SARATOGA SPRINGS — It’s official: The 156th Belmont Stakes will be held at Saratoga Race Course next June.
Prepared and poised to bring the third leg of the Triple Crown to Saratoga during ongoing massive reconstruction of Belmont Park, the New York Racing Association received final approval for the move from the New York State Gaming Association this week, and Governor Kathy Hochul made the announcement on Wednesday.
Based on the Belmont Park construction schedule and NYRA’s desire to relocate the Belmont Stakes to Saratoga as opposed to Aqueduct Racetrack, Saratoga will serve as the venue for the Belmont in 2024.
"As part of the exciting modernization of Belmont Park, Saratoga now adds to its storied history by hosting the 3rd leg of the Triple Crown,” Hochul said in a press release. "It’s a win for horseracing and for the Capital Region to have the excitement and the ability to host the four-day Festival in June at America’s most historic track. As I said during the 2023 Saratoga Meet, ‘Let’s do it.’”
The announcement came as no surprise, based on NYRA's stated desire to run the Belmont at Saratoga, but the site move required the gaming commission's review and approval. NYRA also plans to run the Belmont at Saratoga in 2025, but would need to go through the approval process with the gaming commission again.
"Thanks to Governor Hochul’s support for a new and modernized Belmont Park, NYRA will soon be able to bring the Belmont Stakes to Upstate New York for the first time in history," NYRA president and CEO David O'Rourke said. "Beyond the excitement and energy around a Triple Crown event at the sport’s most beloved venue, the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course will generate important economic impact and drive tourism throughout the Capital Region. We are thrilled to add a new chapter to the story of thoroughbred racing in Saratoga Springs this June.”
Saratoga Springs City Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi said the Belmont will make a huge impact on the city economically. "It's like Travers weekend twice over," she said, referring to the biggest race weekend of the 40-day Saratoga Race Course meet that runs during the summer.
Prior Travers weekends have generated from a $500,000 to $1 million bump in sales tax during the month of August. It is also anticipated that the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga will bring a bump in hotel occupancy tax revenue.
The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga will be held from June 6-9, with the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 8 getting a purse boost for the first time since 2013, from $1.5 million to $2 million.
A total of 23 stakes worth a total of $9.7 million in purses will be offered during the four days, which will conclude with New York Showcase Day, featuring stakes restricted to New York-breds, on Sunday, June 9. That event is traditionally held at Belmont on Memorial Day.
"The Governor’s announcement that the Belmont Stakes, one of the sporting world’s premier international athletic events, will be held at the historic Saratoga Race Course in 2024 is thrilling news for Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, and the entire 44th Senate District and will undoubtedly be a major boon for tourism and the economy of our area,” State Senator Jim Tedisco said.
"I am thrilled to help welcome our Long Island neighbors and fellow thoroughbred racing fans from around the globe to Saratoga this June. It will be so exciting to have the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, here in our backyard, for the first time in Saratoga Race Course's 160 year history," Assemblymember Carrie Woerner said. "Recalling an old advertising slogan, Saratoga will definitely be 'thoroughly thoroughbred' this summer and I can't wait to be a part of it!"
Additional information and details on hospitality offerings, ticket packages and pricing for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course will be available in early 2024.
Racing on the NYRA circuit will return to Aqueduct after the Belmont at Saratoga and will return to Aqueduct again after the conclusion of the 40-day Saratoga meet on Labor Day, Sept. 2.
Pending approval by the American Graded Stakes Committee on Dec. 14, the Belmont at Saratoga will be run at a mile and a quarter. Saratoga isn’t configured to comfortably accommodate the traditional mile and a half of the Belmont, where that distance constitutes one full lap on the main track, but a mile and a quarter works at Saratoga for big races like the Travers and Alabama.
The Belmont Stakes annually is one of the most important and prestigious Thoroughbred racing spectacles in North America, much less the New York circuit.
The long-time site of the Belmont Stakes, Belmont Park in Elmont, Nassau County, is in the midst of a renovation, including the track surfaces themselves, but also the gigantic grandstand. NYRA has already begun work on the tracks, and the overall project calls for the grandstand to be torn down in the spring of 2024.
So by next June, Belmont won’t be capable of accommodating the 50,000 fans who attend the Belmont each year. Saratoga is the most desirable alternative, over Aqueduct, since the Spa can handle that kind of crowd, and gives NYRA an extra opportunity to showcase one of the most historic and popular sporting venues in the country.
In recent years, NYRA has limited paid admission at 50,000 not only for the Belmont Stakes, but for the two biggest attendance days at Saratoga, the Whitney and Travers. NYRA instituted that policy at Belmont two years ago due to the New York Islanders’ new UBS Arena gobbling up half of the backyard.
The Belmont is a Grade I race run on dirt and is restricted to 3-year-olds. It serves as the third leg of the Triple Crown, following the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and the Preakness at Pimlico. Only 13 horses have swept all three legs, most recently Justify in 2018 and American Pharoah in 2015.
Bringing the Belmont to Saratoga in 2024 would create a new set of challenges for both the local community and the racing community, even if it’s only for four days.
Although the Saratoga summer meet only runs for 40 live racing days from the middle of July to Labor Day, there is a population of horsemen and horses in town for much of the year, since the Oklahoma Training Track is open for training seven days a week from April to November.
The main track typically opens for training a week or so before the meet starts in July.
Staffing other segments of the venue, like food and drink service, ushers, security and mutuel clerks to handle 50,000 fans on a spot basis could present a challenge.
Lodging had created a tricky long-term planning puzzle for hotel managers, who are anticipating a huge influx of out-of-towners, including NYRA employees and TV crews, but now they can move forward with the knowledge that the Belmont will, in fact, be held here in June.
"Saratoga Race Course is an engine of our local economy and a source of immense civic pride," Saratoga Race Course Local Advisory Board Chair Joseph A. Torani said. "This year’s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival presents the opportunity to hold a world class event outside of the traditional summer racing season, which is incredibly exciting for this community. We thank Gov. Hochul for her consistent support of horse racing in Saratoga and throughout the state.”
"Saratoga County continues to grow and thrive because of world-class attractions like Saratoga Race Course," Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus said. "Governor Hochul has long championed Upstate New York as the ideal place to live, work and vacation. That’s exactly what racing fans will find here in Saratoga when they visit for the Belmont Stakes in June."
One potential twist that could ratchet up attention on a Belmont at the Spa would be if a Triple Crown was on the line for a horse in the race who had already won the Derby and Preakness.
The Belmont Stakes was first held in 1867 at the now-defunct Jerome Park in the Bronx and was run there until 1899 before moving to Morris Park, also in the Bronx, for the next 15 years.
Belmont Park was built in 1905 and has hosted the Belmont Stakes every year since except for 1963-67, when it was moved to Aqueduct while Belmont was rebuilt and expanded to its current 1.25 million square-foot incarnation. The new building will be about a quarter of the size of the old one.