Stakes Schedule for Belmont Park Spring/Summer Meet Announced

[Wandering Eyes]

Live racing, to be conducted without spectators, will return on Wednesday, June 3, at Belmont Park.

Following the five-day opening week, live racing throughout the 25-day Belmont spring/summer meet will be conducted Thursday through Sunday, with a first post time of 1:15 p.m. Eastern. The spring/summer meet will conclude on Sunday, July 12.

A condensed stakes schedule for the spring/summer meet will feature 40 total stakes races worth $7 million, including 22 graded stakes, beginning on June 3 with the GIII Beaugay S.

The 152nd renewal of the GI $1-million Belmont S. will take place on Saturday, June 20, as the first leg of the Triple Crown series, a historic first for the crown jewel of Thoroughbred racing. Traditionally run at 1 1/2-miles, this year’s edition of the Belmont S. will be contested at nine furlongs and broadcast live on NBC.

The Belmont spring/summer meet, originally scheduled for 51 days from Apr. 24 through July 12, will offer at least one stakes race each day and is bolstered by nine Grade I races and four Breeders’ Cup Win & You’re In qualifiers.

Absent from the stakes schedule are the GI Belmont Derby Invitational and the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational, the opening legs of the Turf Triple Series implemented by NYRA last year as the turf equivalent of the Triple Crown series. The Turf Triple Series will be run in 2020 and an announcement regarding dates will be made in the coming weeks.

Ten $80,000 overnight stakes races, along with eight stakes restricted to New York-bred horses worth a combined $800,000, will support local horsemen as part of a condition book to be available later today.

NYRA has made necessary adjustments to the purse structure to account for the absence of VLT monies as a result of continued statewide casino closures.

“Without the casino operating and without on-track attendance, we’ve had to make significant purse cuts. The purse cuts to the stakes schedule are much more dramatic than the overnight schedule and we’ve tried to help the everyday horsemen as much as possible through these trying times by writing a rich and varied condition book, offering a daily opportunity for black type, that will support horsemen at all levels of the game,” said Martin Panza, NYRA’s Senior Vice President of Racing Operations.

The GI Runhappy Carter H., a seven-furlong sprint for 4-year-olds and upward originally scheduled for Apr. 4 at Aqueduct, will kick off the first of five consecutive Saturdays of Grade I races at Belmont Park.

The lucrative June 6 card will also include the GII Fort Marcy, the GIII Westchester; and the GIII Intercontinental.

On Saturday, June 13, the GI Ogden Phipps will offer a berth to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Belmont S. Day June 20 will feature six graded races including four Grade I events led by the historic Belmont S., which will offer 150-60-30-15 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

Rounding out the Grade I entertainment on Belmont Stakes Day are the Acorn, the Woody Stephens presented by Claiborne Farm, and the Jaipur, presented by America’s Best Racing.

The Grade I action continues on Saturday, June 27, with four graded events led by the GI Just a Game. The card is bolstered by the GII New York; the GII True North; and the GIII Vagrancy.

The one-mile GI $500,000 Runhappy Metropolitan now open to 3-year-olds and up, offers a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, to headline an Independence Day card offering five graded stakes on Saturday, July 4. Also featured is the GI Manhattan, GII Suburban, GIII Poker and the GIII Victory Ride.

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