New York State Franchise Oversight Board

By the time you're reading this article, the New York Racing Association (NYRA)'s years-long rebuild of Belmont Park that is on target to be finished by September 2026 will have reached or be very close to achieving a significant milestone. "The inner turf course will be complete by possibly [Friday] if not Monday with all the sod," Glen Kozak, NYRA's senior vice president of operations and capital projects, said July 25. "This was a big, big step for us, and now we're rolling right into the Widener turf course." Kozak's...

The massive-scaled, $455-million rebuild of Belmont Park that is on target to be finished by September 2026 is thus far unaffected by skyrocketing tariffs on steel and aluminum, although New York Racing Association (NYRA) executives told the New York State Franchise Oversight Board (FOB) during a Friday meeting they are being vigilant about monitoring the situation. NYRA and FOB personnel have good reason to be on high alert about concerns over potential cost overruns: On June 4, President Donald Trump doubled United States tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to...

Timelines for the massive-scaled, $455-million rebuild of Belmont Park were brought more clearly into focus Wednesday during a construction update presented by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) at a meeting of the New York State Franchise Oversight Board (FOB). In chronological order: 1) Belmont's new one-mile Tapeta track could open for training as early as the spring of 2025. 2) NYRA is keeping open the option of running the 2026 GI Belmont Stakes back downstate at the new facility under a festival-meet scenario in which all four racing surfaces...

The main takeaway from Wednesday's meeting of the New York State Franchise Oversight Board is that the Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park of today will look quite different by the end of 2024, with the bulk of the meeting spent outlining a series of proposed and ongoing capital improvement projects, which the board approved. Arguably the news of most significance is planned installation of a new one-mile synthetic track to the inside of Belmont Park's inner turf course. This synthetic surface--the specific material of which is currently unknown--will serve...