The New York Racing Association increased purse values for 13 Grade 1 races that will be run during the 2009 season at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course.
Those 13 Grade 1 races will be worth $300,000 apiece and were included in a stakes schedule that was approved by NYRA’s board of directors at its monthly meeting on Wednesday. The schedule now awaits approval from the New York State Racing and Wagering Board.
NYRA’s 2009 stakes schedule features 177 stakes races worth a combined $34,765,000, of which $28,780,000 is for 113 graded stakes races. Next year’s NYRA stakes schedule includes 40 Grade 1, 41 Grade 2, and 32 Grade 3 races.
Saratoga will host a 36-day meet next year that begins on July 29 and concludes on September 7. The meet will feature at least one graded stakes race each Saturday. Five graded stakes will be run on August 29, including the $1-million Travers Stakes Presented by Shadwell Farm (G1).
Seven Grade 1 races at Saratoga received purse increases. They include the Go for Wand Handicap and the Test, NetJets King Bishop, Ballerina, Forego, Spinaway, and Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes.
The 141st running of the $1-million Belmont Stakes (G1), the final leg of the Triple Crown on June 6, highlights a 64-day spring/summer meet at Belmont Park that is slated to begin on April 29 and conclude on July 26. Three Grade 1 races that will be run during the Belmont spring/summer meet received purse increases—the Acorn, Mother Goose, and Prioress Stakes.
The $600,000 Shadwell Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on May 25 will be the first Grade 1 race run during Belmont’s spring/summer meeting. The Metropolitan Mile is New York’s traditional Memorial Day feature race.
Belmont Park’s 33-day fall championship meet opens on September 11 and concludes on October 25. Five Grade 1 races will be contested on October 3, including the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational Stakes (G1).
The purse value of the Garden City Stakes (G1) on September 12 and the Jamaica Handicap (G1), a 1 1/8-mile turf race for three-year-olds on October 10 that was a Grade 2 race in 2008, also were increased to $300,000.
Aqueduct’s 39-day fall meeting is scheduled to open on October 28 and conclude on December 31. There will be no live racing from December 14-25.
The Gazelle Stakes (G1), a 1 1/8-mile race for three-year-old fillies that traditionally has been run at Belmont, has been moved to Aqueduct. The race, which will be contested on November 28, also received a purse increase.
Aqueduct’s 82-day winter/spring meet opens on New Year’s Day and runs through April 26. The $65,000 Aqueduct Handicap has been renamed the Evening Attire in honor of the 2002 winner of the race and will be run on January 3.