Aqueduct Holidayfest Notes
Friday, November 21, 2008
By NYRA Press Office.

Harlem Rocker
 Next Saturday’s 20th running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile is the feature race of HolidayFest at Aqueduct Racetrack. It’s the biggest week of the Big A’s Fall Meet and will get the holiday season off to a running start. Expected for the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile are Arson Squad, Bribon (FR), Harlem Rocker, Kodiak Kowboy, Storm Play, Tale of Ekati, Visionaire ... more
After Awkward Start, Flibberjibit, Brown Take Right Steps
Friday, November 21, 2008
By Francis LaBelle Jr.

Bruce Brown
 It was August 20, and the rain that saturated Saratoga Race Course for three weeks had long since moved out. Summer had finally made its annual visit to the Spa. Trainer Bruce Brown had waited for this day and this race – the first – for he had his eye on Flibberjibit for a while. She was entered for a $20,000 tag, and once he saw the dark bay filly in the paddock, he wasted ... more
Looking For a Bright Future in Discovery ‘Cap
Thursday, November 20, 2008
By Jenny Kellner

Lieutenant Ron
 Deep into the racing season, Saturday’s 64th edition of the Grade 3, $100,000-added Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack offers three-year-olds one final chance to compete against their contemporaries. Eight sophomores, all of whom officially become four years old on January 1, were entered in the 1 1/8th ... more
Aqueduct Race Track Notes
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
By NYRA Press Office

Lucky Island
 Anak Nakal, who dead-heated for third with Ready’s Echo in the Belmont Stakes, is highweight at 121 pounds for Saturday’s 64th running of Aqueduct Racetrack’s Grade 3, $100,000-added Discovery Handicap for three-year-olds at nine furlongs. Owned by Four Roses Thoroughbreds and trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito, the son of 1998 Belmont Stakes... more
Benzel's Grand Plan Finally Taking Shape
Monday, November 17, 2008
By Francis LaBelle Jr.

Seth Benzel
 Sunday became on off-day for trainer Seth Benzel when the featured Pass the Tab overnight stakes came off the Aqueduct turf and he had to scratch Expansion. In the long run, it will probably payoff for Benzel. The rest should do him some good, considering that he figures to get busier and busier in the months ahead ... more
Staten Island Resident Surges Late to Win Aqueduct Handicapping Challenge
Monday, November 17, 2008
Contact: Dan Silver

Top 3 Finishers
 Jerry McClenin, a 51-year-old printing press operator from Staten Island, N.Y., claimed the $35,000 grand prize in the Aqueduct Fall Handicapping Challenge. He defeated 206 contestants from 16 different states and three different countries en route to the victory ... more
Tin Cup Chalice Takes Place on International Stage
Saturday, November 15, 2008
By Francis LaBelle Jr.

Tin Cup Chalice
 Tin Cup Chalice, the leading candidate as the New York-bred Horse of the Year, will be heading to Hanshin Racecourse in Japan for the $2.8 million Japan Cup Dirt on December 7. His story just keeps getting bigger ... more
NY Jockeys Joining NY Jocks on All Star Muscle Team
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Contact: John Lee

Prado & Arroyo Jr.
 New York has some great pro sports teams, but none of them can match the star power of New York’s MDA Muscle Team, made up of top pro athletes teamed-up with children challenged by Muscular Dystrophy and brought together for two inspiring events, a kickoff on Monday, Nov. 17, and the “MDA Muscle Team 2009” on Jan. 6, 2009, both held ... more
Happy Hour for Turner, Dry Martini in Stuyvesant
Saturday, November 15, 2008
By Francis LaBelle Jr.

Dry Martini
 On a dreary Saturday afternoon Aqueduct, Dry Martini hit the spot. The 5-year-old gelded son of Slew Gin Fizz, winless in six starts dating back to June 30, 2007, picked the right time to wake up as he came from last and rolled on to a 3¼-length victory over Stud Muffin in the 58th running ... more
Phil the Power Targets Stuyvesant
Friday, November 14, 2008
By Francis LaBelle Jr.

Phil “The Power” Taylor
It was a typical trip to Dublin, Ireland and typically, John Perrotta took a few hours away from the horse business to visit the Merrion Casino Club. Perrotta, the head of Star Thoroughbreds, co-breeder of 1997 Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold and executive producer of the SIRIUS Radio horse racing talk show “At the Races with Steve Byk”, wanted nothing more than a few friendly hands of poker ... more
NYRA Unveils Online Jockey Video Cards
Thursday, November 13, 2008
By Jenny Kellner

You probably can guess that it is every jockey’s dream to win the Kentucky Derby – but did you know that Alan Garcia’s favorite movie is “Cinderella Man?” Racing fans can now get up close and personal with New York’s top riders by watching the new “Jockey Video Cards” now available on the official NYRA YouTube channel ... more
Aqueduct Racetrack Notes
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Contact: NYRA Press Office

The Race Track Chaplaincy is asking for help in providing Thanksgiving turkeys and other food items for backstretch families. The Chaplaincy had hoped to begin distributing 100 turkeys next Friday, November 21, at Belmont Park. It has, however, already received more requests—and fewer turkeys than usual ... more
Hall of Famer H. Allen Jerkens Released from Hospital
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Contact: Jenny Kellner

H. Allen Jerkens
 Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens’ first order of business after being released Wednesday morning from Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation Center was to visit his barn at Belmont Park. “He came home, and said, ‘I’d like to see the horses’,” said his wife, Elizabeth ... more
Familiar Faces Shine in New York Stallion Series
Sunday, November 9, 2008
By NYRA Press Office

Classic Pack
 It was nearly three decades ago, in 1979, that Ramon “Mike” Hernandez was named the top trainer of New York-breds by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders. Sunday afternoon, the 85-year-old Hernandez, the oldest active trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit, showed he has not lost his touch, saddling veteran Classic Pack and juvenile Lookin At Her to win two of the six New York Stallion Series stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack ... more
Strike a Deal Finally Gets His Turn in Red Smith
Saturday, November 8, 2008
By NYRA Press Office

Strike a Deal
 For nearly 18 months, trainer Alan Goldberg has been waiting for things to jell for Strike a Deal. And on a gray and rainy Saturday afternoon at Aqueduct Racetrack, things finally came together for the 4-year-old son of Smart Strike in a big way ... more
Even Losing Better Than Honour, Sikura is a Lucky Man
Thursday, November 6, 2008
By Francis LaBelle Jr.

John Sikura
 Most racing fans remember the very end of the 2007 Belmont Stakes, when Rags to Riches extended her massive chestnut body and got her head in front of another chestnut, eventual Horse of the Year Curlin, to win the 1 ½-mile “Test of the Champion.” ... more
NYRA Creates Official Myspace, Facebook Pages
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Contact: Jenny Kellner

Building on the success of its official YouTube channel, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has created pages on the popular social networking sites Facebook and MySpace as it reaches out to a new generation of fully-wired, technologically-fluent racing fans. With more than 60 million users, Facebook’s fastest-growing demographic is those 25 years and older, while... more