NYRA sets names for New York legs of Empire Trillium Series

The New York Racing Association announced the names for the New York legs of the Empire Trillium Series, a 14-race stakes program worth $3.2 million in total purses at Belmont Park and Woodbine Racetrack for horses foaled in New York or Canada.

Nominations for this year's 2-year-old crop to the Empire Trillium Series close Friday, June 19.

The Empire Trillium Series will begin with four $200,000 events for 2-year-olds on Dec. 26 over the new Tapeta course at the reimagined Belmont Park. Dates are tentative and subject to final approval.

Saturday, Dec. 26

Each of the four stakes slated for Dec. 26 is named for a New York-bred. The inaugural Tiz the Law, named for the 2020 Belmont Stakes and Travers winner trained by Barclay Tagg for owner Sackatoga Stable, is a six-furlong sprint for juveniles. Juvenile fillies cover the same distance in the Bar of Gold, named for the upset winner of the 2017 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint conditioned by John Kimmel for owners Chester and Mary Broman. The latter race was formerly the Maddie May, a one-turn mile for New York-bred sophomore fillies at Aqueduct.

Juveniles route 1 1/16 miles on the same card's Gander, which in recent years was contested as a one-turn mile for state-bred sophomores over the Big A dirt. A graded stakes winner with more than $1.8 million in earnings, Gander, who was originally trained by Charlie Assimakopoulos and later by John Terranova for Gatsas Thoroughbreds, was New York's horse of the year in 2000. Juvenile fillies will take on the same challenge in the Saratoga Dew, which was previously offered for fillies and mares at Saratoga but not contested in 2025 and honors the 1992 Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old filly trained by Gary Sciacca for Charles Engel.

Saturday, Jan. 23

The marquee events of the series at Belmont Park will be the inaugural editions of the $300,000 Long Island Derby and Long Island Oaks, over nine furlongs on Tapeta for sophomores and sophomore fillies, respectively.

Saturday, Feb. 27

The New York legs of the series conclude with a pair of six-furlong $200,000 sprints on Tapeta, the Elmont for sophomores and the Queens Village for sophomore fillies. The Elmont, formerly the Damon Runyon offered at the Big A, is named for the hamlet where Belmont Park is located. The Queens Village, previously the East View most recently run at Aqueduct, honors the neighborhood adjacent to the Belmont Park grounds.

Woodbine will then host six races for 3-year-olds and up, including four $200,000 events: six-furlong sprints for both boys and girls on Tapeta in spring 2027, followed by seven-furlong sprints 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 boys and girls, at one mile on the turf.