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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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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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Louisiana Downs Announces Updated COVID-19 Protocols for Riders

Officials at Harrahs Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Louisiana, have released updated protocols as it regards its jockey leaving and returning to the track.

The track has announced that any rider accepting a mount at another track will be asked to self-quarantine for a period of 14 days and will be required to submit a negative test for COVID-19 before being allowed to return. Inbound jockeys who have ridden at other facilities will be asked to do the same. The policy will be in effect until further notice.

“After careful consideration, we felt it was necessary to implement these restrictions at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs,” said David Heitzmann, Director of Racing. “The health and safety of everyone involved must be protected; we join other racetracks in North America by enacting these measures.”

Live racing at Louisiana Downs, which began June 6, continues Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday through Sept. 23.

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‘Beat Byk Challenge’ Returns With NHC Spot on the Line

Steve Byk, whose Sirius XM radio magazine ‘At the Races With Steve Byk‘ airs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET daily, is once again teaming with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) for the ‘Beat Byk NHC Challenge,’ offering a seat at the 2021 National Horseplayers’ Championship.

Running from July 18 through Sept. 6, Byk will select one horse in one stakes race each Saturday and Sunday and players can bet with or against the host. Any player who correctly selects the winning horse in each round advances to a Sept. 12 NHC online qualifier limited to participants from the weekly promotions. Participants may qualify just once for the September qualifier, the winner of which will represent ‘At the Races’ at the NHC.

Points will be calculated for alternate prizes in the “Beat Byk” Challenge. Participants will receive 100 points if they beat Byk and 50 points if they bet with Byk to win the featured race. The top 5 point leaders will receive HorsePlayers.com credits as prizes (first place–$500 HP credit, second place–200 HP credit, third place–$200 HP credit, fourth place–$200 HP credit, fifth place–$200 HP credit).

NHC Tour membership is required to compete in the September online qualifier. In addition, any participant who “Beats Byk” in any of the weekly contests and is not already a Tour member will be able to join the NHC Tour for a special offer of only $4.99 for the remainder of the 2020 NHC Tour. Those who “Bet with Byk” and win a spot in the NHC online qualifier by picking the winner will be required to join the Tour ($50 annual membership good through January 31, 2021) to be eligible to win the NHC spot.

Participants in the September qualifier must be NHC Tour members in order to be eligible to win the NHC berth. A secondary prize of $250 cash will be available to the overall winner if he or she is not an NHC Tour member.

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