NYRA/Coglianese Photo

​NYRA announces Nerud (G2) and Suburban (G2) moved to July 4 and airing on NBC

by NYRA Press Office

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced the Grade 2, $300,000 John A. Nerud, a Breeders' Cup Win and You're In event, and the Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban would be moved up one week to the Saturday, July 4 card at Belmont Park.

"By moving these races up one week, we'll be able to showcase the Stars and Stripes Racing Festival to a national audience on NBC," said Tony Allevato, NYRA CRO and President of NYRA Bets.

The Nerud, a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Sprint, will see 4-year-olds and up contest at seven furlongs, and the Grade 2 Suburban, at 1 ¼-miles for 4-year-olds and upward, will bolster a July 4 card that also includes the $100,000 Manila, a one-mile turf test for 3-year-olds.

The Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies originally slated for July 4, will be moved to Belmont's Saturday July 11 card.

In February, NYRA announced a blockbuster stakes schedule for the 51-day Belmont Park spring/summer meet, featuring 58 total stakes races worth $18.65 million running Friday, April 24 through Sunday, July 12.

The meet will offer 11 total Grade 1 contests and five races with purses of $1 million or higher, with the first four of those contests coming during the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from Thursday, June 4 through Saturday, June 6. The festival will encompass 17 total stakes, including eight Grade 1s on Belmont Stakes Day, capped by the $1.5 million "Test of the Champion" for 3-year-olds in the 1 ½-mile third and final leg of the Triple Crown.

The Turf Triple series returns on Saturday, July 11 with a pair of races earning Grade 1 status, featuring the $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational for sophomores going 1 ¼ miles and the $750,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational for 3-year-old fillies over the same distance. In addition to the Victory Ride, the July 11 card will also feature the Grade 2, $250,000 Dwyer, a one-turn mile for sophomores.

Implemented by NYRA in 2019 as the turf equivalent of the Triple Crown series, with all the legs contested at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course, the Belmont Derby Invitational will again launch the male division of the Turf Triple series that will also include the Saratoga Derby this summer and the Jockey Club Derby during the Belmont fall meet.

The Belmont Oaks Invitational will again launch the female division of the Turf Triple series, which will be followed by the Saratoga Oaks this summer and conclude with the Jockey Club Oaks during the fall.

As announced in April, NYRA has joined a coalition of leading racing organizations committed to phasing out the use of the medication Lasix. This effort begins in 2020 with the prohibition of Lasix in all 2-year-old races.  Beginning in 2021, the same prohibition will extend to all horses participating in stakes races at NYRA tracks.

At NYRA tracks, 2-year-olds in 2020 and all stakes horses in 2021 will be prohibited from receiving Lasix within 48 hours of a race.

Following the launch of this program in maiden special weight races in April at Aqueduct Racetrack, the first stakes race contested under these new conditions will come at Belmont Park with the $150,000 Astoria for juvenile filly sprinters on June 4, the opening day of the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.

Closing Day for the 51-day Belmont spring/summer meet arrives on Sunday, July 12 featuring the $100,000 State Dinner before live racing action moves to Saratoga for its 40-day meet beginning on Thursday, July 16.