Belmont, Woodbine will begin 14-race series in December

The New York Racing Association and Woodbine Entertainment are launching the Empire Trillium Series, a 14-race program of stakes races worth $3.2 million in total purses and restricted to horses foaled in New York or Canada.

The Empire Trillium Series will begin at the new Belmont Park with eight stakes to be contested between December 2026 and February 2027 on the one-mile Tapeta course.

“NYRA looks forward to partnering with Woodbine Entertainment in this unique venture to create additional black type opportunities for owners and breeders on both sides of the border and to drive further interest in the inaugural winter meet at the new Belmont Park,” said Rob MacLennan, NYRA's racing secretary.

Belmont Park will reopen on Sept. 18 with a new grandstand and four newly constructed tracks: the traditional 1 1/2-mile dirt main track, two turf courses and a one-mile Tapeta oval, which will serve as the exclusive surface for winter racing. 

After the eight stakes at Belmont, the Empire Trillium Series will head north to Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, with a further six stakes, four of which are to be contested on Tapeta and two on turf. Those to be held between April and July in 2027.

“Woodbine is excited to partner with NYRA on this new racing series that creates opportunities for not just our racetracks, but for those that invest in the racing programs in New York and Canada,” said Tim Lawson, vice president of Thoroughbred Racing for Woodbine. “It’s important that we be innovative and look to try new things, and we’re optimistic the Empire Trillium Series will generate positive results for everyone involved.”

The marquee events of the series at Belmont Park will be held in late January with the inaugural editions of the $300,000 Long Island Derby and Oaks, which will serve as the middle leg of the New York segment of the series. The remaining six races in the series at Belmont Park all will be run for foals of 2024 with purses of  $200,000 each.

Four of those races will compose the inaugural Empire Trillium opening day, when a sprint and route race for each sex will be run on Dec. 26. The final two races will be sprints, one for each sex run in late February.

“The Empire Trillium Series represents a meaningful step forward in strengthening regional breeding programs across borders while creating new racing opportunities for New York-breds and Canadian-breds alike,” said Najja Thompson, executive director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders.

Woodbine's six races will be for 3-year-olds and up, including four $200,000 events comp0sed of six-furlong sprints for males and females on Tapeta during spring 2027 followed by seven-furlong sprints on Tapeta in the same categories in July 2027. The Woodbine-based races are headlined in June 2027 by a pair of $300,000 events, one each for older males and females, at one mile on the turf course.

2026-2027 Series Schedule