Belmont Stakes Racing Festival

Twenty-five local nonprofit organizations will be provided with reserved picnic tables for each day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga June 6-9, the New York Racing Association announced Tuesday. The nonprofits primarily comprise those with the mission to deliver human services and provide direct assistance to individuals experiencing food insecurity, financial hardship, homelessness and mental and physical disability. Organizations were also selected for their support of veterans, families and children, and promotion of the arts. "NYRA is pleased to recognize the important role that nonprofit organizations play in...

The $150,000 G1 Beverly R. Steinman S., a 2 3/8-mile steeplechase event for older horses, will be held June 9 as part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course. The race is named for Beverly R. "Peggy" Steinman, who has successfully balanced decades of ownership in both the steeplechase and flat racing worlds with stars such as Dark  Equation, who captured the 2008 G1 New York Turf Writers Cup, and Colstar, a multiple graded stakes-winning filly who won more than $1 million on the flat. "The New...

Reserved tables in the Saratoga Race Course picnic paddock will be sold exclusively through a random drawing for Belmont Stakes Day on Saturday, June 8, the New York Racing Association, Inc. announced Thursday. As is the case during the 40-day summer meet, the vast majority of Saratoga's backyard picnic tables -- approximately 700 -- will be available on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Fans may enter the picnic paddock random drawing at BelmontStakes.com beginning Monday, Mar. 25. Approximately 100 picnic tables will be available...

Highlighted by the 156th edition of the GI Belmont S. on Saturday, June 8, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has revealed the stakes schedule for the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which will be held at Saratoga Race Course from Thursday, June 6 through Sunday, June 9. The 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will include 23 stakes races with purses totaling $10.1 million, the highest purse levels and number of stakes offered since the launch of the multi-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival in 2014. NYRA has increased the...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a job fair on Wednesday, Feb. 21 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET, the first in a series of events to support the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course, the association said in a release Thursday. The job fair will be held on the first floor of the 1863 Club at Saratoga Race Course. Interested applicants should enter through the Wright Street entrance (Gate 8) with parking available in the 1863 Club lot. "The 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing...

The official logo for the 2024 GI Belmont S. was unveiled by the New York Racing Association Wednesday. This year's Classic will be contested at Saratoga Race Course for the first time in order to allow for the uninterrupted construction of Belmont Park. This year's Belmont logo pays tribute to the history of Saratoga, home to an annual Thoroughbred race meet since 1863. The logo was developed by NYRA in collaboration with the creative team at Learfield. Highlighted by the 156th edition of the Belmont on Saturday, June 8, the...

It was a banner weekend for Godolphin homebreds during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Cody's Wish (Curlin) added another chapter to racing's feel-good story with a powerful, come-from-behind victory in the stallion-making GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. The GI Kentucky Oaks winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) validated her upset neck victory on the first Friday in May with a heart-stopping victory in the GI Acorn S. The up-and-coming Loved (Medaglia d'Oro)--a 4-year-old half-sister to MGISW and young Darley stallion Maxfield (Street Sense)--made it three straight...

Following significant improvement in air quality conditions throughout New York State, and in consultation with the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC), the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA)'s live racing program will resume at Belmont Park today at 12:50 p.m. ET, the organization said in a release Friday morning. Friday's 11-race card, which is highlighted by five graded stakes opens the 2023 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival after poor air quality forced the cancelation of Thursday's twilight racing program and the closure of Belmont and Saratoga Race Course for training....

ELMONT, NY - A pair of stakes races, led by the featured GII Wonder Again S. for 3-year-old fillies on grass, will raise the curtain on the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Thursday afternoon. Repole Stable's Spansive (Karakontie {Jpn}) will put her perfect two-for-two record on the line for Todd Pletcher while making her stakes debut in the eight-deep Wonder Again. Trainer Chad Brown will have three chances for his fifth Wonder Again win. He will saddle 5-2 morning-line favorite Revalita (Fr) (Recoletos {Fr}), a rallying second in the GII...

ELMONT, NY - With the rising sun attempting to make its way through hazy skies as air quality health advisories remain in effect throughout the New York City area due to the Canadian wildfires, eight of the nine GI Belmont Stakes runners were in action during the first hour of training on a cool Wednesday morning. Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) and Tapit Shoes (Tapit), both equipped with white bridles and NYRA's commemorative 50th Anniversary Secretariat Belmont S. saddle towels, made a favorable impression in their first day of training...

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) will feature a series of Secretariat-related fan giveaways and vintage artifacts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's historic 31-length victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from Thursday, June 8 to Saturday, June 10. The first 5,000 fans to pass through the main admission gates at Belmont Park Friday, June 9 will receive a commemorative poster of Secretariat crossing the finish line in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. The first 5,000 through the main admission gates Saturday, June 10...

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has not won the GI Ogden Phipps S. since 1996, the year the legendary Serena's Song (Rahy) got the job done when the race was contested as the Hempstead H. The 87-year-old will hope that streak comes to an end when he saddles 2022 GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Secret Oath (Arrogate) in this year's Phipps, one of nine elite-level races slated to take place during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The winner earns a spot in the field for the GI Breeders' Cup...