Schedules for the 2010 Belmont Park Spring/Summer Meet and the Saratoga Race Course Meet were announced by NYRA on Thursday, March 4. Total stakes purses for the 2010 Saratoga Meet are $10.9 million, down 2.6 percent from the 2009 Saratoga Meet, which had $11.2 million in total stakes purses.
The Saratoga Meet is in its 142nd year and kicks off on Friday, July 23. It includes 17 Grade 1 races beginning with the $250,000 Coaching Club American Oaks that opening weekend. The historic Coaching Club American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies will be run at the Spa on Saturday, July 24, at a new distance of 1 1/8 miles, a little longer than it’s previous distance of 1 1/4 miles.
Opening weekend at Saratoga also features the Grade 3, $100,000 Schuylerville for 2-year-old fillies on Friday, July 23; the Grade 2, $150,000 Sanford for 2-year-olds on Sunday, July 25; and the Evan Shipman, a $75,000 stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds and older on Monday, July 26.
Saratoga concludes on Labor Day weekend with the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward and Grade 1, $250,000 Forego, both for 3-year-olds and older, on Saturday, September 4; the Grade 1, $250,000 Spinaway for 2-year-old fillies and the Grade 3, $100,000 Saranac for 3-year-olds on the turf on Sunday, September 5, and the Grade 1, $250,000 Three Chimneys Hopeful for juveniles and the Grade 3, $100,000 Glens Falls for fillies and mares on the turf on Monday, September 6.
The Belmont Spring/Summer Meet starts on Saturday, June 5, with the 11/2 mile Belmont Stakes, that includes the Grade 1, $400,000 Woodford Reserve Manhattan Handicap for older horses on the turf, the Grade 1, $400,000 Just A Game for fillies and mares on the turf, the Grade 1, $300,000 Acorn for 3-year-old fillies, and a pair of sprints in the Grade 2, $250,000 True North Handicap for older horses at six furlongs and the Grade 2, $250,000 Woody Stephens for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs.
Check the NYRA Web site for full schedules.
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