By Bill Heller
This is truly the dawn of a golden era for New York-breds. Saratoga Race Course has just begun its longest meet ever and beautiful, brand-new Belmont Park is waiting to open on September 18th. The Empire Trillium Series, a new set of stakes races for New York-breds and Canadian-foaled horses, will begin in December. Partial purse parity is already in effect, full parity begins in January, and the New York Racing Association has already raised all of its purses.
There’s never been a better time to have a New York-bred. “I wish I had more of them,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “With the purse structure and the new incentives, it seems like a good time to be breeding New York-breds, buying New York-breds, and racing New York-breds. They’ve done a good job of trying to stimulate the program.”
The program has been vibrant, with New York-breds frequently stepping into open company and winning stakes. Breeders are noticing. Nine new stallions arrived in New York this year. “That’s a pretty positive sign when everybody else has been declining for years,” Joe McMahon of McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, said. “We have also gained mares for the last 10 years.”
Top New York trainer Linda Rice is a fan: “The New York-bred program has been great for many years. I’ve had a lot of success with horses like Verdad and Palace (both $1.5 million earners). I train for Barry Schwartz, Chester Broman and Sheila Rosenblum of Lady Sheila Stables, who have focused on breeding in New York. It’s a big part of our program.”
The New York-bred program has been backed by the New York Racing Association for several years. NYRA hosts three Showcase Days annually, each featuring all-New York-bred cards, including multiple stakes. NYRA already raised the purses for New York-bred two-year-old races to the same level as for open races, and in January will raise all other New York-bred races to the same level as open company. “We’re moving to the new Belmont, and I think they realize that the New York program is part of their strength and part of their backbone, and they made some changes to enhance the program,” Rice said.
None were bigger than purse parity. “Based on the amount of racing NYRA and New York State conducts, the New York-bred foal crop is extremely important to NYRA, not only from a racing product perspective, but also from the economic impact that it generates for New York State,” NYRA’s senior vice president of racing and operations Andrew Offerman told Bob Ehalt in a 2025 story. “We’re very fortunate to have what we have in New York, and we continue to rely on the state-bred program for our success. It is very important to us. When you look at the new Belmont Park and what it means to the industry, I think it’s a no-brainer.”
McMahon said, “NYRA has become much more of a partner. That relationship is really a big thing. David O’Rourke (CEO and President) is a capable guy and he’s a good guy. That’s been the change at NYRA.”
At the current Saratoga meet, which runs through Labor Day, the purse for a New York-bred maiden race for three-year-olds will be $100,000, $15,000 less than that of an open maiden race. A New York-bred allowance race’s purse will be $105,000, again $15,000 less than that for open company. In January, all of those purses will be level.
“This is going to be such a major time,” Sheila Rosenblum of Lady Sheila Stables said. “For those of us who loved it and stuck by it, this is absolutely the time. This is pretty much how my career took off. I was excited to say I was there at the beginning. I’m sticking to what my strength has been, which is all about New York. I have 13 New York-breds that will be racing, and it’s so exciting about Belmont. Most of the time, I try to buy New York-breds.”
More excitement will come from the Empire Trillium Series, a 14-race program of stakes races at Belmont Park and Woodbine Racetrack for horses foaled in New York or Canada. Total purses will be $3.2 million.
The series begins on December 26th over the new Tapeta surface at Belmont Park, with four $200,000 stakes named to honor outstanding New York-breds Tiz the Law, Bar of Gold, Gander and Saratoga Dew. On January 23rd, the inaugural runnings of the $300,000 Long Island Derby and Long Island Oaks will be held. The NYRA part of the series concludes on February 27th with two $200,000 stakes: the Elmont and the Queens Village.
Woodbine then hosts six races for three-year-olds and up in 2027, four on Tapeta and two on turf.
Nominations for the two-year-old crop of 2026 closed on June 19th. Rosenblum nominated five of her two-year-olds. Rice helped her make that decision: “We went through it with all our various clients and discussed with them whether they wanted to nominate or not, and the majority of them did. Many want to participate. We’ve nominated a lot of horses.”
Harlan Malter, founder and managing partner of Ironhorse Stallions, didn’t have to think hard about nominating his two-year-old New York-breds by his incredible sire Bucchero, New York’s leading sire last year. “We have three New York-bred Bucchero two-year-olds, the first crop of them, and we nominated all of them for the Empire Trillium Series,” Malter said. “I even went out and bought an Ontario-bred by Jack Crhistopher for Ironhorse Racing Stable.”
Bucchero finished first in New York in 2025 progeny earnings and 54th nationally ($5,873,316), despite not having a single New York-bred starter.
His outstanding season was fashioned by New Jersey-bred Book’em Danno, the 2025 Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter, who won four of five starts in 2025, including three graded stakes at Saratoga: the Grade 1 Forego, Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Grade 3 True North. Book’em Danno won the True North again this year. In 2025, Bucchero also sired multiple graded-stakes-winning turf sprinter Queen Maxima and multiple stakes winners Beauty of the Sea, Buccherino and Ms. Bucchero.
He was the fourth leading synthetic sire in the country in 2025, 56th among turf sires, and 112th among sires of three-year-olds. With the Empire Trillium Series largely consisting of stakes races on Tapeta, Bucchero’s progeny should have plenty of opportunities for success that didn’t exist previously.
By covering 192 mares last year, Bucchero broke the record for most mares bred in a single season by a North American stallion outside of Kentucky. He also posted the second highest gain in mares bred, behind only New York-bred star Tiz the Law, who stands at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.
Bucchero moved to New York for 2024 after spending five seasons in Florida. “As I said when Bucchero got here, Bucchero is the stallion that the New York program was built for,” Malter said. “NYRA has done its job. New York has done its job. We’ve got good breeder support. I’m very, very excited for Bucchero.”
Malter’s not the only breeder in New York excited about the future.
McMahon said, “I think we’ve been on a steady incline the last five years. When the Fund decided to raise the award level, that really encouraged a lot of people in New York. It was a real factor in bringing in more mares to New York.”
Two of his stallions, Central Banker and Solomini, also had big years in 2025. Central Banker was 64th nationally ($5,239,826) in progeny earnings, 49th among sires of two-year-olds, and 99th among sires of three-year-olds. Central Banker was the leading sire by earnings standing in New York State. His teammate, Solomini, finished 76th nationally ($4,131,291), seventh among third-crop sires, 54th among sires of three-year-olds, and 80th among turf sires.
McMahon is enthused about the Saratoga meet: “With purse money, to run for that kind of money, that’s a big thing. That’s what keeps people going on. Saratoga should be incredible this year.”
