Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.NYRA Increases Purses For 13 Grade 1 Stakes Races
Posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008
The New York Racing Association (NYRA) will raise the purses on 13 Grade 1 Thoroughbred horse races offered at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course in 2009. The hikes are part of the 2009 NYRA Stakes Schedule, which was approved by NYRA’s Board of Directors at its monthly meeting on Wednesday and now awaits approval from the New York State Racing and Wagering Board.
The total value of the 2009 NYRA Stakes schedule for 177 stakes races is $34,765,000, of which $28,780,000 is for 113 graded stakes races (40 Grade 1 races, 41 Grade 2 races and 32 Grade 3 races). This includes $350,000 for three steeplechase races: the $100,000-added A.P. Smithwick (G2) and the $100,000 New York Turf Writers’ Cup (G1) at Saratoga, and the Grade 1, $150,000 Lonesome Glory (G1) during Belmont Park’s Fall Championship Meet.
Of the 115 Grade 1 horse races held in North America, 40 are held at NYRA tracks, with Saratoga hosting 15 of them. Of these, the Spa’s Go for Wand, Test, NetJets King’s Bishop, Ballerina, Forego, Spinaway and Three Chimneys Hopeful have had their purses increased.
At Belmont Park, the Acorn, Mother Goose and Prioress will be worth more during the Spring/Summer Meet, while purse increases were granted to the Garden City during Belmont Park’s Fall Championship Meet and to the Gazelle, which was moved from Belmont Park to HolidayFest during Thanksgiving Week at Aqueduct’s Fall Meet. Also, Jamaica Handicap for 3-year-olds at 9 furlongs on the turf was upgraded to Grade 1 status, had its purse increased to $300,000 and will be run on Saturday, October 10.
The biggest races on the 2009 schedule again rank among the most historic and significant in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. The 141st running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes, the 1 1/2-mile “Test of the Champion” and the oldest and final leg of the Tripe Crown for 3-year-olds, will be held on Saturday, June 6. The biggest race of Belmont Park’s Fall Championship Meet, the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational at 1 1/4 miles, will be run on Saturday, October 3.
Saratoga’s biggest race, the 140th running of the $1 million Shadwell Travers Stakes, the “Mid-Summer Derby” for 3-year-olds at 1 1/4 miles, will be run on Saturday, August 29.
The Grade 1 season in New York will kick off at Aqueduct on Saturday, April 4, with the $750,000 Wood Memorial for 3-year-olds at 9 furlongs and the $300,000 Carter Handicap for 3-year-olds and up at 7 furlongs.
The $300,000 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) remains the big race of Aqueduct’s Fall Meet on Saturday, November 28, but will now be joined by the aforementioned $300,000 Gazelle for 3-year-old fillies at 9 furlongs. The card will also feature a pair of important Grade 2, $200,000 juvenile races at 9 furlongs: the Remsen for 2-year-olds and the Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies.
The Gazelle is one of several stakes that have been re-positioned to new spots on the calendar, starting with 2 turf stakes, the $100,000-added Fort Marcy (G3) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on the turf, and its filly counterpart, the Beaugay (G3), which will move from the end of the Aqueduct meet to Kentucky Derby Day, Saturday, May 2, at the beginning of the Belmont Park Spring/Summer season.
Saratoga schedule shifts include the $150,000 Fourstardave Handicap (G2), which will be run Sunday, August 2, one week earlier than last year. The $500,000 Jim Dandy (G2), the local prep for the Travers Stakes, will be held on Saturday, August 1, sharing the bill with the $500,000 Diana (G1) for fillies and mares at 9 furlongs on the turf.
The $750,000 Whitney Handicap for 3-year-olds and up at 9 furlongs moves to the second Saturday of the meet, August 8, joining the $300,000 Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 7 furlongs to create a Grade 1 doubleheader. In 2009, both the $150,000 Honorable Miss Handicap (G2) for fillies and mares at 6 furlongs and the $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G2) will be run on Sunday, August 9.
The $150,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds at 9 furlongs on the turf will be featured on Friday, August 14, the new date for Hall of Fame inductions.
Additionally, the $200,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2) for 3-year-olds and up at 9 furlongs has been moved up one day to August 28, the Friday before the Shadwell Travers. Both the $300,000 Ballerina Stakes (G1) for fillies and mares at 7 furlongs and the $200,000 Ballston Spa (G2) for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles will join the Shadwell Travers day undercard, on Saturday, August 29.
The $150,000 Bold Ruler (G3) for 3-year-olds and up at 7 furlongs was moved from the Belmont Park Spring meet to the Saturday, October 31 as part of Aqueduct’s Fall Meet, where it will serve as a prep for the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile Handicap.
The $100,000-added 6-furlong Fall Highweight Handicap (G3), which will be run on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, was upgraded for 2009.
Horse racing news edited from www.nyra.com.
"NYRA Increases Purses For 13 Grade 1 Stakes Races" was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 10:48 pm and is filed under Aqueduct, Belmont Park, Horse Racing Industry, Jockeys, Kentucky Derby, Race Tracks News, Santa Anita Track, Saratoga, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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