After 118 Dates at the Big A, Racing Returns to Belmont

In some ways, the first day of racing at the spring/summer meet at Belmont Park can be likened to the opening day of the Major League Baseball season.

It's a sure sign that spring has arrived and that the eagerly-awaited start of summer fun is drawing ever closer.

Yet when Belmont opens May 4 for its 118th year, the excitement and anticipation will be increased a notch.

It's been about 10 months since the last time the home of the Belmont Stakes (G1) opened its doors, a gap extended by about four months from its usual time frame due to the redevelopment and construction work at the Elmont, N.Y., facility that caused a shift of Belmont's fall meet to Aqueduct Racetrack.

That gave birth to last year's Belmont at the Big A meet, but beginning Thursday, after 118 days of racing at Aqueduct, it will be Belmont back at Beautiful Belmont Park. 

"We're excited to be back at Belmont," New York Racing Association CEO and president Dave O'Rourke said. "We've been at Aqueduct for a while. It's normally a long stretch, but this has been exceptionally long. I've never experienced being here through the fall. So, the change in scenery will be nice. It's always great to be back on the grass there. The turf looks good. There's a lot to look forward to, including an interesting and fun Triple Crown season."

While racing is a year-round business at NYRA, the opening of Belmont Park ushers in an unmistakable uptick in the quality of racing. Champions and graded stakes winners fill the crowded backstretch with more horses racing from the marquee stables of Chad Brown—the meet's top trainer for the last seven years, Todd Pletcher, Christophe Clement, and Bill Mott. 

After offering just one grade 1 stakes in the first four months of 2023, there will be 12 at the meet, including nine of them alone during the June 8-10 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival that will culminate with the final leg of the Triple Crown, the 155th Belmont Stakes on June 10. The blockbuster Belmont Stakes card will feature six of those grade 1s.

A total of 54 stakes will be contested with a value of $15.57 million.

A collection of the nation's best riders, topped by Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose Ortiz, Joel Rosario, Flavien Prat, John Velazquez, and Javier Castellano, will take up residency in Belmont's star-studded jockey's room.

Those dreary days of winter at the Big A have become a distant memory.

"Opening day of the baseball season is a good analogy for it," O'Rourke said about Thursday's first card. "It definitely feels that way. It's the kickoff of our season. It's Kentucky Derby (G1) week. It's when the excitement kicks up and our sport goes center stage."

Trainer Linda Rice could be forgiven if she wished the Aqueduct meet continued for another month or two. She swept the three training titles at the Aqueduct fall, winter, and spring meets. Yet she's among those eager to avoid traffic jams on the Belt Parkway and simply walk her horses from their barn to the racetrack.

"Belmont is a beautiful facility. I Iove it there. The paddock. I love the old tree and the history that goes along with it. We weren't there in the fall so I think everyone is a little overdue to get back," said Rice, who posted a combined 74 wins during the eight months of racing at Aqueduct. "Though Aqueduct has been good to me, when you're at Belmont, you're looking forward to Saratoga. You know it's coming. There's so much excitement about the Belmont Stakes and that whole card and then there's the July 4th holiday card and we're off to Saratoga. It's great stuff."

Jockey Manny Franco also enjoyed the lengthy stay at the Big A, winning the winter and spring riding titles. Though he will face increased competition for top mounts at Belmont, the 28-year-old rider is filled with confidence after taking the spring meet crown with 37 wins, more than double the total of runner-up Jose Ortiz (16).

"I have the momentum on my side," Franco said. "I'm happy to be back at Belmont, but I have to keep working hard every day. It's a beautiful track and I love riding there. It's a big track, different than Aqueduct. We have more space and we have to ride with more patience. There's new and better horses and that's what we're here for. I am looking forward to it."

From a business standpoint, O'Rourke said there should be a spark from the impact of the Belmont brand.

"Belmont is a massively strong brand and we believe that brand is only going to get more powerful as we develop the brick and mortar side of the new building," O'Rourke said.

In terms of the future, the optimism generated by the shift to Belmont is dwarfed by the excitement from earlier this week when the New York state legislature gave a green light to the $455 million loan that will allow NYRA to renovate the grandstand and give the plant its first major facelift since the "new" Belmont Park was unveiled in 1968.

"The passing of the (loan by the state legislature) has given us the road map for the funding for the new Belmont. We're looking at roughly the next three years of continued development at Belmont," O'Rourke said. "It feels like we've been in a holding pattern for a few years now because we have been pushing the Belmont project. So, it feels like there's some light at the end of the tunnel. We know where we are going and we're excited about it. We're excited for New York racing. We have Saratoga which works so well as an eco-system for the town and the tourism and the historic nature of the racetrack but downstate requires something different. Led by our chairman, Marc Holliday, we're focused on the Belmont project 100%. So it's cool to go back to Belmont, but it's with an eye to the future."

Fans will not find much of a difference between the Belmont Park they last saw on July 10, 2022, and the one they will visit during the upcoming meet, until they look at the infield, where they will find considerably more dirt. The focal point of the construction that necessitated the fall closing primarily consisted of building a tunnel from backstretch parking areas to the infield that will not be open for public use at the meet. In addition, there's a much larger infield pond as NYRA is in the midst of replacing a decorative pond with one that will serve as an irrigation system for watering the turf courses.

Part of the outline for the impending construction of the synthetic track that is expected to begin after the meet's end can be seen. But otherwise, to see a major change in Belmont Park, someone would have to close their eyes and look several years into the future and envision a smaller but completely modernized facility with more and better amenities and rebuilt racing surfaces.

Until then, getting ready for summer with the start of a vibrant 40-day meet at Belmont Park will have to suffice for creating excitement among racing fans.

Belmont Park Notes

• Racing from Belmont Park will not be aired on FanDuelTV, leaving the "America's Day at the Races" show on FOX Sports channels as the lone television outlet. FanDuel TV does not have the rights to show races from Belmont and Saratoga Race Course. 
• The upcoming 155th Belmont Stakes will mark the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's spectacular 31-length romp to complete his sweep of the 1973 Triple Crown. As part of the ways NYRA will commemorate the anniversary on Belmont Stakes Day, it is planning to distribute a facsimile of that day's track program.
• Belmont's fall meet will once again be shifted to Aqueduct so that a tunnel from the infield to the grandstand side can be built along with the installation of a synthetic surface and a widening of the inner turf course
• Belmont Park will be open for live racing Thursdays through Sundays with a 1 p.m. post time. There will be twilight racing on Thursdays from May 11 through June 22 with post time at 3:05 p.m. Post time for the May 6 Kentucky Derby Day card is 12:20 p.m. with a noon start May 20 on Preakness Stakes (G1) Day.
• The 40-day meet ends July 9 with racing starting at Saratoga July 13.