NYRA wants to run next two Belmont Stakes at Saratoga; distance change expected
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association wants to hold the next two runnings of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, the company’s president said Sunday.
“If things go according to how we’re planning, right now that is the plan,” said Dave O’Rourke, NYRA president and CEO. “Ideally, the ’26 Belmont Stakes will be at Belmont. The building might not be completely fitted out, but the tracks will be way ahead of schedule.”
Earlier this year, NYRA said with the renovation of Belmont Park taking place, it wanted to hold the 2025 Belmont Stakes in Saratoga. But with the renovation project at Belmont well under way, O’Rourke said he would prefer not to hold racing at Belmont Park until the project is virtually complete, presumably in June 2026.
“By not going back to Belmont next spring, it allows Glen [Kozak, vice president of operations/capital projects] to not stop the process of redoing and building,” O’Rourke said. “It allows the tracks to get done quicker and allows the grass a lot of time to take hold. From a surfaces position, we’ll be in a great spot.”
As part of NYRA’s project at Belmont Park, both turf courses and the main track are being entirely renovated. Additionally, a fourth surface – a one-mile Tapeta track – is being installed inside the inner turf course.
The project also calls for the current grandstand to be knocked down and a new, smaller one built. NYRA has not yet presented its plans to the Franchise Oversight Board, but is expected to do so sometime in September.
O’Rourke said if NYRA didn’t get state approvals or “something potentially out of our control” were to happen, then the Belmont Stakes could be held at Belmont Park in 2024.
Once NYRA submits its renovations plans, the FOB has 60 days to review them, making it possible that an official announcement on holding the 2024 Belmont in Saratoga could come later this fall.
The 2024 Belmont Stakes would be held on June 8. It is not clear how many racing days prior to the Belmont would be held at Saratoga. The plan would be, though, to return to Aqueduct before the traditional start of the 40-day Saratoga meet on July 11.
“The length of any Belmont Stakes Racing Festival held at Saratoga Race Course has not yet been determined,” NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna said. “NYRA has no plans to move away from the traditional date of the Belmont Stakes no matter where the event is held.”
A Belmont Stakes at Saratoga would likely mean the race will be run at 1 1/4 miles, not 1 1/2 miles. Starting a 1 1/2-mile race in the middle of the far turn is not something NYRA wants to do, O’Rouke said. In 2020, when the COVID pandemic impacted everything, the Belmont Stakes was run at 1 1/8 miles and that year was the first leg of the Triple Crown, which spanned 15 weeks from June 20 through Oct. 3.
In her state budget passed in May, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a $455 million loan to NYRA for the Belmont renovation project.
Since racing ended at Belmont on July 9, the track’s inner turf course has been torn out as well as related infrastructure – drainage, Teletimer, video board, and high voltage.
The base for the synthetic surface is more than 60 percent installed. A mountain of Tapeta currently sits in one of the clubhouse parking lots.
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The next phase of the of Belmont project is the installation of new drainage systems for all four surfaces.
The excavation for a horse tunnel that leads to the Tapeta track has begun, with the laying of the foundation to begin later this month. It is expected that NYRA will permit training over Belmont’s main track until early November.
As far as the grandstand goes, O’Rourke estimated the abatement and demolition of the current structure would take approximately nine months.
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