Jockey Club Gold Cup will help usher in new era at Belmont
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The Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup for older males – a race that potentially could attract champions Sovereignty and Forever Young – will christen the new Belmont Park when the track opens on Sept. 18.
The Gold Cup, which had been run at Saratoga since 2021 and in late September or early October at Belmont prior to that, is the first of 72 stakes worth $17.7 million to be offered at the Belmont fall meet which runs through Dec. 6, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday. Belmont Park has not conducted racing since July 2023 and has not had a fall meet since 2021.
The positioning of the Gold Cup to this spot on the calendar makes it six weeks out from the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which this year will be held at Keeneland on Oct. 31. In 2027, the Breeders’ Cup will be held at Belmont Park on Oct. 29-30.
The hope this year is the Jockey Club Gold Cup, run at 1 1/4 miles, attracts at the very least Sovereignty, the 2025 Horse of the Year and 3-year-old champion, and Forever Young, the 2025 BC Classic winner and older male dirt champion. The latter’s connections have mentioned the Jockey Club or a turf race in Europe as potential fall targets.
The NYRA has secured a one-hour broadcast window on national Fox for opening day. Since the new building won’t be completely done by September, attendance will be capped at 6,000 fans as only the first two floors will be fully operational.
The fall stakes schedule has 42 turf stakes, including the return of the Grade 2 Flower Bowl for fillies and mares to Belmont and a return of that race to 1 1/4 miles. It had been run at Saratoga since 2021 and at 1 3/8 miles. The $500,000 Flower Bowl will be part of a Sept. 26 card that includes the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, the Grade 3, $250,000 Vosburgh – a $50,000 increase over last year, and the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom.
The Grade 2 Man o’ War, previously run in the spring, has been moved to Nov. 28. That race had its purse increased by $100,000 to $500,000. It shares billing with the Grade 2 Jockey Club Derby and Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks. Those two races have each been upped to $500,000 and are now run at 1 5/16 miles, shortened from 1 3/8.
Also carded for Nov. 28 are two stallion stakes for progeny of New York-sired juveniles, the Great White Way for males and the Fifth Avenue division fillies. Those races, which had been worth $500,000 since 2019, each had their purses reduced to $300,000.
NYRA has created a few new turf stakes, including the New York Filly and Mare Turf Sprint Championship, the Bricks and Mortar for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs, and the Casa Creed for 3-year-olds and up at seven furlongs. The Grade 3, $200,000 Manila Stakes, for 3-year-olds at one mile run last July in Saratoga, is now scheduled for Nov. 22. The Lure, a restricted turf stakes not held in 2025, is now scheduled for Nov. 29.
The Grade 2 Brooklyn for older males at 1 1/2 miles on dirt and typically run in the spring or summer but not run in 2025, is scheduled for Dec. 5. That card features five stakes, topped by the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile.
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