Belmont Park spring/summer stakes return to near 2019 levels

The New York Racing Association will offer 59 stakes -- 11 of which are Grade 1s -- worth a total of $16.95 million at the 2021 Belmont Park spring/summer meeting, the company announced Friday afternoon.

The 48-day Belmont spring/summer meet runs from April 22 through July 11.

The stakes schedule is very similar to the 2019 schedule and, as usual, is topped by the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, to be run on June 5. That day’s card consists of nine stakes, though five Grade 1 events on that program incurred purse cuts from 2019 levels. The Manhattan for males on turf at 1 1/4 miles, is now worth $750,000, down from $1 million in 2019. Races receiving $200,000 purse cuts were the Metropolitan Handicap (now $1 million), and the Ogden Phipps, Acorn, and Just a Game, all now worth $500,000. The Woody Stephens for 3-year-old sprinters retained its $400,000 purse. However, the $150,000 Easy Goer Stakes, a race for 3-year-olds, typically run on the Belmont undercard, will not be run this year.

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The three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival consists of 17 stakes from June 3 through June 5. The June 3 card consists of the Grade 2, $200,000 Intercontinental, the Grade 3, $200,000 Wonder Again and the $150,000 Astoria Stakes.

The June 4 card is topped by the $700,000 New York Stakes for fillies and mares on turf. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, the New York was scheduled to get a bump from $600,000 to $1 million as part of a 58-stakes program that had purses worth $18.65 million. Due to the pandemic and a loss of 43 days of racing on this circuit from mid-March through May, the majority of Grade 1 stakes run last year at NYRA were worth $250,000.

Should a previous winner of the Belmont Oaks, Saratoga Oaks, or Jockey Club Oaks win the New York, they will earn their owner a $315,000 bonus and their trainer a bonus of $35,000.

The June 4 card also includes the Grade 2, $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup, the Grade 2, $300,000 True North, the Grade 3, $300,000 Bed o’ Roses, and the $150,000 Tremont.

The Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Derby, the Grade 1, $700,000 Belmont Oaks, and the Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride Stakes will be part of a Stars and Stripes Card on July 10.

NYRA has altered its racing schedule slightly to include a Monday July 5 card that will be topped by the $250,000 Dwyer Stakes for 3-year-olds. To accommodate card, there will not be racing July 8.