The $2 million Belmont Stakes, the final leg of racing’s Triple Crown, will be the centerpiece of a five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival held June 3-7 at Saratoga that will offer 25 stakes worth $11.075 million, the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday.
The Belmont, five other Grade 1 stakes, and the Grade 3 True North will be held on June 6. This is the third and expected to be final year that the Belmont will be held in Saratoga and run at 1 1/4 miles. The renovated Belmont Park is scheduled to open in September with the Belmont Stakes and its supporting stakes expected to return to the Elmont, N.Y., track in 2027.
That June 6 card will include the Grade 1 Just a Game, which was held on Friday of Belmont week last year. The other Grade 1s offered that day include the $1 million Metropolitan Handicap, $1 million Manhattan, the $500,000 Woody Stephens, and the $500,000 Jaipur. The seven stakes offered on that card is one fewer than last year, as NYRA shifted a few stakes around that week.
The race week will kick off June 3 with six stakes restricted to New York-breds plus the Beverly Steinman Steeplechase.
The June 4 card will include the Belmont Gold Cup and Intercontinental – Grade 2, $250,000 turf stakes scheduled for 2 miles and 5 1/2 furlongs, respectively – as well as the Grade 3, $300,000 Pennine Ridge and $175,000 Jersey Girl Stakes. The Intercontinental, a turf sprint stakes for females, and Jersey Girl, a dirt sprint stakes for 3-year-old fillies, received purse increases of $50,000 and $25,000, respectively.
The Grade 1 New York Stakes for females at 1 1/4 miles on turf tops the June 5 card, which also includes the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 1, $500,000 Ogden Phipps for older females, the Grade 2, $300,000 Bed o’ Roses for older female dirt sprinters, and the Grade 2, $300,000 Wonder Again for 3-year-old fillies on turf.
The Grade 3, $300,000 Poker, a one-mile race for males on turf, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Soaring Softly, a sprint turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies which received a $25,000 purse bump, highlight the June 7 card.
The Tremont and Astoria, stakes for 2-year-olds and 2-year-old fillies, respectively, were furloughed for 2026.
There will be 16 stakes worth $2.65 million offered during the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet which runs from April 30-June 28.
The Grade 2 Man o’ War, held during the spring or summer from 2008-25, will be moved to the Belmont Park fall meet.
The May 3 card will feature a trio of Grade 3, $175,000 stakes – the Westchester, Vagrancy and Beaugay – as well as the listed License Fee. The May 9 card includes the Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian; Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan; Grade 3, $175,000 John A. Nerud; and the $150,000 Take the A Train Stakes.
The $150,000 John Hettinger Stakes, a New York-bred turf sprint, will be run on June 28, the final day of racing at Aqueduct.
The Wilton Stakes, which was held at this meet last year, was furloughed for 2026.
Tickets for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival were scheduled to go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. at Belmontstakes.com.
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