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2024 Saratoga Meet Offers 71 Stakes Worth $20.75 Million

Highlighted by the 155th GI Travers S. Aug. 24 and the GI Whitney S. Aug. 3, the 40-day Saratoga meet features 19 Grade I races as part of 71 stakes worth $20.75 million in total purses, the New York Racing Association said concerning the release of the schedule on Friday.

Following the four-day opening week, which starts on Thursday July 11, racing will be conducted five days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays, apart from closing week, when the 2024 summer meet will conclude on Monday, Sept. 2.

Saratoga Live, the television show produced by NYRA in partnership with FOX Sports, will return for its ninth season to provide daily coverage of the summer meet to a nationwide audience on the networks of FOX Sports.

Click here for the complete 2024 Saratoga stakes schedule.

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Return of Illinois Derby Highlights Hawthorne Meet

The $200,000 Illinois Derby will return for Hawthorne's spring/summer Thoroughbred meet, which begins Saturday, Mar. 23. The racing season will extend six weeks longer in comparison to the 2023 year as racing concludes Sunday, Oct. 23.

The Illinois Derby, scheduled for Sunday, Apr. 21, will serve as an official prep for this year's GI Preakness S. Hawthorne Race Course will pay for the Illinois Derby winner's entry fee into the Preakness if they choose to run. The Illinois Derby, previously a Grade III, was most recently contested in 2017.

“We were able to learn from last year and made some adjustments to both the racing schedule as well as the races we are offering,” Hawthorne Director of Racing Jim Miller said. “This schedule provides a good circuit for those horsemen who race in warmer destinations during the winter to be able to have a summer location that fluidly fits their schedule. We have seen a large increase in stall applications and have noticed a rise in 2-year-olds on the stall applications. We have also added four starter series this meet that will have increasing purses throughout the series. Horsemen who want to protect a good claim will now have an option to race each month for four months straight. When our meet ended last September, our crew conducted all of their turf preparation work before the winter months. This will allow for an earlier grass start the first week of May as well as an additional six weeks of turf racing through the end of the meet compared to last season.”

Click here for more on Hawthorne's stakes schedule.

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Lone Star Meet to Feature 21 Stakes Worth $2.8 Million

Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie will begin the 2024 Thoroughbred Racing Season on Thursday, Apr. 18 and conclude on Sunday, July 14. The season will encompass 41 race days, featuring 21 stakes worth a total of $2.8 million.

The richest day of the meet, Lone Star Million Day, will take place on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27 with over $1.2 million in purses. Six stakes have been scheduled, including the GIII $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile for 3-year-olds and up and the 1 1/16-miles $300,000 Texas Derby.

The full 2024 Lone Star Park Racing Calendar is available on the Lone Star Park website or by clicking here.

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NYRA Adds Feb. 29 Card To Big A Winter Meet

Following the approval of the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC), the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has added a Thursday, Feb. 29 card to the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack, the organization said in a release Wednesday.

NYRA, with the support of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) and the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. (NYTB), requested to add the additional card following the cancellation of racing Jan. 20-21 at the Big A due to arctic temperatures.

The schedule is currently being conducted Friday-Sunday. Aqueduct will host a Presidents' Day card on Monday, Feb. 19 with four-day race weeks to resume Feb. 29.

The winter meet, originally scheduled for 47 days, began on Jan. 1 and continues through Saturday, Mar. 30 and features 26 stakes races worth $3.5 million in purses.

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