Belmont Park: NYRA raises purses across the board for 2026-27 winter meet

The New York Racing Association will raise purses across the board for the 2026-27 winter meet, with the most significant increases being offered to New York-breds, according to a schedule released Monday by the company.

Purses for New York-bred maiden special weight races will increase 13.33 percent from $75,000 last winter to $85,000 this winter. A similar $10,000 increase will be in play for statebred first- and second-level allowance races, which will now be worth $87,000 and $89,000, respectively.

Purses for New York-breds and open company are now equal as open-company races got a smaller percentage boost. Purses for open-company maiden races increased $5,000, while first- and second-level allowance purses increased by $4,000 and $3,000, respectively, compared to last winter.

There also are purse increases for varying New York-bred maiden-claiming levels with $50,000 claimers running for $51,000, $40,000 claimers running for $46,000, and $20,000 claimers running for $36,000, the latter up from $30,000 last winter.

The winter meet, which will be run exclusively on Tapeta, begins Dec. 10 and runs through an unspecified date in mid-to-late March. Though NYRA has released its winter stakes schedule through March 14, 2027, it has not finalized specific racing dates for 2027. Earlier this year, NYRA announced it had reached a two-year agreement with horsemen on race dates increasing to 203 in 2027 from 196 in 2026.

“NYRA is making a significant investment in improving its winter racing program,” Andrew Offerman, NYRA senior vice president of racing and operations, said in a press release. “We believe the Tapeta surface will draw interest from a wide variety of stables seeking winter racing opportunities throughout the region and that these purse increases in conjunction with the formation of the Big Apple Bonus program will provide an opportunity for a new era of winter racing to succeed in New York.”

The aforementioned Big Apple Bonus provides as much as $8,500 in awards per horse shipping or relocating to Belmont Park from other racing jurisdictions.