NYRA And Woodbine Create Empire Trillium Series

[Wandering Eyes]

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and Woodbine Entertainment have joined forces to create the Empire Trillium Series, a 14-race program of stakes races restricted to horses foaled in New York or Canada worth $3.2 million in total purses, the pair announced Tuesday.

The Empire Trillium Series will begin at the new and reimagined Belmont Park with eight stakes to be contested between December 2026 and February 2027 on the one-mile Tapeta course.

“NYRA looks forward to partnering with Woodbine Entertainment in this unique venture to create additional black type opportunities for owners and breeders on both sides of the border and to drive further interest in the inaugural winter meet at the new Belmont Park,” said Rob MacLennan, NYRA's Racing Secretary.

The Empire Trillium Series will then head north to Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, with a further six stakes–four of which are to be contested on Tapeta and two on turf–to be held between April and July in 2027.

“Woodbine is excited to partner with NYRA on this new racing series that creates opportunities for not just our racetracks, but for those that invest in the racing programs in New York and Canada,” said Tim Lawson, Vice-President of Thoroughbred Racing for Woodbine. “It's important that we be innovative and look to try new things, and we're optimistic the Empire Trillium Series will generate positive results for everyone involved.”

The marquee events of the series at Belmont Park will be held in late January with the inaugural editions of the $300,000 Long Island Derby and Oaks, which will serve as the middle leg of the New York segment of the series. The remaining six races in the series at Belmont Park will all be run for foals of 2024 with purses of  $200,000 each.

Four of those races will comprise the inaugural Empire Trillium opening day, when a sprint and route race for each sex will be run on the last Saturday of 2026. The final two races will be sprints, one for each sex run in late February.

“The Empire Trillium Series represents a meaningful step forward in strengthening regional breeding programs across borders while creating new racing opportunities for New York-breds and Canadian-breds alike,” said Najja Thompson, Executive Director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. (NYTB). “We commend NYRA and Woodbine for their collaborative vision, and NYTB is proud to support an initiative that showcases the quality, depth, and competitiveness of our respective programs on an international stage.”

Woodbine Racetrack will then host six races for 3-year-olds and up, including four $200,000 events comprised of six-furlong sprints for both boys and girls on Tapeta during Spring 2027, followed by seven-furlong sprints on Tapeta in the same categories in July 2027. The Woodbine Racetrack-based races are headlined in June 2027 by a pair of $300,000 events, one each for older boys and girls, at one-mile on the world-famous E.P. Taylor Turf Course.

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