2026 Belmont Stakes will be run at Saratoga Race Course

Triple Crown’s final leg will have one final run at Saratoga Race Course next year.

New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York Racing Association jointly announced on Friday morning that the Belmont Stakes, part of the weeklong Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, will return to Saratoga Race Course for a third time on June 6, 2026, as Belmont Park completes its reconstruction.

Belmont Park is expected to reopen in September 2026.

“New York is home to world class sports and entertainment and this final chapter of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course honors our rich racing heritage while paving the way for a bold, new future at Belmont Park,” Hochul said in a statement. “Bringing the race back to Saratoga next year will once again expand the audience for this storied leg of the Triple Crown and ensure fans continue to enjoy the full experience.”

The Bill Mott-trained Sovereignty with jockey Junior Alvarado of Garden City aboard won last Saturday’s 157th running of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, again outdueling Preakness Stakes winner Journalism down the homestretch to repeat the 1-2 finish in the Kentucky Derby on May 3.

Dornoch, a 17-1 shot co-owned by former Phillies All-Star Jayson Werth, won the first Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in 2024. The transplanted Belmont Stakes is run at a shorter 1 1/4 miles instead of its usual 1 1/2 miles at its namesake home.

“Saratoga has served our fans and stakeholders extremely well as the temporary home of the new Belmont Stakes during the construction of a new Belmont Park on Long Island,” NYRA president and CEO David O’Rourke said in a statement. “As we prepare for the opening of the new Belmont Park in the fall of 2026, NYRA is pleased to bring the Belmont Stakes to Saratoga for a third and final time next June. Belmont Park will always be the home of the Belmont Stakes and we look forward to its return to the newly reimagined Belmont in 2027."

Belmont Park’s vast reconstruction has included tearing down the cavernous 1.25 million square-foot grandstand to build a state-of-the-art 300,000 square-foot, five-story facility that allows for an increase from six acres to 35 acres of open space for fans around the track. Also built were tunnels that will allow both vehicles and fans to access the infield.

The state loaned NYRA $455 million for that project.

Additionally, NYRA committed $100 million to improve the existing three tracks and build a fourth, all-weather track.

NYRA had initially left open the possibility of running next year’s Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park before its reconstruction was fully completed.

But it was more than an open secret in the lead-up to this year’s Belmont Stakes that there would almost certainly be one more run at Saratoga Race Course.

“I believe they’ll run the Belmont here next year again,” Mott told Newsday at the post position draw in Saratoga Springs.

On May 28, it was announced that the Breeders’ Cup would be conducted at the new Belmont Park on Oct. 29-30, 2027, returning the prestigious racing festival to New York for the first time since 2005.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.