Forever Young returns to the track as Belmont Park reopens after $455 million rebuild

Horse racing returns to Long Island’s Belmont Park on Friday for the first time since July 9, 2023, capping a three-year, $455 million renovation of the historic Elmont, New York facility.

The centerpiece of the reopening card is the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, which draws added attention from the New York debut of Forever Young, the Japanese standout who is the sport’s all-time leading money earner with more than $31 million in career earnings. The 5-year-old, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, is using the 1 ¼-mile contest as a prep for a bid at repeating in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland in late October.

Trainer Yoshito Yahagi told the New York Racing Association he was honored to run in New York at such a memorable moment, while racing manager Hiroshi Ando said the colt was prepared at Hokkaido’s Hakodate Racecourse in August to avoid mainland summer heat after a long layoff since his second-place finish in the Dubai World Cup in late March. Ryusei Sakai retains the ride for owner Susumu Fujita, with Forever Young drawing the far outside post in what is now a five-horse field after scratches by Banishing and Chunk of Gold.

The reopening weekend carries a 6,000-person capacity limit, and Friday’s nine-race card is already sold out. Country singer Dierks Bentley will perform as part of a “Return to Racing” broadcast on Fox from 3 to 4:30 p.m., with the Gold Cup slated for a 4:14 p.m. post time.

The renovation replaced Belmont’s aging grandstand with a new five-story structure that will hold 10,000 spectators when finished. Only two floors will open for the fall meet, with NYRA targeting full completion in the first quarter of 2027. The construction also forced the last three runnings of the Belmont Stakes to relocate to Saratoga Race Course.

Belmont’s reopening arrives as major racing operators continue investing in their flagship properties. Churchill Downs Incorporated, whose shares closed at $82.22, down 1.28% from a previous close of $83.29, with a market capitalization near $6.07 billion, operates live and historical racing venues alongside wagering and casino gaming assets — a reminder that trackside capital projects like Belmont’s are part of a broader industry push to modernize racing infrastructure.

What to watch

• Friday’s Gold Cup result and how Forever Young exits the race ahead of the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland in late October.
• NYRA’s progress toward full grandstand completion, targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
• Attendance and handle figures from Belmont’s limited-capacity reopening weekend.
• Churchill Downs’ upcoming quarterly earnings report for context on racing-venue economics.

Source: original release