NYRA Senior Vice-President of Racing and Operations Andrew Offerman said the association was pleased to partner with the VRC to offer connections an added incentive to compete in a marquee race at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
“The Belmont Gold Cup has proven to be a strong race, attracting top marathon horses from North America and across Europe,” Mr Offerman said.
“The addition of a golden ticket to compete in one of the world’s preeminent turf races only serves to heighten the profile of what is sure to be an exciting festival in Saratoga.”
The Belmont Gold Cup headlines Opening Day of the four-day 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from Thursday, June 6 through Sunday, June 9, at historic Saratoga Race Course.
Highlighted by the 156th edition of the Grade 1, USD$2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 8, the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will include 24 stakes races with purses totaling USD$10.25 million, the highest purse levels and number of stakes offered since the launch of the multi-day festival in 2014. The final field for the 2024 Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup will be drawn on Friday 31 May 2024.
The Belmont Gold Cup joins the Ebor Handicap (2700m) as an international ballot exempt race for the Lexus Melbourne Cup and six Australian golden ticket races, the Lexus Roy Higgins (2600m), the Lexus Andrew Ramsden (2800m), the Lexus Bart Cummings (2500m), the Caulfield Cup (2400m), the Cox Plate (2040m) and the Lexus Archer Stakes (2500m).