Belmont Park’s next chapter now has a sharper racing identity, with NYRA naming the New York legs of the new Empire Trillium Series before the renovated track reopens later this year.
The New York Racing Association announced that the series will be a 14-race programme run between Belmont Park and Woodbine, restricted to New York-bred and Canadian-foaled horses and worth $3.2 million in total purses. The development gives Belmont’s new Tapeta course an immediate purpose beyond novelty, with winter stakes racing placed at the heart of the track’s return.
It also builds on a wider period of renewal at Belmont, following confirmation that Belmont Park training will resume on the new surfaces before racing returns on September 18.
Tiz The Law Among New Belmont Names
The first four Belmont races in the series are scheduled for December 26, subject to final approval, and all will be run on Tapeta for juveniles.
The six-furlong Tiz the Law honours the popular New York-bred who won the 2020 Belmont Stakes and Travers for Barclay Tagg and Sackatoga Stable. The Bar of Gold, also over six furlongs for juvenile fillies, recognises the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner.
The Gander will be staged over 1 1/16 miles for juveniles, while fillies will tackle the same distance in the Saratoga Dew. NYRA said the names were chosen to honour horses with strong New York ties, a theme that fits neatly with the series’ state-bred foundation.
January brings the $300,000 Long Island Derby and Long Island Oaks over nine furlongs, before the Belmont section closes in February with the Elmont and Queens Village sprints. Full series details are available through NYRA’s official announcement and the Empire Trillium Series schedule.
For Belmont, this is more than a batch of new race titles. The track is returning with a different racing model, a new synthetic surface, and a clear attempt to link New York breeding with a cross-border programme at Woodbine.
That context matters after the Belmont Stakes was staged at Saratoga during the rebuild, a period explained in our guide to why the 158th Belmont Stakes was held at Saratoga. The Empire Trillium Series now gives Belmont an early signpost for what comes next.
With the September 18 Belmont Park return already circled, these names add substance to the rebuild. Belmont is not just coming back with fresh concrete and a new surface; it is coming back with races that are trying to say something about its place in New York racing.
