Twenty-Eight Stakes and Nearly $5.7 Million: New York Racing Will Run All Winter at Belmont

The New York Racing Association has published its stakes calendar for the 2026-27 cold-weather season at Belmont Park, and it is a full one: 28 stakes with purses that add up to close to $5.7 million. That works out to roughly two hundred thousand dollars per race on average. For New York horsemen, it means steady stakes money through the winter months, when many people assume the turf has gone quiet. Each of those 28 dates is a chance for an owner to see their colors in a stakes field and for a trainer to show what their barn can do. Belmont Park will host the whole program, so New York's top-level racing stays at home through the winter instead of leaving the state. For anyone who follows the sport here, the season ahead now has a schedule and a price on it.

With reporting from Thoroughbred Daily News.