Award-Winning Saratoga Live Returns for Fifth Season

Saratoga Live, the critically-acclaimed and award-winning television program will kick off its fifth season Thursday broadcasting the 40-day summer meet at iconic Saratoga Race Course.

Saratoga Live will feature more than 210 hours of live programming from Saratoga, which runs from Thursday, July 16 through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. Saratoga Live will appear each racing day beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern on FOX Sports and MSG Networks and offer full-card coverage of a Saratoga meet offering 71 stakes worth $14.45 million, encompassing 39 graded stakes, 18 Grade Is and at least one stakes race every live racing day.

In addition to daily national coverage on FOX Sports 2, Saratoga Live will air on FOX Sports 1 for a total of 31 hours, the most hours since the partnership with FOX Sports began in 2016. The daily schedule is available here. Under current New York State guidelines, Saratoga Race Course will open without spectators in attendance, making the extensive Saratoga Live coverage even more important.

“With so many sports still out or just now coming back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know a lot of eyes will be on us, particularly at a meet with the prestige of Saratoga,” said Tony Allevato, NYRA’s Chief Revenue Officer and President of NYRA Bets. “That’s both a responsibility and a tremendous opportunity because life is still not back to normal. It means throwing the usual metrics out the window, doubling down and doing what we do best.”

The meet will be highlighted by the 151st renewal of the GI Runhappy Travers S. Saturday, Aug. 8 and the GI Whitney S. Saturday, Aug. 1.

“We realized back in the spring at Belmont Park that a whole lot of people not that familiar with horse racing were watching us and really getting into our sport,” Allevato said. “That gives us an added responsibility to not just show the races, but to do so with the kind of insight, commentary and features that our on-air team delivers. I put our team up against anyone; they’re the best in the business.”

Saratoga Live will feature a talented broadcast team including hosts Greg Wolf and Laffit Pincay III, who will call on experts such as Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, Kentucky Oaks-winning trainer Tom Amoss, Eclipse Award-winning jockey Richard Migliore, paddock analyst Acacia Courtney, and professional handicapper Jonathon Kinchen. NYRA veteran John Imbriale succeeds Larry Collmus as the race caller at Saratoga Race Course. Add to that the analysis provided by two well-respected figures on the New York racing scene, Andy Serling and Maggie Wolfendale.

“There are a lot of options out there for viewers,” Allevato said. “But in showing the races and a lot of what goes into them, we’re confident that our shows will be entertaining. We have a great thing going at Saratoga and we want people around the country to share it with us.”

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Entry Stage Added for Grand Prix de Paris

Following the postponement of the G1 Grand Prix de Paris, which will now be contested at ParisLongchamp Sept. 13, a second entry stage, which closes July 29, has been added at a cost of €2,160. The race number remains the same: P.522. Original entries for the race will not require renewal. The winning owner of the Grand Prix de Paris will have the supplementary entry fee offered toward the G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, or the entry fee fully refunded if originally entered in the race.

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FTBOA Names 2019 Florida-bred Champions

The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association has announced its Florida-bred champions for 2019.

For the 16th time in FTBOA history, Charlotte Weber was honored with a Florida-bred champion that was bred by her Live Oak Stud and owned by her Live Oak Plantation as Global Access (Giant’s Causeway) was named the Florida-bred champion 3-year-old colt or gelding. Live Oak Stud was also named the Florida Breeder of the Year for the third time and the Leading Owner by Florida-bred earnings for the fourth time.

Global Access won the 2019 GIII Saranac S., GIII Marine S. and GIII Ontario Derby, and was also named champion 3-year-old colt in Canada.

Blue Heaven Farm’s Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind), heroine of last year’s GI E. P. Taylor S., was named champion older female and champion female turf horse. Bred by William P. Sorren, the 7-year-old mare received Sovereign Awards as Canada’s Horse of the Year and champion female turf horse in 2019.

Shooting Star Thoroughbreds’ Chance It (Currency Swap) garnered the champion 2-year-old colt or gelding title after winning the FTBOA Florida Sire S. Dr. Fager and the FTBOA Florida Sire S. In Reality. He was bred by Bett Usher.

K P Dreamin (Union Rags) was named the Florida-bred champion 2-year-old filly. She was third in both the GI Chandelier S. at Santa Anita and the GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos. Owned by Karl Pergola, K P Dreamin was bred in Florida by Peter Vegso’s Vegso Racing Stable.

William Stiritz’s Wildwood’s Beauty (Kantharos) used the Florida Sire S. program for older horses and Florida-bred stakes to catapult herself to the title as the Florida-bred champion 3-year-old filly and champion female sprinter. She  was bred by Philip and Karen Matthews.

In the stallion categories, Journeyman Stud’s Khozan was Florida’s leading juvenile sire and leading freshman sire, while Ocala Stud resident Adios Charlie was Florida’s stallion of the year.

Kathleen O’Connell and Saffie Joseph, Jr., tied with 58 Florida-bred wins at Florida tracks while O’Connell was also the leading Florida trainer of Florida-breds by black-type stakes wins with six, and Joseph was the leading Florida trainer by Florida-bred earnings with $1,977,046.

The Joe O’Farrell Memorial Award presented by Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company went to William A.T. and Lyn Rainbow’s The Acorn as the original consignor of Starship Jubilee, the year’s top Florida-bred graduate of OBS.

Sally J. Andersen was presented the Needles Award as Florida’s small breeder of the year. Andersen bred multiple stakes winner Anyportinastorm (City Zip).

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‘Scary’ Good: Tonalist’s Shape Will Add Blinkers For CCA Oaks

Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. believes he may have found the key to talented 3-year-old filly Tonalist's Shape, and just in time for Saturday's running of the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.

In her last several workouts, the Tonalist filly has sported blinkers. She'll don the new equipment on Saturday as well, which Joseph believes will help her step up against the competition.

“She's already proven she's a nice filly, but we needed a couple more lengths to be one of the top fillies,” Joseph said on Wednesday's media teleconference organized by the NTRA. “It's almost scary how good she worked in the blinkers. I even asked some of the clockers that I respect, like Mike Welsch, and everyone seems to think she's much better in the blinkers.”

On Tuesday, Tonalist's Shape had her first workout at Saratoga and clocked a bullet three furlongs in 34.26 seconds, more than two seconds faster than any other breeze at the distance.

“She's never been a fast work horse,” Joseph said, adding, “but the blinkers seem to have made all positive notes.”

Tonalist's Shape was entered in last weekend's G1 Ashland at Keeneland, but scratched out of that tough field (won by Speech in track-record time) to point to the nine-furlong CCA Oaks instead.

Both the Ashland, a 1 1/16-mile route, and the Coaching Club will over 170 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks on a 100-40-20-10 scale to the first four finishers.

“The Coaching Club seems like a spot where we were likely to be the favorite,” said Joseph. “That doesn't mean we're going to win, but it gives her the best shot to do so.”

In her seven career starts, Tonalist's Shape has only been defeated once, when seventh behind eventual G1 winner Swiss Skydiver in the Gulfstream Park Oaks. Most recently, the filly won the 1 1/16-mile Hollywood Wildcat Stakes at Gulfstream on May 15 by 3 3/4 lengths.

Entries for the CCA Oaks will be taken Wednesday afternoon, with the field expected to include: Altaf (Chad Brown), Antoinette (Bill Mott), Crystal Ball (Bob Baffert), Paris Lights (Bill Mott), and Velvet Crush (Rodolphe Brisset).

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