Belmont and Aqueduct meets lose race dates to COVID-19 pandemic

The New York Racing Association will cut race days at both the Belmont and Aqueduct fall meets due to the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said this week.

On Wednesday, NYRA announced that the Belmont Park fall schedule will consist of 27 days, eight fewer than intended. The meet will begin Sept. 18 – a week later than planned – and run through Nov. 1, with racing conducted mostly four days a week. NYRA did not yet announce a schedule for the Aqueduct fall season.

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NYRA made significant purse cuts to its Belmont fall stakes schedule and will offer 38 stakes worth $5.58 million in purse money, down from 45 stakes worth $11.525 million at the 2019 fall meet.

About 38 percent of purses at NYRA tracks are funded through revenue from the Resorts World casino adjacent to Aqueduct. That casino has been closed since mid-March and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has yet to say when it will reopen.

On Tuesday, David O’Rourke, NYRA’s CEO and president, told the state’s Franchise Oversight Board that the association has reached an agreement with horsemen and breeders to reduce days at the upcoming fall meets at Belmont and Aqueduct in order to preserve average purse levels. Purses are currently being funded from handle and a purse cushion developed over several years.

“We’re reducing days, trying to keep the continuity of the program and keep the purse account healthy,” O’Rourke said. “Once we get through that . . . we’ll figure out what we’ll do for the Aqueduct winter. It’s just too early for us to lay out what that schedule will look like. Hopefully, it’s normal. I’m still looking for the definition of normal.”

“We always hate losing dates,” said Joe Appelbaum, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “We understand in the time of COVID-19 that we need to trim a little bit here, a little bit there to keep the ship moving and continue to race.”

The Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup will be worth $250,000, down from $750,000 a year ago. The Jockey Club Gold Cup, to be run Oct. 10, is one of seven races at Belmont that offer a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup. That same Oct. 10 card will include three other Grade 1 races, the Flower Bowl, Champagne, and Frizette, each worth $250,000 and each offering a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup.

A pair of Grade 1, $250,000 grass stakes, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/2 miles, and the Belmont Derby Invitational for 3-year-olds at 1 1/4 miles – a Breeders’ Cup challenge race for the Turf – head the Oct. 3 card, which also includes the Gallant Bloom and Kelso handicaps and the Pilgrim Stakes.

In May, the North American Graded Stakes Committee announced that Grade 1 stakes will now have a minimum purse requirement of $250,000, down from $300,000, and Grade 2 races will have a minimum purse requirement of $150,000, down from $200,000.

Among the usual stakes that won’t be run this fall are the Pebbles, Ashley T. Cole, and John Hettinger.

“This new fall schedule is the result of a collaborative effort between NYRA, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and the New York Thoroughbred Breeders to modify our racing calendar in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the industry,” O’Rourke said in a press release. “I’d like to thank the horsemen and breeders for their common-sense approach to solving the challenges brought about by this unprecedented public health crisis.”

In the spring, NYRA lost 43 days – 19 at Aqueduct and 24 at Belmont – as a result of the pandemic.