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Welcome to On The Lead, the monthly newsletter of The New York Racing Association. We will keep you tuned in to all of the ongoing excitement at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course.
In each issue, we will update you on important news and look ahead to the featured promotions, events, and stakes races for the coming month. You will read fun and enlightening interviews with our trainers and jockeys and receive the latest information about our NYRA Rewards program. And as an added bonus, you can download eye-popping wallpaper and watch thrilling race replays!
On The Lead is your one-stop communication to catch up on the action at the NYRA tracks. We hope you enjoy this issue! |
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 Racing fans can now go behind the scenes year-round at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course with the launch of NYRA's latest on-line offering, “NY Racing Insider.” The blog is located at www.nyracinginsider.com. Consolidating and building on both the popular “Saratoga Insider” and “Belmont Insider” blogs, “NY Racing Insider” gives fans unprecedented access to the backstretch with up-close-and-personal looks at all three of NYRA’s racetracks. Click here to visit the blog.
 NYRA hosts the annual Stocking Stuffer Promotion on Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, December 6 at Aqueduct as part of the Spirit of Giving weekend. Promotional giveaway items from throughout the year will be on sale for $1 each with the proceeds going to benefit the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. In addition, the United States Marines will be at the track that weekend collecting toys for the Toys for Tots campaign to help brighten the holiday season for needy children. In addition, NYRA will have collection boxes on track for the St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children Home for the Holidays Food Drive. It will be a wonderful weekend of holiday giving and cheer at Aqueduct!
 Don't miss the annual NYRA Calendar promotion on New Year's Day, Friday, January 1! All of the best racing photos from 2009, including Rachel Alexandra's Woodward triumph and Summer Bird's Belmont Stakes victory, will be included in this must-have item for any racing fan! General parking and admission are free, and the calendar is available for $2 or complimentary with the purchase of a NYRA race program. This is a day that you will not want to miss.
 NYRA’s new “Spotlight Series” videos will offer racing fans an exclusive look at the people who work behind the scenes at Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack. The first and second videos in the series, featuring the Clerk of Scales and Track Announcer Tom Durkin, can be viewed online at www.nyra.com/nyraspotlight/nyraspotlight.html and at NYRA’s official Youtube site. The “Spotlight Series” videos profile the individuals who work in the jockey’s room, on the backside, in the paddock, on the clockers’ stand, and in numerous other areas at the track. These are the people behind the scenes that ensure thoroughbred racing in New York can take place smoothly on a daily basis. Click here to visit the NYRA Spotlight homepage.
 NYRA is hosting hour-long live, online chat sessions with key industry figures on select Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. Fans and handicappers may log on to http://www.nyra.com/livechat to join the chat. The first chat was on Friday, October 23 with NYRA race analyst Andy Serling, and future chats will be with NYRA executives along with top New York jockeys and trainers. No pre-registration is necessary and users may simply type questions and comments in the chat field at the bottom of the page for the featured chatter to address. At the conclusion of the chat, an “instant replay” is created for future reference. Click here to read more.
 The popular daily handicapping show “Talking Horses” will be available for live viewing online at www.nyra.com beginning on Wednesday, November 4. Fans who are not on-track will be able to watch and listen to the show live online and get all the day’s handicapping selections from the program’s prognosticators. “Talking Horses” runs from approximately 11:35 – noon on live racing days, always starting approximately an hour before first post, and is hosted by NYRA TV Analysts Jason Blewitt, Eric Donovan, and Andy Serling. Click here for more details.
 Aqueduct Racetrack offers dark day simulcasts on Mondays and Tuesdays. Fans will be able to bet at Aqueduct’s second-floor simulcast center, and mutuel clerks, self-service terminals and concession stand service will be available. There is no charge for admission or general parking at Aqueduct for either live racing days (Wednesdays through Sundays) or simulcast-only days. Parking and admission gates will open at 11:30 a.m., with the final simulcast race going off at approximately 7:00 p.m. Aqueduct will also be open for simulcasting during the Holiday Break from Monday, December 14 - Wednesday, December 23, but will be completely closed on Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 25. Click here for more details.
 Get into the game with the Pick the Pros and Ponies contest every Sunday during the NFL season. Not only can you watch all of the NFL games each week, you can also participate in a contest to win $1,000. All you have to do is select the winners of four designated NFL games and two designated Aqueduct races. Call (718) 641-4700 for more information about the Pick the Pros and Ponies contest.
 NYRA is on Facebook! The page enables users to interact with other NYRA fans, stay updated on NYRA events, view NYRA racing photos, and much more. NYRA's Facebook page already has more than 3,200 fans, so join the community now! Click here to access the NYRA Facebook page.
 Fans of Rachel Alexandra can connect with the star 3-year-old filly on her own website, “Rachel’s Sandbox," set up by NYRA. Rachel recorded a victory for the ages when she became the first ever female winner of the prestigious Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, September 5. The multimedia site gives fans an interactive experience and allows them to keep up with the latest news and information on Rachel Alexandra as she looks to make history. Fans can view a Rachel Alexandra photo gallery, peruse career past performances and pedigree, comment on blogs and participate in a poll on the website, which also contains a “Fun Stuff” section featuring downloadable wallpaper, coloring pages, and fun facts about the fabulous filly. Fans can visit “Rachel’s Sandbox” at www.nyra.com/rachel
 Fans of Rachel Alexandra have a new online outlet to share their thoughts and impressions of the exceptional bay filly in the “Fan Letters” section of Rachel’s Sandbox at NYRA.com, where NYRA will now publish letters penned by her supporters. Rachel Alexandra made history at Saratoga Race Course, becoming the first filly ever to win the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes against older male rivals. To submit fan mail, please email letters to rachelfanmail@nyrainc.com for publication on “Rachel’s Sandbox.” Fan letters can be accessed under the “Fun Stuff” section of the website, which also features downloadable wallpaper, coloring pages, and fun facts about the fabulous filly. The “Fan Letters” page is just the newest aspect of the multimedia site at which fans can view Rachel Alexandra photo galleries, peruse career past performances and pedigree, comment on blogs and more. Click here to read more.
 Aqueduct Racetrack provides an intimate and elegant setting for groups of any nature and is a particularly dramatic destination for corporate events. Enjoy superb fare, spectacular views and unparalleled service while experiencing thoroughbred racing at its finest. All options include admission, program and luncheon. Drink packages can be added on at an additional cost. Children (ages 3-12) receive a 33 percent disount! Packages and menus can also be customized to fit client needs. For more information, visit www.nyragroupsales.com or call (888) 285-5961. |
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 Racing at Aqueduct takes a 12-day holiday break towards the end of December, but there are still seven excellent stakes races during the month for fans to enjoy, including a mix of sprints, routes, New York-breds, and races for fillies & mares. The December stakes action kicks off on Saturday, December 5 with the Garland of Roses, a six furlong sprint for fillies & mares.
 The New York-bred 2-year-olds are set to take center stage on Sunday, December 6 with the Damon Runyan for all juveniles and the East View for fillies, both contested at the 1 mile 70 yard distance. A number of horses used victories in these two races as springboards to fantastic success, including Haynesfield (2008), Giant Moon (2007), and Naughty New Yorker (2004), all three of whom won the Damon Runyan.
 The lone graded race at Aqueduct for the month is the Queens County (GIII) for 3-year-olds & up, scheduled to be run Saturday, December 12 at 1-3/16 miles. It will be the 104th running of this historic race, won twice in the past eight years by New York fan favorite Evening Attire (2001, 2007).
 After the 12-day holiday break, racing resumes on Saturday, December 26 with a card featuring the Gravesend, a six furlong test of speed for all 3-year-olds & up. This race has been won by some of the fastest horses in the history of horse racing, including super stallion Mr. Prospector (1974) and the brilliantly fast Fabulous Strike (2008).
 New York-breds get another chance to shine on Sunday, December 27 in the Alex M. Robb going 1-1/16 mile for 3-year-olds & up. It’s yet another one of the races that Naughty New Yorker (2006), part of a select group of New York-bred horses that have eclipsed the $1 million earnings mark.
 The final New York stakes race in 2009 is the Gallant Fox on Thursday, December 31. A true stamina test, the Gallant Fox is run at 1-5/8 miles, making it the longest dirt stakes races on the calendar. The remarkable Coyote Lakes won this race three years in a row from 2000-02. | |  |
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 NYRA has launched its own photostream page on flickr.com. By logging on to www.flickr.com/photos/nyraphoto, fans can view colorful, exhilarating photos from a majority of NYRA’s premier stakes races and popular promotional events. Among the featured photography are galleries dedicated to Belmont Stakes Day, fan-favorite Commentator, and Shadwell Travers Stakes Day. Super-filly Rachel Alexandra also has a pair of galleries dedicated to her. Click here to visit the site.
 NYRA will match all financial donations to the United States Marines Toys for Tots campaign when it makes its annual visit to Aqueduct Racetrack on Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, December 6. With New York’s leading trainer, Gary Contessa, donating 10 percent of whatever purse money his horses earn on December 5, for a minimum of $1,500, as well as owner Harold Lerner’s contribution of $5,000, NYRA will be pledging at least $6,500 additionally to the Toys for Tots program, which collects and distributes new, unwrapped toys to children in need during the holiday season. Click here for full details.
 NYRA has reached an agreement with Betfair Games Limited to permit common-pool pari-mutuel wagering on its races to Betfair’s global customers. Betfair boasts a worldwide customer base of more than 2.5 million people who will now have access to the Aqueduct racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course pari-mutuel pools via www.betfair.com. Click here to read the full details.
 Jockey Ramon Dominguez’s assault on the NYRA record books continued on Friday, November 13 when he piloted Freight Forward to victory in Aqueduct Racetrack’s 2nd race to register his 341st New York win in 2009, passing Angel Cordero, Jr. to move into sole possession of second place for wins in a year by a jockey at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga. “I’m very happy that I have been able to do so well in New York,” Dominguez said. “Like I always say, it’s nothing but a reflection of the type of horses that I ride and the support that I get from horsemen and owners. It’s overwhelming, especially with such a colony of great riders here.” Click here for full details.
 New York horsemen and racetrack executives mourned the passing of Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel, a city kid from Brooklyn who began his career at Aqueduct Racetrack and went on to become one of the most successful thoroughbred trainers in the nation. Frankel, 68, died on November 16 at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., after a lengthy battle with lymphoma. Click here to read more and click here to watch a video reaction from New York horsemen.
 More than halfway through Aqueduct Racetrack’s 39-day Fall Meet, one new face in the jockey colony has already begun to make an impact, while more are on the way. 25-year old David Cohen, the leading rider at the recently concluded Delaware Park meet, is high up in the jockey standings at the Big A. Cohen will be riding full-time in New York for the first time this fall and winter, after having earned leading jockey honors last winter at Philadelphia Park. Rosie Napravnik, who finished second to Cohen at Delaware, is also at Aqueduct, while set to join them in New York for the first time is Gabriel Saez, another Mid-Atlantic regular. Click here to read more.
 NYRA imposed a six month penalty on trainer Jeffrey Mullins for violating NYRA’s monitoring barn rules and regulations. For the term of this penalty Mullins will be denied entry in NYRA races and will be denied access to NYRA grounds. Mullins was charged with violating Aqueduct Race Day Security Barn Rules and Regulations as posted in the Aqueduct Winter/Spring 2009 Condition Book 4. Click here for full details.
 Robert Gianquitti, a 58-year-old contractor from Lake Worth, Fla., topped 227 other players and took home the $40,000 first prize in the 2009 Fall Handicapping Challenge at Aqueduct Racetrack. Gianquitti finished the two-day contest with a mythical bankroll of $1,193, just $55 more than runner-up Michael Labriola of Richmond, Calif., who won second prize of $13,000. Click here for full details.
 On the heels of a successful 2009 race meet at Saratoga Race Course, NYRA will expand the 2010 season by four days, a revision that will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Next year’s Saratoga meet will begin on Friday, July 23 and consist of 40 racing days. It will feature a Wednesday through Monday live racing schedule that will go through Labor Day, Monday, September 6. Each day of the meet will include a stake, and pending approval from the NYRA Board of Directors, the Grade 1 Coaching Club America Oaks, traditionally run at Belmont Park, will shift to the first weekend at Saratoga. Click here for more details.
 NYRA has launched a brand new Community Relations website! This site will stay updated with all of the great events that NYRA is organizing and taking part in with the communities surrounding their racetracks. Some of the recent organizations and events that NYRA helped out with were Elmont Clean Up Day, the Exceller Fund, and the Gateway Youth Outreach. Bookmark the NYRA Community Relations website to keep informed of all these important events.
 NYRA has launched a Twitter website for racing analyst Andy Serling, located at Twitter.com/andyserling. Serling, a co-host of Talking Horses and NYRA Live, is known for his bold predictions and confident demeanor. Serling’s Twitter page will feature a combination of race analysis and wagering suggestions, along with observations that he makes throughout the day while at Aqueduct. Click here to start following Andy!
NYRA keeps fans abreast of racing information at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga with its official Twitter site, located at Twitter.com/NYRAnews. The site is updated throughout the day with scratches and changes, news and notes, interesting events, and a host of other information. Click here to follow the site!
 Photo finish pictures are now available on demand at NYRA.com. The site enables fans to view the photo finish pictures for win, place, show, or fourth place at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, or Saratoga. It's a great way to get an unparalleled view of the heated competition at the finish line. Click here to learn more about how to access these great photo finishes!
 Tune in to Trips & Traps, NYRA's groundbreaking online handicapping show! Join hosts Andy Serling and Eric Donovan for an insiders look at horses to watch or horses to watch out for. On this weekly show, Andy and Eric scrutinize replays of races to find horses that have a reason to perform much better in future races. You will learn how to better scrutinize replays for information that's not necessarily in the past performance charts.Trips & Traps is only available at NYRA's official Youtube site. |
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 Each month we’ll take a trip to the backstretch and visit with a different jockey or trainer. This month the spotlight is on Rick Mettee, assistant trainer for Saeed bin Suroor and the powerful Godolphin Stable. Mettee was born in Maryland and says he was introduced to the racing game by his grandmother who brought him to Pimlico and Timonium when he was a young kid. He eventually grew to work for Dick Dutrow in Maryland then moved out to California to work for John Gosden. After training on his own for a while, Mettee was recommended to Godolphin by Gosden to manage their U.S. string. He’s been the U.S. based assistant to Saeed bin Suroor ever since.
So far in 2009, Godolphin runners captured five Grade 1 races in New York under Mettee’s supervision including Seventh Street in the Go For Wand, Music Note in the Ballerina and Beldame, Flashing in the Test, and Pyro in the Forego. For the year, Godolphin runners have earned $1,845,143 in purses at NYRA tracks.
Q: What did you learn from assisting John Gosden that has helped you the most in your current job?
I had gone with most of John Gosden’s shippers, I kind of went where the shippers went. In terms of what it helped me with, I was used to being on my own scheduling things. Here, even though I’m Saeed’s assistant, there’s sometimes that the weather comes up bad that you have to improvise. I know what Saeed wants, the way he wants the horses trained, but sometimes when the weather becomes iffy here you have to improvise. Being out on my own I was used to improvising things.
Q: What is it about the NYRA circuit that made Godolphin choose it as its home base?
The American end of the Godolphin string is mainly dirt horses. It’s meant to be a small, select group of dirt horses. For the most part, the U.S. string is based on dirt pedigrees with the New York stakes schedule in mind. That’s basically what we’re here for – to come back from Dubai, freshen the horses up a little bit when they come back, and once we hit Saratoga and the Belmont Fall Meet we have the barn going full gear. That’s really what it’s set up around. New York is the best dirt racing in the country day in and day out.
Q: Since your boss for lives halfway around the world, how does the communication process work between the two of you?
We go back and forth. He can go online and get the condition book when it comes out and we go over each horse. He’s on top of everything. We speak either by email or by phone pretty much every day, even sometimes twice a day. He has an idea weeks in advance what we’re going to do with each horse.
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 Kodiak Kowboy put an exclamation mark on his brilliant career with an explosive victory in the Grade 1 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile, and is the subject of this month’s Wallpaper & Race Replay. It was the third Grade 1 victory of the year for the 4-year-old son of Posse, who also won the Vosburgh at Belmont Park and the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. Trained by Steve Asmussen and ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan, Kodiak Kowboy rated comfortably in midpack during the early stages of the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile. He launched his bid as they entered the stretch, and powered past Met Mile winner Bribon to triumph by three quarters of a length. Click here to download the wallpaper and watch the race replay.
 Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in the Jockeys Room? This month we talk to Harry Rice, the longest standing Jockey Valet at NYRA. Harry has been a valet for 33 years, and has worked for Jean Cruguet, Chris McCarron, Mike Smith, and now Rajiv Maragh and Mike Luzzi. We covered a number of topics, including the responsibilities of a jockey valet and some of the amazing races that Harry has witnessed. Click here to listen to the podcast. | |  |
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