Join The Saratoga Special Readers Club for exclusive access to news, swag, discounts, special events and more
Week 2 rolls along – it’s already Day 5 can you believe it? – with a 10-race card Friday topped by a strong renewal of the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 6 furlongs on the main track. A field of 10 entered the $225,000 Victory Ride including Grade 1 winners Tommy … Read more
The second week of the extended 2026 Saratoga Race Course meetings kicks off Thursday with a another nine-race card and a rare day without a stakes race here in upstate New York. How’s your bankroll faring after opening weekend? Fear not if it’s not up to par, there’s plenty of time to make up for … Read more
The first weekend of the 2026 Saratoga Race Course meeting comes to a close Sunday with a nine-race card – remember nine race cards? – topped by the inaugural running of the Grade 1 Leo O’Brien Handicap over jumps and the Grade 3 Kelso and Harvey Pack for older horses on the grass. Back to … Read more
Happy Birthday America. Saratoga Race Course celebrates the 250th with a stacked 11-race Independence Day card featuring the Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks and the Suburban Stakes. Toss in the Sanford – and $1 hot dogs – and it’s an extravaganza of red, white and blue proportions. The Saturday card starts at 12:35 p.m., which … Read more
And so it begins. The 2026 Saratoga Race Course meeting – the longest in history at 46 days, and we’re not counting the five dates for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival – kicks into gear Friday. A steam bath awaits the Opening Day card, which features three stakes with the Schuylerville, Saranac and Wild Applause. … Read more
Editor’s note: A feature on Magnitude from the Aug. 23, 2025, edition of The Saratoga Special. Then, he was looking to spring an upset of Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty in the Travers. Magnitude finished third, 20 3/4 lengths behind Sovereignty. Nine or so months later, everything is different. Magnitude is the top older horse in … Read more
Alex Lieblong hung a left, around some plastic chain link fencing, through a hallway under the clubhouse box seat stairs toward the late afternoon diners noshing their desserts at tables on the porch. He hadn’t made the walk in more than a decade and didn’t need a map. “Been there,” Lieblong said, walking through a … Read more
By Darby O’Brien Trainer Mark Casse raised a triumphant fist as he stood along the rail of Saratoga Race Course’s winner’s circle to watch Classic Q roll home. Three fillies. Three Grade 1s. Not a bad two days in the office. “I’ve been coming here since I was 10,” said Casse in the winner’s circle, … Read more
When Englishman first started training for Cherie DeVaux at Keeneland last summer, he didn’t immediately tip his hand. It wasn’t until the Maxfield colt, a $400,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September sale by Mayberry Farm, turned in a 5-furlong gate work that DeVaux saw signs of serious talent. “He came in with high remarks … Read more
Bob Baffert watched the Metropolitan Handicap play out like everyone else at Saratoga Race Course Saturday and had some questions. “I hope he knows what he’s doing,” the trainer said to himself as jockey Flavien Prat let Nysos drop away from a four-horse scrum at the front of the Grade 1. “He’s either riding a … Read more
One year, an emotional win. The next year, a statement win. Deterministic delivered both in back-to-back renewals of the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes in 2025 and 2026 at Saratoga Race Course – the first a day later than expected thanks to a weather-related rescheduling and the second in its proper place on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes … Read more
