{"id":40477,"date":"2025-02-25T17:18:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T22:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=40477"},"modified":"2025-02-25T17:18:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T22:18:23","slug":"saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/","title":{"rendered":"Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_40478\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40478\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-40478\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png 1100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40478\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Exciting harness racing kicked off its 84th season on February 2 at Saratoga Casino Hotel, featuring 150 race days, $17 million in purses and the 16th Joe Gerrity Jr. Pace, on July 19.<br \/>Courtesy Jessica Hallett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Saratoga Casino Hotel announced<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>84th season on Sunday, February 2. The 2025 schedule at the Spa oval will consist of 150 racing programs running through mid-December.<\/p>\n<p>This year, horsemen will compete for over $17 million in purses. The track will also host nine New York Sire Stakes programs featuring the best New York bred horses in the state racing for an additional $1.5 million in purses. The premier event of the season will be the 16th Annual Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace on Saturday, July 19. With a purse of $250,000 the Gerrity is expected to attract a field of top pacers.<\/p>\n<p>Father and son, Mark and Brett Beckwith, will be looking to defend their 2024 training and driver titles. Mark trained 182 winners in 2024, a record number of wins for a trainer in a single season, and 21-year-old driver, Brett, crossed the finish line first 306 times last year.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe are looking forward to another great season of racing,\u201d said Race Secretary, Peter Iovino. \u201cThe influx of young reinsmen is bringing a new level of excitement to harness racing at Saratoga Casino Hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"><span class=\"\"><b><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s2\"><!--more--><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>The winter, spring and fall schedule will include matinee racing on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and select Wednesdays, post time 12pm. The summer live racing schedule will be Mondays and Tuesdays, post time 12pm and Saturday evenings with a post time 6:45pm. Go to www.saratogacasino.com for Track Announcer Mike Sardella\u2019s race picks, racing recaps and the full live race schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saratoga Casino Hotel announced\u00a0 84th season on Sunday, February 2. The 2025 schedule at the Spa oval will consist of 150 racing programs running through mid-December. This year, horsemen will compete for over $17 million in purses. The track will also host nine New York Sire Stakes programs featuring the best New York bred horses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":40478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saratoga Casino Hotel announced\u00a0 84th season on Sunday, February 2. The 2025 schedule at the Spa oval will consist of 150 racing programs running through mid-December. This year, horsemen will compete for over $17 million in purses. The track will also host nine New York Sire Stakes programs featuring the best New York bred horses [&hellip;]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-25T22:18:23+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"825\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/\",\"name\":\"Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses - Saratoga Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-25T22:18:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":825,\"caption\":\"Exciting harness racing kicked off its 84th season on February 2 at Saratoga Casino Hotel, featuring 150 race days, $17 million in purses and the 16th Joe Gerrity Jr. Pace, on July 19. Courtesy Jessica Hallett\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Saratoga Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86\",\"name\":\"Jake Van Ness\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jake Van Ness\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/author\/jakev\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses - Saratoga Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses - Saratoga Business Journal","og_description":"Saratoga Casino Hotel announced\u00a0 84th season on Sunday, February 2. The 2025 schedule at the Spa oval will consist of 150 racing programs running through mid-December. This year, horsemen will compete for over $17 million in purses. The track will also host nine New York Sire Stakes programs featuring the best New York bred horses [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/","og_site_name":"Saratoga Business Journal","article_published_time":"2025-02-25T22:18:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":825,"url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jake Van Ness","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jake Van Ness","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/","name":"Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses - Saratoga Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png","datePublished":"2025-02-25T22:18:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2025\/02\/harnesstrack-h.png","width":1100,"height":825,"caption":"Exciting harness racing kicked off its 84th season on February 2 at Saratoga Casino Hotel, featuring 150 race days, $17 million in purses and the 16th Joe Gerrity Jr. Pace, on July 19. Courtesy Jessica Hallett"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2025\/02\/saratoga-casino-hotel-kicks-off-84th-harness-racing-season-with-17-million-in-purses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Saratoga Casino Hotel Kicks Off 84th Harness Racing Season With $17 Million In Purses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/","name":"Saratoga Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86","name":"Jake Van Ness","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jake Van Ness"},"url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/author\/jakev\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40479,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40477\/revisions\/40479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}