Live thoroughbred racing will return to Belmont Park on Sept. 18, 2026, when the reconstructed track opens its first race day since July 9, 2023. The opening card will be led by the Grade 1 $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Fox will carry the race.
The announcement gives the sport a firm date for the comeback of one of its most important stages. NYRA said the fall meet at Belmont Park will run through Dec. 6, with the third and final Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course set for June 6 before the race moves back to Belmont Park next year. The new grandstand will not yet be at full capacity when racing resumes, but construction is expected to finish and the facility to be fully operational in April 2027. NYRA said the stakes schedule for the fall was built with the 2027 Breeders’ Cup World Championships in mind, and the renovated track will host that event on Oct. 29-30, 2027.
Belmont Park has been closed since July 9, 2023, while crews carry out a $575 million renovation that includes a new grandstand. New York State has contributed $455 million through a loan to NYRA, underscoring how central the project is to the future of racing in the region. By the time the gates reopen, the site will already be functioning differently from the old one, with an all-weather synthetic track expected to be ready for training by the end of spring. That surface will become the fourth oval at Belmont Park, joining the 1 1/2-mile main dirt track and two inner turf courses.
For horsemen, the synthetic track could matter as much as the grandstand. Michael Dubb said, “That’s going to be a big boon,” pointing to the shrinking horse population and the difficulty grass horses face in winter. “Because the problem with horse racing is the horse population is going down and so many of the grass horses can’t run here in the winter. But grass horses tend to be able to run on synthetic,” he said.
NYRA President Andrew Offerman said the rebuilt venue is meant to restore Belmont’s place in the sport. He said the new track will provide the stage to showcase the best racing in North America and added that the fall stakes schedule reflects the importance of the season, emphasizes major weekends and sets the table for the 2027 Breeders’ Cup. Marc Holliday said the project is on time and on budget. After more than two years away, the return on Sept. 18 is not just a reopening date; it is the start of Belmont Park’s next era, with the biggest tests still ahead in 2027.
