New Saratoga race dates added to 2025 Spa schedule

The extra days will not be part of the 40-day annual summer meet, scheduled to begin on Thursday, July 10 and conclude on Labor Day, Sept. 1.

The full schedule of racing at Saratoga was finalized this week and has been approved by the New York State Gaming Commission.

The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which was held at Saratoga for the first time ever in 2024 because of the ongoing reconstruction of Belmont Park, will be held from Wednesday, June 4 to Sunday, June 8. The Wednesday was added to what was a four-day Belmont festival in 2024, which is supposed to return to the new Belmont Park in 2026.

Live racing in 2025 will return to Aqueduct following the Belmont festival, then the NYRA circuit will come back to Saratoga for the July 4th Racing Festival from Thursday, July 3 to Sunday, July 6.

“There is nothing in sports that compares with the energy at Saratoga Race Course, and we join the fans in looking forward to another spectacular season of racing in 2025,” NYRA President and CEO David O’Rourke said in a release. “While Saratoga is rightly defined by history and tradition, NYRA is thrilled to bring the Belmont Stakes and a special July 4th Racing Festival to Saratoga while a new Belmont Park takes shape on Long Island.”

O’Rourke had said at the end of the 2024 Saratoga meet that the plan was to expand the Belmont festival to five days. NYRA had also said it planned to move the July 4th festival to Saratoga for one year because the gap between July 4th and the start of the Saratoga meet was as short as it can get in any given calendar year.

Although the 2025 stakes schedule for the annual Saratoga meet has not been finalized, the 2025 Travers Stakes will be held on Saturday, Aug. 23, based on its traditional spot on the seventh Saturday of the meet. 

Construction of a new 275,000-square-foot Belmont Park, which will include fan access to the infield, remains on schedule.

All downstate racing and training operations will be consolidated at the new Belmont Park.

“The transformation of Belmont Park will secure the future of thoroughbred racing in New York State, create thousands of jobs and drive tourism to Long Island and the region for decades to come,” O’Rourke said in March. “NYRA is committed to building a world-class destination that will set the global standard for a racing facility.”

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