NYRA=s Senior Vice President of Racing Operations
Martin Panza didn=t take long to leave his mark on New
York racing. He loaded
the Belmont Stakes cardwith rich and importantraces, creating a
Breeders= Cup-like eventin the late spring. He also
created the Stars &Stripes Weekend overJuly 4, another big eventthat included two races
with seven-figure purses
and was by all accounts asuccess. What else does
Panza have in store for
Martin PanzaNew York racing and, inA.Coglianese/NYRA
particular, Saratoga?
Those were among thequestions put to him by Bill Finley and Dave Johnson
on Sirius/XM=s Down the Stretch this weekend, andreprinted here with their permission.
Q: It=s clear that you like Aevent days.@ Can you create
something along those lines at Saratoga or is every dayat Saratoga already an event?
MP: This is obviously my first meet working up here
and it is a really special place and we need to use thatto our advantage. Travers Day is already a huge day up
here. I=d like to try to grow Whitney Day into the same
type of day as Travers Day. Going through my first
opening day up here (Friday) and being from California,
where I saw the power of opening day at Del Mar, Ithink we can do lot more on opening day here. I=d likepeople to start thinking >This is the start of theSaratoga meet and we ought to come out.= It=s a greatplace up here but I think we can grow it. We will havesome ideas for next year to enhance what=s going on atSaratoga.
Q: At Saratoga, there=s always the question of how toproperly mix quality and quantity. You have said you=dlike to cut back some on the number of races. Can you
elaborate?
MP: I think we=re trying to be consistent. Mondays,nine races. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10, but thefirst race will be a steeplechase at 12:25, so we=ll havenine flat races starting at 1. Fridays, 10. On Saturdays,
you might see 11 or 12 races. On Sundays we=ll try to
stick to 10.

I think there are three Sundays where we will run 11
because we=ll be on national television. Obviously, thefoal crop, since 2008, has seen a tremendous decline
and at some point it becomes a numbers game. I wantto make sure we protect the product up here and that
NYRA racing stands for the best racing in the country.
At the same time, you want the customer to have an
enjoyable experience at the races and sometimes when
you run too many races, it becomes a little
overwhelming, a little bit too much. On top of that, it=sa great town and the nightlife up here is pretty
incredible and we want people to enjoy the town as
well. We are a racetrack and I have a responsibility tohelp NYRA make more money, but I also like to think
we have a responsibility to the neighborhoods andcommunities we=re in to be an economic driver for themas well.
Q: Your thoughts on the most recent effort to changes
the spacing of the Triple Crown races?
MP: We=re more than willing to sit down with Churchill
and Pimlico and at least discuss things. I am a fan ofleaving it the way it is, but it never hurts to havediscussions and talk.
Q: When might we finally see the Breeders= Cup returnto New York?
MP: As NYRA reorganizes, and we should get that
resolved next year, we=ll be ready as a management
team to sit down with the Breeders= Cup people andsay we=d like to have it back in New York. I think theBreeders= Cup is open to that. They realize New Yorkneeds to be in the rotation. It=s a matter of our getting
our house in order in New York and telling them we=re
now prepared to host this. It will happen. I=m not quite
sure how quickly, but it=s going to happen. New Yorkwill be back in the rotation. On top of that, we want tobuild our four or five big days on our own and makethose sort of mini-Breeders= Cup days in the summertime. That=s what we=re going to move toward over the
next three, four years.
Q: We haven=t heard much yet about your plans for thefall meet at Belmont. What do you have in store for us?
MP: The fall stakes schedule should be out in anotherweek or two. I just need to go before our racing
committee and get it approved. There won=t be a lot ofchanges in the fall. The fall is a difficult time for all ofus because you=ve got college football and professional
football going and at the end of the day, Americans
love football and it=s hard to compete against that. On
top of that, most people=s fall schedules are feeding
into the Breeders= Cup. That=s fine, but when we spend
purse money or create days, we want to make it where
NYRA is the focal point and we=re not a prep forsomebody else. In the fall, you=re basically getting
horses ready for the Breeders= Cup.

That=s fine and it=s necessary to help feed one ofAmerican racing=s biggest days. But right now I am
trying to concentrate on the Belmont summer meet andto some extent, Saratoga. Obviously, we made a hugepurse increase for the Whitney for this year. I want touse this Saratoga meet as a learning experience formyself and then next year I think you=ll see some morechanges at Saratoga. I think Belmont fall will prettymuch stay the same.
Q: You like to think outside the box. What other plansor ideas might you have to move racing forward?
MP: I am looking at creating an American Turf Triple
Crown. I need to sit down with the guys at Arlington
Park because the Secretariat makes a lot of sense aspart of something like that. You=d have the Belmont
Derby in early July, the Secretariat in mid-August andsome race in mid-September and combine them tomake a 3-year-old turf Triple Crown. Belmont could
host the final leg or it could be some other track. I think
the creation of this would be something positive forAmerican racing. Click here to share this story