SARATOGA SPRINGS — Coach Rich Johns, a former tennis coach at Saratoga Springs High School, continued his “Act with Respect Always” program with a series of speaking engagements over the last few months.

In April, Coach Johns spoke at a Saratoga Springs Rotary Club meeting, as well as the New York State Recreation and Park Society’s annual conference at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls. Late last year, he also spoke at Hoosick Falls High School. 

According to Johns, “Act With Respect Always” is a pay it forward movement stressing the importance of one’s personal character. In his speeches, Johns introduces several concepts, including:

• The 99% (What’s Your 99) and the 1% (Accept The 1), a personal character assessment plan that aims to bring the concept of mindfulness to everyone

• The Visible Project, which encourages everyone to send notes of gratitude to a friend, relative, teacher, or anyone else that has shown them kindness

• The Solid Five (Who Are Your Solid5), or five people who can be relied upon for non-judgmental physical and emotional support

COOPERSTOWN — The Ballston Spa varsity baseball team beat the Mohonasen Warriors 8 to 3 at the historic Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York on Saturday morning. The team also visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum while in town.

Doubleday Field is named after Civil War Major General Abner Doubleday, who was reportedly born in a small house that still stands in downtown Ballston Spa. (The home is now the site of the Real McCoy brewery.) Although Doubleday was once thought to have invented baseball, there’s no substantial evidence that he had anything to do with the creation or popularization of the game.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Regional YMCA is hosting a Belmont weekend raffle sweepstakes across all five of its branches. Raffle tickets are available for purchase until May 12. Entrants can win a six-person reserved picnic table for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, with admission included. Ticket prices range from $25 to $50, with a bundle option available for $100. Proceeds will help fund YMCA programs.

For more details or to support the cause, contact Allie Mantica, Development Director, at 518-583-9622, ext. 395 or allie.mantica@srymca.org.

VANCOUVER — Jackson Hornung, the first Skidmore College alum to be drafted by a professional sports team, cracked a three-run dinger last month for the Vancouver Canadians, the High-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

In a game against the Spokane Indians, Hornung extended his hitting streak to six straight games before crushing the 0-2 pitch over the center field wall. Hornung finished the night with two hits and three RBI. 

The former Skidmore Thoroughbred has upped his numbers from last year, when he played for the Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays in Florida. As of May 3, he had a .630 OPS with 12 hits and 6 walks in 51 total at-bats.

GLENS FALLS — The Adirondack Thunder, an ECHL ice hockey team affiliated with the New Jersey Devils, beat the Maine Mariners at home, 2-0, in th decisive game 7 of the Kelly Cup Playoff North Division Semifinals last week. After winning the series, the Thunder advanced to the North Division Finals to take on the Norfolk Admirals.

In game 7, goalie Isaac Poulter stopped 21 shots for the shutout, while Ryan Wheeler and Tristan Ashbrook scored the Thunder’s two goals.

In game 1 against the Admirals last Friday night at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls, the Thunder fell, 7 to 4.  Ryan Smith scored two goals in the contest. His second goal came at the end of the second period, putting Adirondack ahead 4-3. But Norfolk erupted offensively in the third, scoring four goals and taking the first game of the series.

Game 2 on Saturday was a closer contest but the Admirals got the better of the Thunder once again, scoring three goals in the final period to take the W, 5 to 2. Yushiroh Hirano and Tristan Ashbrook contributed Adirondack’s two goals. 

Down 2-0, the Thunder traveled to Norfolk for game 3 on Wednesday night. 

MILL SPRING, N.C. — The Belmont Stakes isn’t the only horse show in town.

The Skidmore College riding team finished third overall with 39 points at the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association National Championship in North Carolina last weekend.

Skidmore narrowly lost out to Sacred Heart University, which took second place with 41.5 points. Savannah College of Art and Design were crowned national champions with 59 points.

“We are very proud of this team’s hard work and dedication,” Head Equestrian Coach Belinda Colgan told Saratoga TODAY. “It is a pleasure to coach these outstanding individuals who demonstrate such wonderful sportsmanship and camaraderie.”

Among individual Skidmore competitors, Kenya Sanders finished fourth, Harper Sanford was third in the Team Open Equitation on the Flat, and Isa Jensen was sixth in the Team Intermediate Equitation on the Flat. Skidmore’s horse “Crosby” also won high point horse of the show.

To reach nationals, the Thoroughbreds first captured the Zone 2 Region 3 Championship with a score of 48 last month at Long Island University – Post.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — When Donna Barton Brothers retired from horse racing in 1998, she was the second-winningest female jockey in the country by money earned. Since then, she’s become one of the sport’s most prominent advocates, using her talents as a broadcaster and reporter for NBC Sports to explain the complicated world of horse racing to the masses.

“We have a lot of language that is specific only to our sport,” Brothers told Saratoga TODAY, “and it doesn’t make people want to know more about our sport if we constantly use language that excludes them from understanding what we’re talking about.” 

On June 4, she’ll bring her explanatory skills to “Embrace the Belmont,” an event at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame that aims to teach the Saratoga community about its upcoming Triple Crown race. 

“I just wanted the people who are in town and the ones most affected by the Saratoga circus coming to town every year, to have an event for them,” Brothers said.

Fox Sports analysts Acacia Courtney Clement and Maggie Wolfendale will join Brothers at “Embrace the Belmont” and discuss all things Saratoga, which ranks as Brother’s second-favorite track in the country.

“Saratoga is such an iconic venue,” Brothers said. “When you walk in and look at that structure, you feel the 100 years plus of history ingrained in the wood.”

Brothers said that much like Keeneland in Louisville, Kentucky, people in the Saratoga paddock “still have a deep reverence for the sport.”

That reverence is part of the reason why Brothers said people in the horseracing industry are eagerly anticipating this year’s Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. But there are some aspects to this year’s race that insiders are less excited about, such as the New York Racing Association’s (NYRA) decision to run the event at a mile and a quarter instead of the traditional mile and a half.

Brothers also said that there’s been a push in the industry to change the Triple Crown schedule to make each race about a month apart, with the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May, the Preakness on the first Saturday of June, and finally Belmont on the first Saturday in July. Brothers said NYRA has been resistant to these proposed changes.

“I think it was a little bit surprising that they were willing to change the distance so quickly without any sort of discussion with people in the industry, but yet they seem to have very little willingness to change the dates, the spacing, of the Triple Crown races,” Brothers said.

Nonetheless, Brothers said that the primary response among horseracing insiders to this year’s Belmont is excitement.

“We love the history of horse racing and we love that some things will never change. But it’s also fun to have a little bit of excitement and have things shaken up just a little bit here and there,” she said.

One organization that has shaken up the industry a bit is Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga, organizers of the “Embrace the Belmont” event. Brothers visited the nonprofit’s facilities in March and came away impressed.

“They’re helping people who are marginalized in one way or another, and they’re treating those people in a proven, effective way,” Brothers said. “I think that kind of work is very important but also very underrated.”

Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga rescues retired racehorses and matches them with humans who can benefit from equine-assisted therapy. Some of those who benefit include both adults and children with mental illness, veterans, families, couples, and victims of domestic violence.

In support of the organization, Brothers will emcee “Embrace the Belmont” on Tuesday, June 4 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the National Museum of Horse Racing and Hall of Fame. To learn more about the event or to purchase a ticket, visit thsaratoga.org/events.

Last week in a victory over Scotia-Glenville, Schuylerville varsity lacrosse player Ollie Bolduc surpassed 250 career points.

 Image via the Schuylerville Lacrosse (@Sville_Lax) X account.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame announced its 2024 Hall of Fame class last week: 

• Jockey Joel Rosario and racehorses Gun Runner (KY) and Justify (KY) in the contemporary category

• Jockey Abe Hawkins and racehorses Aristides (KY) and Lecomte (KY) were selected by the Pre-1900 Historic Review Committee

• Harry F. Guggenheim, Clement L. Hirsch, and Joe Hirsch were chosen by the Pillars of the Turf Committee

Rosario, Gun Runner, and Justify were all elected in their first year of eligibility.

The 2024 Hall of Fame class will be enshrined on Friday, August 2 at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs at 10:30 a.m. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the Museum website at www.racingmuseum.org. The event is open to the public and free to attend.