Despite Rain, O'Rourke Sees Sunshine in Spa Numbers

A year ago, it was a Belmont Stakes (G1) week like no other for New York Racing Association president and CEO Dave O'Rourke and his team.

It was, after all, the first Belmont at Saratoga Race Course as Belmont Park had been shuttered and was in the midst of being rebuilt.

This year, it was also a rather unique Belmont Stakes experience for NYRA at the Spa, though for a completely different and more aggravating reason.

Incessant rain early on Belmont Stakes day forced NYRA to scrap all of the turf races on the June 7 card at the Spa, which moved five races to the dirt. One of them, the Wonder Again Stakes (G3), went off with just three starters. 

Plus, with two grade 1 turf stakes on the card, those races were postponed a day until June 8 when there would be better conditions. But that move forced the cancellation of the 9th and 12th races on the 14-race card, also wiping out all of the numerous horizontal sequence bets that involved them. 

Though the loss of the two races prevented NYRA from matching or exceeding the $120 million wagered on the 2024 Belmont Stakes card, the program nevertheless generated a strong $101.8 million in wagering. Attendance was 46,243 as opposed to a capped 50,000 in 2024.

"I am really proud of what the team pulled off. It was amazing that we had $101 million in wagering," O'Rourke said. "I had it handicapped at $80 million with all the changes."

The decision NYRA made to drop turf racing on its biggest day of the year wasn't easy. But it was the right one and it gave the Sunday card the added glamour of two grade 1 stakes, the Jaipur Stakes (G1T) and the Manhattan Stakes (G1T).

"If you are going to have the Belmont at Saratoga, challenging weather is part of the equation," O'Rourke said. "It wasn't looking great at 7 in the morning (on Saturday), but the sun came out. Hats off to the team. Communications to the racing office to the media group. They had to pivot and we had to do it succinctly and make decisions. Some of these are decisions you do not want to make, but you have to. We took a few races off the turf. It's regrettable but there's potentially 50,000 people coming out for the day. It's entertainment so we are trying to balance all those factors and I think the group really hit the nail on the head with working with what they had. By 3 o'clock the sun was out and everyone was having a fun time."

Ironically, the Belmont Stakes, the final jewel in the Triple Crown, was contested on a dry track when the field broke from the starting gate at 7:09 p.m. and Sovereignty  recorded a three-length win.

Rain also wreaked havoc with the latter half of the June 6 card. Of the final six races, one was switched from turf to dirt and three were contested on sloppy surfaces. Attendance was 19,774, which was down from 27,529 a year earlier. But wagering rose slightly from $38.5 million in 2024 to $40 million this year.

"When people are looking outside and it's raining and pouring, they can now watch our races on a major television broadcast and it's done at a quality level," O'Rourke said. "So there are different ways to consume our product and we're expanding on that. I think with these big days with our sportsbook partners, and we haven't delved into the metrics yet, you will see a broadening appeal to a wider and growing base of casual sports fans."

Though in the past O'Rourke had mentioned the possibility of adding an all-weather surface at Saratoga, he said "nothing even remotely immediate" is happening on that front.

This year marked an expansion of an extra day at the Spa, with Wednesday added to the previous Thursday through Sunday schedule for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The paid attendance checked in at 14,011 June 4 with a total handle of $13.7 million and O'Rourke was pleased with the additional day.

"I thought it was good with the Wednesday and Sunday bookends," he said. "Wednesday we had the New York State-bred day which was a nice way to kick it off. It was a soft launch and the numbers were as expected. Then (Sunday), we're expecting a local crowd after a big event feel Saturday. Will it look like this when we are downstate with a specific five days with a specific theme to it? Yeah, possibly."

As for next year, with Belmont Park scheduled to re-open in September of 2026, the Belmont Stakes will most likely be contested at Saratoga for a third and final year with an announcement of next year's site expected soon.