The New York Racing Association today announced the return of its lucrative Fall Starter Championships Day, which has expanded to 11 starter allowance events worth a combined $1.085 million on Saturday, October 17 at the new Belmont Park.
Each of the Fall Starter Championships races, which are open to horses 3-years-old and up that have started for a prescribed claiming price since July 1, 2025, are named after some of the most popular claiming horses to run on the NYRA circuit. Entries for the card are to be taken on Sunday, October 11.
Highlighting the program are six events worth $110,000, with a range of distances and surfaces on offer for horses who ran for a claiming price of $55,000 or less in races named for Tiffany's Taylor, Silver Timber, Be Bullish, Evvie Jets, Voodoo Song and the Cross Border, which is new to the series for 2026.
The Tiffany's Taylor for fillies and mares will be run at six furlongs on the inner turf course, and is named for the multiple graded stakes-placed New York-bred who won the 1995 Mount Vernon at Belmont. Fillies and mares 3-years-old and up will also contest at 1 1/16 miles on the Widener turf in the Evvie Jets, named for the mare who went from claim to fame to win two graded stakes in New York.
The other four events with top purse money on offer will see horses compete at six furlongs on the inner turf in the Silver Timber, honoring the multiple graded stakes-winning New York-bred; at one mile on the main track in the Be Bullish, the popular New York-bred who won over $1 million in races from the claiming to stakes level on the NYRA circuit; at 1 1/16-miles on the Widener turf in the Voodoo Song, named for the New York-bred winner of the 2018 Grade 1 Fourstardave; and at a marathon 1 1/2 miles on the Widener turf in the Cross Border, paying tribute to the New York-bred earner of more than $1.3 million and winner of five stakes.
The card will also feature a trio of $90,000 races on the main track for horses that have started for a claiming price of $32,000 or less, with fillies and mares contesting the 6 1/2-furlong Glass Ceiling, honoring the dual Grade 3-winner of more than $675,000. Distance specialists will take on the 10-furlong Lone Rock, winner of the 2021 Grade 2 Brooklyn at Belmont, with sprinters trying their hand in the six-furlong Creme de La Fete, who won 40 races from a remarkable 151 career starts.
Completing the set of starters is the $80,000 Battle Bling for fillies and mares that have started for a claiming price of $20,000 or less in the one-mile main track event named for the winner of Aqueduct Racetrack's Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm Handicap in 2022; and the seven-furlong $75,000 Royal Posse for horses who have started for a claiming price of $16,000 or less named for the seven-time stakes-winning New York-bred.
The re-imagined Belmont Park opened for live racing on September 18 following a multi-year redevelopment project to create a world-class racing and entertainment destination on Long Island.
The consolidation of NYRA's downstate racing operations at Belmont ushers in an expanded fall meet featuring 32 graded events among 72 stakes races worth $17.7 million in total purses. Highlighted by a series of major Saturday race days beginning in September and continuing through Cigar Mile Day, the fall meet will conclude on December 6.
For more information, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/horsemen/.
