SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though Saratoga still does big business and attracts large crowds hardly seen at most racetracks, there does appear to be a saturation point for the premier Thoroughbred meet in the country. It’s something even upper management recognizes.
“We’re really looking forward to getting back to 40 days,” New York Racing Association president and CEO Dave O’Rourke said.
This year, there were 49 days of racing at Saratoga – five during early June, run as the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, and four run the opening week of July, conducted as the July Fourth Racing Festival. Undoubtedly, those additional dates had an impact on business during the regular 40-day meet, which began July 10 and concluded Monday with slight decreases in handle from a year ago.
All-sources handle for the 40-day meet was $791,129,471. While the fifth largest in Saratoga history, it is a 1.6-percent decline from last year’s figure of $803,807,011. While that percentage sounds negligible, it’s a little more significant when one considers there were only 39 days of racing held last summer after one card was canceled due to weather. Moreover, business on this year’s Whitney Day was a record $49.6 million, 84 percent higher than Whitney Day in 2024, when wet weather forced two turf stakes to be postponed and run another day.
“When you’re doing roughly $800 million and bringing a million people through the turnstiles and you’re pushing Saratoga a little bit in terms of duration, I think we’re happy with the numbers, and the numbers were pretty much what we projected,” O’Rourke said.
The day-to-day all-sources handle comparison was down on 14 of the last 17 days of the season.
“You could be pushing demand forward by being up here more in July,” O’Rourke said. “If you’re looking overall at the economy, there are some soft spots.”
Computer assisted wagering for the meet was up roughly 1 percent from a year ago, according to NYRA. Total paid admissions for the 40-day Saratoga season were 1,061,786 compared to 1,051,092 in 2024. That counts season passes and box-seat holders who pay for the entire meet, regardless of whether they attend.
NYRA ran 420 races at the 2025 Saratoga meet, eight more than last year and equaling 2013 for the most ever run at a 40-day meet here. There were 176 turf races run – 21 more than last summer – and 33 scheduled turf races moved to the dirt. In 2024, there were 45 scheduled turf races forced to the main track.
Field size for the meet was 7.52 horses per race, down from 7.84 in 2024. Field size for turf racing was 8.40, down from 8.94 a year ago.
The additional number of days held in Saratoga is a result of the ongoing renovation of Belmont Park. O’Rourke said Belmont still plans to open in September of 2026, though the building will not be fully operational until the spring of 2027.
As that project continues into 2026, NYRA will once again host the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga next June. It has not yet been determined when summer racing will return to Saratoga, though it is likely to be the first week of July.
“We don’t have the schedule for next year baked yet. Right now, what we’re debating internally [but] you’re probably looking at a similar number of dates,” said O’Rourke, referring to the 44 days of racing held this year from July 3-Sept.1. “How they get spread out, we got to work through that, but we’re looking forward to getting back to 40 days and getting a lot of these races back to Belmont.”
There were some faux pas at the meet. The final race on Aug. 9 was run at the wrong distance when the starting gate was placed incorrectly. There was also one race where two horses were loaded in the wrong stalls in the gate.
“Silly mistakes make you look bad and I think it can impact the mindset of the group,” O’Rourke said. “We’ve addressed that in several different ways.”
Claiming is always hot and heavy at Saratoga, and this summer was no different. There were 209 claims for $7,047,000 over the 40 days. However, there were an additional 41 claims voided by the track veterinarians, 13 of those having won the race from which they were claimed. The reasons for those voids are not released, but they typically are due to lameness.
“I find there’s frustration from the people trying to claim horses and some of them would actually want the horse and they’re not able to have it,” O’Rourke said. “That’s a broader conversation on how to get to the right answer. The first thing we want to do is protect the horse, but when somebody is making an investment in the game like this, there needs to be balance. I think it might be worth taking another look at what the right level of balance is in this space.”
There were five racing-related fatalities and five training-related fatalities during the meet. An additional three horses died for reasons not related to racing or training.
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As part of the New York state budget passed earlier this year, NYRA will soon be investing $2 million to acquire advanced imaging technology – including PET scan equipment – to be located at Cornell Ruffian across the street from Belmont Park.
“Having that down at Belmont is another tool now to work towards safer [racing],” O’Rourke said. “The goal is always zero. It’s not impossible to hit it.”
There was some excellent racing held at Saratoga during the summer, led by Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty, who won the Travers by 10 lengths. He became the first horse in 30 years to win the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers in the same campaign.
Reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna was gutsy winning the Grade 1 Personal Ensign by a nose over Dorth Vader. Book’em Danno won the Grade 1 Forego and Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt to go along with his Grade 3 victory in the True North here in June.
A plethora of 2-year-olds made big impressions here, topped by the colts It’s Our Time, a 17 3/4-length debut winner for Tom Amoss; Ted Noffey, who went 2 for 2, including an 8 1/2 length win in Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful; and Ewing, who won the Saratoga Special. Tommy Jo led the juvenile filly group, going 2 for 2, including a 6 1/2-length win in the Grade 1 Spinaway. Caaramel Coast was also a 5 1/2-length debut winner for Whit Beckman.
Chad Brown went into the last week of the meet with a six-win lead on Todd Pletcher for leading trainer. But Brown needed to win the last race on Monday to force a tie, as Pletcher won six races – four of them stakes – over the final six days. Each trainer won 32 races.
“We’ll take it,” said Brown, who was won or shared the last five meet titles and eight overall. “The last couple of weeks didn’t really go according to plan for us. The first portion of the meet was excellent and we really slowed down. That’s the way racing goes. That’s the way sports go. Todd got really got hot and he won a lot of big races.”
Pletcher won his 15th title, with the first coming in 1998. He’s won at least one title in each of the last four decades.
“Makes me feel old,” Pletcher said. “Saratoga is always special and to do well here it’s great for everyone’s moral, the barn the owners and I must say it was a lot of fun.”
Mike Repole, one of Pletcher’s main clients, was leading owner with 14 wins, three more than Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables.
Despite missing Monday’s closing-day card due to soreness after being involved in a spill here on Sunday, Irad Ortiz Jr. won his fourth straight Saratoga riding title and seventh overall with 59 wins. His brother Jose finished with 55 victories, including three winners on Monday’s closing-day card. Flavien Prat was third with 41 wins, and Ricardo Santana Jr. had a breakout meet with 38 wins as he settles into the NYRA riding colony full-time. Kendrick Carmouche finished with 29 wins.
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