racing at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York died in alarming numbers: 21 of them between Nov. 30, 2011 and March 18, 2012, nearly double the number that suffered catastrophic injuries in the same period the previous year. It was a time of…
The agenda for the Nov. 12 meeting of the board of the New York Racing Association was short and sweet: to discuss a re-privatization plan for the organization due next spring to the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. And while board chair David Skorton cautioned that no decisions would be made at the…
The horse racing world turns its eyes toward Southern California this weekend, when the Breeders’ Cup takes over Santa Anita Park for two days of world class racing with championship implications on the line. Joined by their elite European counterparts, North America’s top jockeys, horses, and trainers will compete on Friday and Saturday in Breeders’…
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…
“When a guy says ‘You throw a ball like a girl’ or ‘You’re a sissy.’ It reflects an attitude that devalues women, and attitudes will eventually manifest in some fashion.” I wasn’t watching Thursday Night Football, but Matthew Henderson’s transcription of James Brown’s words last night hit my timeline more than once, most often accompanied…
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…
If you’re reading this, you have probably spent some time at Saratoga Race Course. And if you’ve spent any time at Saratoga Race Course, you’ve experienced among the best that Thoroughbred racing has to offer. The racing is good, the landscape is beautiful, the history is ubiquitous. At the end of the meet, many of…
Brooklyn Backstretch 