Purses Increase for Belmont Stakes Festival at Saratoga

The New York Racing Association announced Jan. 24 the stakes schedule for the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival to be held at Saratoga Race Course June 6-9. The move to Saratoga is due to ongoing construction at Belmont Park.

Highlighted by the 156th edition of the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 8, the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will include 23 stakes races with purses totaling $10.1 million, the highest purse levels and number of stakes offered since the launch of the multi-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival in 2014. 

NYRA has increased the purse of the Belmont Stakes from $1.5 million to $2 million in 2024, the first significant increase since 2014.

Unless the purse for the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course is similarly hiked, the Belmont will be the second-richest race of the Triple Crown this year, trailing the $5 million Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs. The May 4 Kentucky Derby is the first leg of the Triple Crown, followed two weeks later by the Preakness, and then in another three weeks by the Belmont. 

The 2024 Belmont Stakes will be contested at 1 1/4 miles in 2024 rather than the traditional 1 1/2 miles due to the configuration of Saratoga's main track. 

In addition, NYRA has increased the purse of the Manhattan Stakes (G1T) from $750,000 to $1 million and boosted the New York Stakes (G1T) from $600,000 to $750,000. As a result, the total purses offered at the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will exceed $10 million for the first time.

NYRA has also boosted the purse of the Poker Stakes (G3T) from $200,000 to $350,000 and added $100,000 to the purses of the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1), the Jaipur Stakes (G1T), and the True North Stakes (G2). Accordingly, the Woody Stephens and Jaipur will offer a purse of $500,000, with the True North rising to $350,000.

Differences between Saratoga Race Course's and Belmont Park's circumference will require slight distance adjustments to a number of races scheduled for the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. On the main track, four races previously run at a one-turn 1 1/16-miles on the main track—the Acorn Stakes (G1), Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1), Commentator Stakes, and Critical Eye Stakes—will be run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns. 

On the turf, the Manhattan and New York will be contested at 1 3/16 miles rather than the customary 1 1/4 miles. The Jaipur and $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes (G2T), which saw an upgrade from grade 3 status last year, will each be run at 5 1/2 furlongs rather than the customary six furlongs.

A blockbuster Belmont Stakes Day at Saratoga awaits June 8 with a program to include six grade 1 events among nine stakes races in total, culminating with the Belmont Stakes and featuring three Breeders' Cup Challenge Series qualifiers:  $1 million Metropolitan Handicap (G1) for 3-year-olds and up; the $500,000 Ogden Phipps Stakes for older fillies and mares; and the Jaipur for 3-year-olds and up. In addition, the prestigious and historic grade 1 races on Belmont Stakes Day will include the $1 million Manhattan for older horses and the seven-furlong $500,000 Woody Stephens for sophomores.

The 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga will conclude June 9 when New York-breds take center stage for a special New York Showcase Day featuring six stakes exclusively for New York-breds. 

For the complete Belmont Stakes Racing Festival stakes schedule, visit BelmontStakes.com/schedule.