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​NYRA announces purse schedule for 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival

by Pat McKenna

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced the lucrative purse schedule for the four-day 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course, slated for Thursday, June 6 through Sunday, June 9.

“The 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will offer purse levels commensurate with the stature and importance of this historic event,” said Andrew Offerman, NYRA Senior Vice President of Racing and Operations. “Beyond the appeal of Saratoga Race Course, these overnight purses should further incentivize participation in what is sure to be a thrilling edition of the Festival.”

The following categories at the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will see an increased purse to that offered during the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet.

Open maiden special weights will feature a purse increase of $10,000 to $100,000, while New York-bred maiden special weights will also enjoy a $10,000 increase to offer a purse of $85,000.

The open non-winners of two category will be increased by $13,000 to offer a purse of $115,000, while the non-winners of one category will be upped by $10,000 for a purse of $110,000. The New York-bred non-winners of one category will be boosted by $10,000 to $90,000.

For the condition book and complete purse schedule, please visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/horsemen/.

NYRA previously announced the purse of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets will increase from $1.5 million to $2 million in 2024. In addition, NYRA has increased the purse of the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan from $750,000 to $1 million and boosted the Grade 1 New York presented by Rivers Casino from $600,000 to $750,000. Additional graded events enjoying purse increases are the Grade 3 Poker from $200,000 to $350,000, along with $100,000 increases to the purses of the Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun, the Grade 1 Jaipur presented by Resolute Racing and the Grade 2 True North presented by F. W. Webb. Accordingly, the Woody Stephens and Jaipur will offer a purse of $500,000, with the True North rising to $350,000.

Highlighted by the 156th edition of the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 8, the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will include 24 stakes races with purses totaling 10.25 million, the highest purse levels and number of stakes offered since the launch of the multi-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival in 2014.

The Oklahoma Training Track at Saratoga will open for the 2024 season on Thursday, April 18, with the barn area open to horsemen beginning Monday, April 15. As preparations continue for the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, the main track at the Spa will open roughly one month earlier than is customary on Monday, May 6.

For more information on the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, please visit BelmontStakes.com.