Connect with us

Published

2 years ago

on

  • Associated Press

Jan 24, 2024, 05:40 PM ET

NEW YORK — The four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival that will be held at Saratoga Race Course from June 6-9 will feature 23 stakes worth $10.1 million, the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday.

Nine of the stakes will run at different distances than in previous years because of the difference in circumference of Saratoga compared with Belmont Park.

The ongoing construction of the new $455 million Belmont Park forced the NYRA to move the Belmont Stakes upstate from its traditional home. In addition, the fall and spring/summer meets traditionally held at Belmont will take place at Aqueduct Racetrack in 2024.

As previously announced, the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, will be shortened from 1 1/2 miles to 1 1/4 miles to accommodate the configuration of Saratoga. It also had its purse increased to $2 million from $1.5 million, the first significant raise since 2014. Six other stakes also will have higher purses.

The Belmont is set to be run June 8 on a card that will feature nine graded stakes, six of which are Grade 1s.

Four races previously run at 1 1/16-miles — the Acorn, Ogden Phipps, Commentator and Critical Eye — will be run at 1 1/8-miles on the main track at Saratoga.

On the turf, the Manhattan and the New York will be contested at 1 3/16 miles rather than the customary 10 furlongs. The Jaipur and Intercontinental will each be run at 5 1/2 furlongs rather than 6.

Following the conclusion of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, the NYRA circuit will return to Aqueduct for the remainder of the spring before racing shifts to Saratoga for the annual summer meet from July 11-Sept. 2.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Sports

Secretariat Triple Crown jockey Turcotte, 84, dies

Published

3 hours ago

on

August 22, 2025

By

Secretariat Triple Crown jockey Turcotte, 84, dies

  • Associated Press

Aug 22, 2025, 04:10 PM ET

DRUMMOND, New Brunswick — Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973, has died. He was 84.

Turcotte’s family said through his longtime business partner and friend Leonard Lusky that the Canada-born jockey died of natural causes at his home in Drummond, New Brunswick, on Friday.

Turcotte won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes twice each from 1965-73 before his riding career ended when he fell off a horse and suffered injuries that caused paraplegia. Secretariat’s record time in the Belmont still stands 52 years later.

Continue Reading

Sports

Who will make the 12-team College Football Playoff?

Published

6 hours ago

on

August 22, 2025

By

Who will make the 12-team College Football Playoff?

Continue Reading

Sports

2025 preseason College Football Playoff predictions

Published

6 hours ago

on

August 22, 2025

By

2025 preseason College Football Playoff predictions

It’s August and no games have been played, but that’s not keeping ESPN’s college football reporters from predicting the 12 schools that will make up the College Football Playoff beginning in December.

Ohio State won the inaugural 12-team bracket last season, despite starting as the No. 8 seed, demonstrating that the playoff truly gives new life to any team that gains entry.

There’s a slight alteration to the format this year. The tournament will still comprise the top five conference champions and seven at-large schools. But the top four seeds — and the first-round bye that comes with each of those seeds — will no longer go to the four highest-ranked conference champions (last season that was Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State). This season the committee has moved to a straight seeding model, so the four highest-ranked schools in the committee’s final top 12 will get the top four seeds.

Ahead of Week 0, here are the slates our reporters picked. Let the chase begin:

Andrea Adelson: 1. Clemson 2. Penn State 3. Texas 4. LSU 5. Georgia 6. Ohio State 7. Notre Dame 8. Miami 9. Alabama 10. Iowa State 11. Nebraska 12. Boise State

Kyle Bonagura: 1. Texas 2. Penn State 3. Ohio State 4. Clemson 5. Georgia 6. Notre Dame 7. Alabama 8. Oregon 9. LSU 10. Arizona State 11. Miami 12. Boise State

Bill Connelly: 1. Penn State 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. Ohio State 5. Georgia 6. Notre Dame 7. Texas A&M 8. Clemson 9. Oregon 10. Boise State 11. Miami 12. Kansas State

Heather Dinich: 1. Penn State, 2. Clemson, 3. Texas 4. LSU 5. Georgia 6. Ohio State 7. Notre Dame 8. Alabama 9. Miami 10. Oregon 11. Kansas State 12. Boise State

David Hale: 1. Ohio State 2. Texas 3. Clemson 4. Penn State 5. Notre Dame 6. Georgia 7. Oregon 8. LSU 9. Texas A&M 10. Kansas State 11. Miami 12. Toledo

Eli Lederman: 1. Penn State 2. Texas 3. Clemson 4. Ohio State 5. Notre Dame 6. Alabama 7. Oregon 8. Georgia 9. Arizona State 10. LSU 11. Miami 12. Boise State

Max Olson: 1. Texas. 2. Penn State. 3. Notre Dame. 4. Clemson. 5. Alabama. 6. Oregon. 7. Georgia. 8. Ohio State. 9. Texas Tech. 10. LSU. 11. Utah. 12. Boise State

Adam Rittenberg: 1. Texas 2. Penn State 3. Clemson 4. Georgia 5. Alabama 6. Ohio State 7. Notre Dame 8. Oregon 9. Miami 10. Iowa State 11. Boise State 12. Illinois

Mark Schlabach: 1. Texas 2. Clemson 3. Penn State 4. Georgia 5. Ohio State 6. Alabama 7. Notre Dame 8. Oregon 9. Miami 10. LSU 11. Arizona State 12. Boise State

Jake Trotter: 1. Texas, 2. Clemson, 3. Penn State, 4. LSU, 5. Ohio State, 6. Notre Dame, 7. Georgia, 8. Oregon, 9. Illinois, 10. South Carolina, 11. Texas Tech, 12. Tulane

Paolo Uggetti: 1. Ohio State, 2. Georgia, 3. Texas 4. Penn State 5. Notre Dame 6. Clemson 7. Oregon 8. LSU 9. Arizona State 10. Miami 11. South Carolina 12. Boise State

Dave Wilson: 1. Texas 2. Penn State 3. Clemson 4. Ohio State 5. Georgia 6. Notre Dame 7. Alabama 8. Oregon 9. LSU 10. Arizona State 11. Miami 12. Boise State

Continue Reading

Trending