Saratoga Featured in Upcoming Netflix Series

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Netflix announced last week that it will premiere a new, six-episode documentary series about thoroughbred horse racing later this month. 

Race for the Crown follows horse owners and jockeys over the course of a Grade I stakes racing season, with a number of scenes likely featuring the Saratoga Race Course (the track could be seen several times in the show’s trailer).

The series is produced by Box to Box Films, the company responsible for the Netflix sports docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive, Break Point, and Full Swing. Box to Box’s signature style includes dramatic, behind-the-scenes looks at sports that are somewhat off the radar of mainstream culture (at least compared to football, baseball, and basketball). Its series about Formula 1 autoracing, Drive to Survive, has been widely credited with increasing the sport’s popularity in the United States. Perhaps Race for the Crown will provide a similar boost to horse racing.

A number of jockeys well-known to Saratoga Race Course regulars will be featured in the docuseries, including Johnny Velazquez (who is the all-time leading rider at Saratoga), Brian Hernandez Jr., Irad Ortiz Jr., Flavien Prat, José Ortiz, and Katie Davis.

MacKenzie Zarzycki, Discover Saratoga’s vice president of marketing and communications, told Saratoga TODAY that she’d heard a Netflix crew was in town last summer but wasn’t sure exactly what was filmed.

“It’s very cool because a lot of the people in the series, the trainers, the jockeys, the owners, they come to Saratoga. So in one way or another, I feel like this is huge for us,” Zarzycki said.

According to a Netflix press release, the show will also feature “colorful and controversial characters — including billionaire business tycoons and horse-doping trainers — which leads to plenty of intense rivalries fueled by million-dollar investments and insatiable appetites for glory.”

All six episodes of Race for the Crown will be released on April 22.

Post Views: 10