Belmont Park reopens with four racing surfaces

After a three-year redevelopment project, Belmont Park resumes live racing on Friday with a nine-race card highlighted by Japan’s superstar Forever Young in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1). The first post is at 1:30 p.m. ET.

The new grandstand, with its sleek, modern design and enlarged paddock, commands attention for fans onsite, but bettors everywhere will be especially interested in the complex’s four racing surfaces – the main dirt track, two turf courses, and now a Tapeta track. 

The 1 1/2-mile dirt oval has been revamped, along with both turf courses, the Widener, as well as the inner turf. The one-mile Tapeta track will accommodate morning training, absorb off-the-turf races, and serve as the racing surface for the winter meet now that Aqueduct is no more.

Belmont’s fall meet features a stakes schedule worth more than $17.7 million, including seven Breeders’ Cup Challenge events. Friday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup is itself a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). The Sept. 26 Flower Bowl (G2) and Vosburgh (G3) carry perks for the Filly & Mare Turf (G1) and Sprint (G1), respectively. 

The Oct. 3 card offers four “Win and You’re In” races for Breeders’ Cup Future Stars Friday – the Champagne (G1) for the Juvenile (G1), the Futurity (G3) for the Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1), the Pilgrim (G2) for the Juvenile Turf (G1), and the Miss Grillo (G2) for the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).

The Challenge events also whet the appetite for the return of the Breeders’ Cup to Belmont Park in 2027. The championships were last held at the historic Elmont, New York, facility in 2005. 

The Belmont S. (G1) is also due to return to its home on June 5, 2027, after a three-year stint at Saratoga. The Spa has also hosted the Jockey Club Gold Cup since 2021, so the 1 1/4-mile prize is back at Belmont for the first time in six years. 

Other stakes-laden weekends during the fall include the Oct. 24 Empire Showcase Day for New York-breds; a slate of stakes on Nov. 28 led by the Man o’ War (G2), Jockey Club Derby (G2), and Jockey Club Oaks (G3); and Cigar Mile Day on Dec. 5, also encompassing the Remsen (G2) on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and the Demoiselle (G2) on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

The fall meet runs through Dec. 6, typically on a Thursday-through-Sunday basis (except for Thanksgiving). 

The winter meet is scheduled to begin Dec. 10. Look for a new initiative, the Empire Trillium Series, that pits New York-breds against Canadian-breds. The advent of Belmont’s Tapeta track opens a fresh winter option for horses accustomed to the same flavor of the all-weather at Woodbine.