Belmont Park reopens: what it means for Saratoga’s summer

Belmont Park reopened on Long Island on Friday, September 18, 2026, closing the three-year stretch in which Saratoga Race Course hosted the Belmont Stakes. The reopening means the Belmont Stakes and the July 4th racing festival move back downstate in 2027, and Saratoga returns to a traditional 40-day summer meet, according to the New York Racing Association.

For Saratoga Springs, the change ends an unusual run of early-summer crowds. The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival was held at Saratoga in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and the 2026 summer meet stretched to 46 days to cover the July 4th festival while the downstate track was rebuilt.

Opening day on Long Island

Racing returned to Belmont Park after a three-year absence and a rebuild that The Associated Press put at $550 million. A sellout crowd of 6,000 watched the first race go off just after 1:30 p.m., the AP reported, and a filly named Lisa Joy won it under jockey Antonio Fresu. It was the first race at Belmont since July 9, 2023.

The key facts about the reopening, as reported by the AP and the Times Union:

• The nine-race opening card was headlined by the Jockey Club Gold Cup, which returned to Belmont in 2026 after running at Saratoga.
• The old grandstand was demolished in April 2024, and groundbreaking on the new building was held in September 2024.
• Upper floors of the new grandstand are expected to be finished in the first quarter of 2027, ahead of the Belmont Stakes.
• General admission at Belmont is priced the same as at Saratoga: $7 in advance and $10 on the day of the event, starting September 24.

The price of the project depends on who is counting. The Times Union described a $455 million renovation, while the AP reported $550 million. We have not seen a final figure from the racing association.

What changes for Saratoga

The biggest change is the calendar. When the racing association released its 2026 schedule in February, it said Saratoga would return to its customary 40-day summer meet in 2027, with Belmont Park hosting the Belmont Stakes and the July 4th festivals. In 2026, by contrast, Saratoga hosted the Belmont festival from June 3 to 7 and then ran a 46-day meet from July 3 through Labor Day, September 7.

What that means locally, based on the association’s announcements:

• No Belmont Stakes in Saratoga in June 2027. The race is scheduled to return to Belmont Park on Saturday, June 5, 2027.
• No July 4th racing festival at Saratoga in 2027.
• A shorter summer meet, back to 40 days, which likely means a later opening day than July 3. The 2027 dates had not been announced when we checked.
• The Travers, the Whitney and the rest of Saratoga’s signature August races are not affected.

How the temporary schedule grew

The Saratoga years expanded step by step, according to the racing association’s December 2025 schedule announcement. In 2024, Saratoga hosted a four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival for the first time. In 2025, the festival grew to five days and the July 4th Racing Festival moved to Saratoga as well, for 49 days of live racing that year. The 2026 season reached 51 racing days in Saratoga. Association president and CEO David O’Rourke called Saratoga “the ideal temporary host for the Belmont Stakes and July 4th festivals” in that announcement.

What Saratoga gained from the Belmont years

The three Belmont festivals brought thousands of visitors to Saratoga in early June, weeks before the usual summer rush. When New York announced the third and final Belmont at Saratoga in 2025, Empire State Development chief Hope Knight said the festival had introduced new audiences to Saratoga Springs and supported local small businesses, according to the governor’s office.

City officials have credited event revenue with softening a tight budget. In August 2026, CBS6 reported that the city still projected a deficit of about $5 million even with the Belmont boom. Losing the June festival will not show up in city finances until 2027, but it is one more pressure on a budget that is already strained.

The DBA’s “Belmont on Broadway” street party, which ran on June 3 in 2026, was built around the festival. Whether downtown keeps an early-June event without the race is up to organizers.

The racing at Saratoga in 2026

The last Saratoga Belmont, the 158th, ran June 6, 2026, and was won by Golden Tempo, who had also won the Kentucky Derby. Golden Tempo headlined the Travers field on August 29 as well. The 2026 summer meet offered 20 Grade 1 races among 73 stakes, according to the racing association.

Race-day operations at Saratoga stay the same. The New York Racing Association runs both tracks, and Saratoga Race Course at 267 Union Avenue remains the summer home of New York racing.

For local businesses and residents

Hotels, restaurants and short-term rental owners who counted on early-June bookings will want to plan for a quieter June in 2027. Businesses on Union Avenue and downtown that stretched staffing into early summer for the Belmont can return to a more familiar schedule. Residents near the track can expect traffic patterns to return to the pre-2024 rhythm: busy from mid-July through Labor Day and quiet the rest of the year.

Across the street from the track, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at 191 Union Avenue is unaffected by the schedule change.

What to watch

The racing association has not released Saratoga’s 2027 dates. When it does, the opening day and the number of racing days per week will show how the shorter meet shapes the summer.

A few stakes races have already moved. The $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, which ran at Saratoga during construction, returned to Belmont as its opening-day feature on September 18, and the Grade 2 Flower Bowl is also returning downstate for Belmont’s fall meet, according to Thoroughbred Daily News. Watch the 2027 stakes schedule for any other races that shift between the two tracks.

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