For the second straight year, The New York Racing Association,
Inc. (NYRA) will offer a $100,000 bonus to the connections of any
juvenile who breaks
his or her maiden during the Aqueduct Racetrack winter/spring or
Belmont Park spring/summer meets and goes on to win a graded stakes at
Saratoga Race Course, Belmont, or Aqueduct in 2013. The NYRA
Reorganization Board approved the bonus program during its
meeting on Wednesday.
“The bonus was a tremendous success last year,” said Rick
Violette, Jr., president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s
Association. “It generated about 15 additional
maiden races at Belmont,
and certainly spurred significant interest in NYRA’s 2-year-old
program. We’re pleased that NYRA is offering the bonus again this year.”
In 2012, Bern Identity and Shanghai Bobby collected the $100,000
bonus after respectively winning the Grade 2 Sanford and Grade 2 Three
Chimneys Hopeful, both at
Saratoga. Bern Identity broke his maiden on June 1 at
Belmont
in his second start, while Shanghai Bobby debuted a winner on April 19
at Aqueduct and went on to earn the Eclipse Award for Champion
Two-Year-Old Male.
“New York
having a quality 2-year-old racing program is essential to American
racing,” said Todd Pletcher,
trainer of Shanghai Bobby. “It seemed like it had slowed down in recent
years in that horses were debuting later in the year, but the bonus
program has created a great incentive for horsemen to prepare their
horses to run earlier in the year. It showed last
year when you had a horse like Shanghai Bobby run in April and go on to
win the Eclipse. What the bonus has done is assure horsemen there would
be plenty of 2-year-old maiden races, which has encouraged them to
bring 2-year-olds to
New York.”
NYRA’s 2013 graded stakes for 2-year-olds*:
|
TRACK
|
DATE
|
RACE
|
GRADE
|
PURSE
|
AGE
|
DISTANCE
|
|
Saratoga
|
Fri., July 19
|
Schuylerville
|
III
|
150,000
|
F2YO
|
6 Furlongs
|
|
Saratoga
|
Sun., July. 21
|
Sanford
|
II
|
200,000
|
2YO
|
6 Furlongs
|
|
Saratoga
|
Sun., Aug. 11
|
Adirondack
|
II
|
200,000
|
F2YO
|
6 1/2 Furlongs
|
|
Saratoga
|
Sun., Aug. 11
|
Saratoga
Special
|
II
|
200,000
|
2YO
|
6 1/2 Furlongs
|
|
Saratoga
|
Thurs., Aug. 29
|
With Anticipation
|
II
|
200,000
|
2YO
|
1 1/16 (Turf)
|
|
Saratoga
|
Sun., Sept. 1
|
Spinaway
|
I
|
300,000
|
F2YO
|
7 Furlongs
|
|
Saratoga
|
Mon., Sept. 2
|
Hopeful
|
I
|
300,000
|
2YO
|
7 Furlongs
|
|
Belmont
|
Sun., Sept 29
|
Matron
|
II
|
200,000
|
F 2YO
|
6 Furlongs
|
|
Belmont
|
Sun., Sept 29
|
Futurity
|
II
|
200,000
|
2YO
|
6 Furlongs
|
|
Belmont
|
Sat., Oct. 5
|
Champagne
|
I
|
400,000
|
2YO
|
1 Mile
|
|
Belmont
|
Sat., Oct. 5
|
Frizette
|
I
|
400,000
|
F2YO
|
1 Mile
|
|
Belmont
|
Sun., Oct. 6
|
Pilgrim
|
III
|
150,000
|
2YO
|
1 1/16 (Turf)
|
|
Belmont
|
Sun., Oct. 6
|
Miss Grillo
|
III
|
150,000
|
F2YO
|
1 1/16 (Turf)
|
|
Aqueduct
|
Sat., Nov. 30
|
Demoiselle
|
II
|
250,000
|
F2YO
|
1 1/8
|
|
Aqueduct
|
Sat., Nov. 30
|
Remsen
|
II
|
250,000
|
2YO
|
1 1/8
|
*The Aqueduct winter/spring and
Belmont
spring/summer stakes schedules were approved by the NYRA Reorganization
Board. Stakes schedules for the remainder of the year will be addressed
by the Board at a later date and appear in
the above schedule pending board approval. All schedules are subject to
change.