Displaying items by tag: National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — As part of its popular ongoing farm tour series, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will present special tours of Old Tavern Farm and McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. The tour of Old Tavern Farm will take place on Saturday, June 30 at 11 a.m. and the McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds tour will take place on Tuesday, July 10 at 11 a.m. The tours cost $25 each for Museum members and $30 each for non-members. A catered lunch is served on both tours. The tours will cover the grounds and facilities and provide an opportunity to meet the resident thoroughbreds and foals at the farms. Transportation is not included with these tours. Reservations are required for these events and space is limited. Please call the Museum’s tour line at 518584-0400 ext. 120 to reserve your spot or 518-584-0400 ext. 118 for additional information.

Following lunch at the McMahon tour, participants can choose to visit the Museum for a guided tour for $5 per person or receive a free pass to visit at their convenience. Everyone in attendance for the Old Tavern Tour will be given a free pass to the Museum to be used at their convenience. Old Tavern Farm is located at 45 Brown Rd., Saratoga Springs, while McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds is at 180 Fitch Rd., Saratoga Springs. To learn more about the farms, please visit: oldtavernfarms.com and mcmahonthoroughbreds.com.  For more information about the Museum, including special events and program offerings, please call 518-584-0400 or visit our website at www.racingmuseum.org.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Four racehorses, three jockeys and three trainers account for the 10 finalists selected to the National Museum of Racing’s 2018 Hall of Fame ballot, as chosen by the Museum’s Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. The finalists are: racehorses Blind Luck, Gio Ponti, Havre de Grace and Heavenly Prize; jockeys Robby Albarado, Corey Nakataki and Craig Perret; and trainers Mark Casse, John Shirreffs and David Whiteley. Hall of Fame voters may select as many candidates as they believe are worthy of induction to the Hall of Fame. All candidates that receive majority approval (50.1 percent or higher) of the voting panel will be elected to the Hall of Fame. The former rule capping the number of inductees at four has been eliminated by the Museum’s Executive Committee. All the finalists were required to support from two-thirds of the Nominating Committee to qualify for the ballot.

The results of the voting on the contemporary candidates will be announced on Monday, April 16. The induction ceremony will be held at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Friday, Aug. 3 at 10:30 a.m. The ceremony will be open to the public and is free to attend. The finalists were selected by the Hall of Fame’s Nominating Committee from a total of 90 initial candidates suggested by turf journalists, thoroughbred industry participants and racing fans. To be eligible, trainers must have been licensed for 25 years, while jockeys must have been licensed for 20 years. Thoroughbreds are required to be retired for five calendar years before becoming eligible. All candidates must have been active within the past 25 years. The 20 and 25-year requirements for jockeys and trainers, respectively, may be waived, at the discretion of the Museum’s Executive Committee. Candidates not active within the past 25 years are eligible through the Historic Review process. Visit  www.racingmuseum.org for more information.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Foal Patrol Project, a livestream initiative where people can view realtime videos of several in-foal mares during their pregnancy and through the actual foaling process. Livestreams are available 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, with extended hour as the expected foaling date approaches, at
www.foalpatrol.com. At 5:50 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 19, the first foal was delivered by Sabbatical, a mare owned by Phipps Stable at the historic Claiborne Farm. The foal, which is a bay colt by War Front, arrived earlier than its’ projected due date, which was Jan. 28. Both Sabbatical and the foal are healthy.

“We’re so excited to see the first foal of Foal Patrol. Congratulations to Phipps Stable and everyone at Claiborne Farm,” said director of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Cathy Marino.

“We are thrilled they agreed to be part of this new initiative of the Museum. One of the Museum’s priorities is to make the sport of thoroughbred racing accessible to as many people as possible and Foal Patrol is a wonderful way for people to get unprecedented insight into the breeding of a racehorse, one of the most essential components of the sport. We’re looking forward to seeing this colt grow and develop on the way to the racetrack,” said Marino.

A contest has been set up on www.foalpatrol.com for name suggestions, the winner will receive a prize package, including a tour of Claiborne Farm. The next mare, Breeder’s Cup Distaff winner Stopchargingmaria, is projected to deliver her foal at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky around Feb. 2. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — This year may be one of the most exciting Travers week yet with a number of events and celebrations leading up to the famed Mid-Summer Derby next Saturday, as well as the showdown of three of thoroughbred racings’ top contenders this year—Kentucky Derby winner Orb, Belmont top finisher Palace Malice and Haskell Invitational winner Verrazano—all scheduled to race in the million dollar Travers Stakes.