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Belmont Derby & Oaks launch triple play for 3-year-old turfers

by Bob Ehalt

In just five quick years, the Belmont Derby Invitational and the Belmont Oaks Invitational have emerged as two of the most important races for 3-year-olds on the New York Racing Association (NYRA) calendar.

Yet there will be something bigger and better about each of them on Stars & Stripes Day July 6 at Belmont Park.

The sixth edition of each Grade 1, mile-and-a-quarter turf stakes will mark the launch of the exciting $5.25 million Turf Triple series of races for 3-year-olds, with the Turf Trinity for males and the Turf Tiara for fillies.

Compromised of six races over the next two months at Saratoga Race Course and then the Belmont fall meet, the series offers numerous benefits for both horsemen and fans while highlighting the growing interest in turf races for horses of all ages.

The 3-year-olds who race in $1 million Belmont Derby and $750,000 Belmont Oaks will take their collective first steps in a chase that can provide an opportunity to compete in a pair of equally rich and challenging stakes in the coming months. There’s also the opportunity for new faces to jump in during the upcoming races and take home six-figure paydays.

Best of all, for fans, the Turf Trinity and Turf Tiara promise to provide both excitement and superb wagering opportunities through large fields featuring international stars from around the globe.

“I love the concept of the series. It makes a lot of sense,” said Chad Brown, the Eclipse Award-winner as the nation’s outstanding trainer the last three years. “Turf racing has become increasingly more popular in the last few years, so the natural thing to do is to create a series like this to help with the continued development of our turf program in this country.”

Brown has already enjoyed success in the flagship events of the Stars & Stripes Racing Festival, having captured the Belmont Oaks five times: with New Money Honey in 2017, Lady Eli, who was 2017’s champion turf female, in 2015 and Minorette in 2014. He also won the race twice when it was contested in September, with Samitar winning in 2012 and Alterite capturing the 2013 edition.

Brown is also well-positioned to add to those totals. Of the 28 horses who received the initial batch of invitations to the Belmont Oaks and Belmont Derby, Brown trains eight of them.

Beyond the pleasant prospects for the Fourth of July weekend, Brown also likes how the three races in each division are spaced and structured, giving the series a feel similar to the famed Triple Crown on dirt for 3-year-olds.

“I love the distances and the spacing. It’s a smart idea. And I predict it will be successful and will be around for a while,” Brown said. “They have already become the kind of races that you target months ahead of time.”

Of the 28 invitees to Saturday’s stakes, 11 of them of are graded stakes winners, including Klaravich Stables’ Newspaperofrecord, who triumphed in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf for Brown. It’s an impressive total that reflects the quality of the horses with their eyes on the top prizes in the Grade 1 stakes.

“The Belmont Derby and Oaks are coming up fine. I’m happy with the response,” said Martin Panza, NYRA’s Senior Vice President of Racing Operations. “They will be good, quality, interesting races.”

Adding some spice to the blend, those 28 horses include nine who made their last start overseas or are based in another country. Europeans own a victory in each of the stakes, highlighted by last year when Athena, from the Ballydoyle barn of Europe’s leading trainer, Aidan O’Brien, prevailed in the Belmont Oaks.

New to the mix are Master Fencer in the Belmont Derby and Jodie in the Belmont Oaks, the races’ first two starters from Japan. Master Fencer should be known to American fans after starting in two legs of the Triple Crown on dirt. He was sixth in the Kentucky Derby and then rallied to be fifth in the Belmont Stakes, finishing just 2 ¾ lengths behind the victorious Sir Winston.

“Getting Japanese participation is a long-range project and we’re happy to have them,” Panza said.

Four new races were added to the NYRA stakes calendar to create the Turf Trinity and the Turf Tiara.

Following Saturday’s opening leg of the Turf Triple, the series will resume at Saratoga with turf stakes bookending the historic $1 million Whitney Stakes on August 3. The Grade 1, $750,000 Saratoga Oaks will be contested Friday, August 2 at a distance of 1 3/16 miles, while the $1 million Saratoga Derby is set for Sunday, August 4 at the same 1 3/16-mile distance.

Both races will receive national television coverage though the Saratoga Live program. The Saratoga Oaks will be carried on FS2, with the Saratoga Derby airing on FS1.

The final stop comes at Belmont Park on Saturday, Sept. 7, with a card that features both the $1 million Jockey Club Derby and the $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational. Both the Jockey Club Derby, at 1 ½ miles on the turf, and the Jockey Club Oaks, at 1 3/8 miles on the turf, can be seen on NBC. The Jockey Club Derby is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” qualifier, offering a berth to the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“Having never done this before, you’re never quite sure how it will turn out, but the response has been good,” Panza said. “I was just over in England for the Royal Ascot meet and got a lot of positive feedback, especially for the August and September races. Royal Ascot has just finished [on June 22] so getting six weeks of rest to run in August may work out for them.”

Judging by the early returns, the concept of a Turf Triple Crown certainly seems to be well on its way to taking a good, sound idea and improving on it.

“We’ll get a much better understanding of it after we do it once and see what we can improve on,” Panza said. “You build one step at a time.”

Bob Ehalt is a Senior Writer for BloodHorse magazine and www.bloodhorse.com. He is a two-time recipient of the Joe Hirsch Memorial Writing Award for coverage of the Belmont Stakes.