Saratoga Opens With Added Focus on New York-Breds

Forty-two years ago, when Fio Rito won the Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course and beat Winter's Tale, the star of Paul Mellon's famed Rokeby Stable, it sent for the first time a loud message from one coast to another that New York State-breds could compete with the nation's top horses in open races.

While Fio Rito may be a trivia question these days, what he accomplished helped pave the way for the Empire State to produce champions and classic winners such as Funny Cide, Tiz the Law  , Fleet Indian, La Verdad , and Dayatthespa .

This year the notion of New York-breds facing open company will be among the items at the forefront of the eagerly awaited 160th racing season at beloved Saratoga Race Course which will begin July 13.

The nation's premier meet in terms of attendance, handle, and national television exposure, Saratoga will once again be a magnet for the nation's best horses in races such as the Travers Stakes (G1), Whitney Stakes (G1), Alabama Stakes (G1), and the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) that highlight a roster of 71 stakes worth $20.8 million.

Yet aside from the glitz and glamour of those dazzling top-level matchups, New York-breds will be a focal point with the allure of an extra 30% in purse money geared to entice the connections of state-breds to try their luck in open maiden and allowance company during the blockbuster meet.

"It's a foreshadowing. It's just a beginning," New York Racing Association CEO and president Dave O'Rourke said. "We've been working with the New York Breeders and (the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association) and we want to return some of that focus on state-breds to the open company. We have some other ideas we are working on and in coming years you will see even more emphasis on state-breds."

O'Rourke noted that with the new Belmont Park slated to have a Tapeta surface, New York-breds will play an important role in filling those cards—just as they do throughout the year.

"We are installing a synthetic track at Belmont and New York-breds are a huge part of our program, ratio-wise, especially in the winter," O'Rourke said. "We could not fill our cards without participation from New York-breds. Part of our mission is to support and grow that program. We are completely aligned with the breeders and NYTHA and will be experimenting with some different things, starting with this. I hope it is meaningful and impactful on racing and sales."

Najja Thompson, executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, called the program a strategic partnership between all of the stakeholders in New York racing.

"We are all on the same page, we want to move the needle to show people they should be breeding in New York," Thompson said. "We're hoping the racing industry will be paying attention. We still have a lucrative purse structure for New York-breds and many of our races are oversubscribed, so we want to encourage the cream of the crop of New York-breds to compete in open races more."

The program, which involves open maiden special weight races and first, second, and third level allowance races, adds 30% to the purse for state-breds. For example, in an open MSW race worth $105,000, New York-breds will run for $136,500 with payoffs all the way down to last. That would provide the owner of a victorious state-bred roughly $75,000 in purse money.

"We wanted to emphasize these four categories and they are four tough categories but we believe it will show that New York-breds can compete in those races and there will be a good reward," NYRA senior vice president of racing operations Frank Gabriel said. "This is a seed to grow the quality of New York-breds and have them compete in open company more. We're paying all the way down and by running in an open race it could give horsemen a chance to race three times at the meet instead of two."

Another change for New York-breds involves the switching of the New York Showcase Day for state-breds from the day before the Travers to the day after it. Scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 27, the card features six stakes for state-breds, each with a value of at least $200,000.

"We felt Sunday gives more importance to that day. They have their own day and it doesn't get lost in the importance of Travers week. There's a better chance of racing staying on the turf and it should make the races more visible to the public and bring out owners and guests," Gabriel said.

The purse incentives for New York-breds are a key part of a meet with all of the necessary ingredients to produce an eighth-straight year of one million or more in paid attendance (aside from the 2020 pandemic year) and perhaps eclipse last year's record all-sources handle of $878.2 million.

Racing will be conducted Wednesday through Sunday, with a 1:10 p.m. ET first post and daily national television coverage on FOX Sports 1 or FOX Sports 2.

"We're always looking forward to Saratoga. The plant looks good. Everything is ready to go," O'Rourke said. "Saratoga is as strong as ever. All indications are that the season is gearing up really well. I believe Saratoga is the Mecca. It's the highlight of our season and it's essentially the highlight of the racing season for the country."

As usual, the Aug. 26 $1,250,000 Travers for 3-year-olds figures to be the crown jewel of the meet. The three Triple Crown race winners (Mage , Kentucky Derby, G1; National Treasure , Preakness Stakes, G1; Arcangelo , Belmont Stakes, G1) as well as 2-year-old champion and Belmont Stakes runner-up Forte  have that date circled on their calendar.

The Travers is the anchor for the Aug. 23-26 Travers Racing Festival that includes nine stakes (six of them grade 1s) over four days. 

"We adjusted some races during Travers week and will start the festival Wednesday and build momentum for Saturday. We moved the Ballston Spa (G2T) to Thursday and the Personal Ensign to Friday. We also moved the Ballerina (Handicap, G1) back to Saturday to give us five grade 1s on Travers Day," Gabriel said.

The Aug. 5 Whitney, the top race for older horses at the meet which offers $1 million in purse money and a free spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) as a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In race, could showcase Godolphin's Cody's Wish , who is first in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top 10 poll and has won the hearts of fans through an association with Cody Dorman, a teenager who is battling a rare genetic disorder.

On Whitney weekend, while the purse for the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) for 3-year-olds on Aug. 5 has been cut to $600,000, the value of the Aug. 4 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T) for 3-year-olds at a mile has been increased to $500,000.

"Our thought is that mile races like the Hall of Fame are very popular with Europeans and with the Saratoga Oaks (Invitational Stakes, G3T) also on Friday and the Saratoga Derby Saturday, we might encourage them and Californians to ship in," Gabriel said.

On the jockeys' side, the battle for riding title figures to come down to a battle between the Ortiz brothers just as it was at Belmont Park, where Jose nipped Irad Jr. for top honors by a 59-58 margin.

Last year, Irad won the title for the fourth time.

The Spa will also put Linda Rice's streak of four straight training titles at NYRA meets to a severe test. With the Spa condition book loaded with MSW, allowance, stakes, 2-year-old, and turf races, Chad Brown and Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher are the two favorites to emerge as leading trainer.

Brown has won the last five of the last seven Spa training titles, with Pletcher winning the other two in that span.

"Everyone looks forward to Saratoga," said Pletcher, a 14-time Spa training champ. "It's always fun to go back to a place where you get big, enthusiastic, knowledgeable crowds. The crowds love horse racing, it's a time when a lot of 2-year-olds are getting ready. It's an exciting time."

Exciting, indeed, for horsemen, fans, gamblers, and, especially this year, New York-breds.