NYRA has unveiled a 64-race stakes schedule for the 2025 Saratoga Race Course summer meeting, featuring over $20 million in purse money across the 40-day event. The prestigious meet runs from Thursday, July 10 through Labor Day, September 1.
Three seven-figure races anchor the schedule: the $1.25-million GI DraftKings Travers Stakes on August 23, the $1-million GI Whitney Stakes on August 2, and the $1-million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup on August 31.
The season’s first Grade I contest arrives on Saturday, July 12, with the Diana Stakes for older fillies and mares on turf. Nearly every subsequent weekend features at least one Grade I event.
Three-year-old fillies have two major Grade I opportunities at the Spa. The Coaching Club American Oaks offers a nine-furlong main track test on Saturday, July 19, serving as a preparatory race for the $600,000 GI Alabama Stakes presented by Keeneland Sales at 1¼ miles on Saturday, August 16.
The $500,000 GII Jim Dandy Stakes headlines the only Saratoga weekend without Grade I action on Saturday, July 26. This race traditionally produces several contenders for the Travers four weeks later. The same card features the GIII Lake George Stakes, launching the turf series for 3-year-old fillies.
Whitney day on August 2 boasts four Grade I events, including the FanDuel Fourstardave Stakes — moved up a week and increased from $500,000 to $750,000 — along with the Test Stakes presented by Ticketmaster and the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. The program also includes the GII Troy Stakes for older turf sprinters and the GII Saratoga Special Stakes for juvenile males.
The GI Sword Dancer Stakes, traditionally part of Travers weekend, now headlines the Saturday, August 9 card, supported by the GII Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes.
Travers Day offers a combined $3.65 million in purses across its stakes races. The card includes the GI H. Allen Jerkens Stakes for 3-year-olds, the GI Resorts World Casino Ballerina Stakes for female sprinters, the GI Forego Stakes for male sprinters, and the GI Personal Ensign Stakes for older fillies and mares on the main track. The GII Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies has been shortened to a mile with its purse doubled to $400,000.
The final three Grade I events unfold over closing weekend with the Spinaway Stakes on Saturday, August 30, the Gold Cup on the 31st, and the Hopeful Stakes on Labor Day, September 1.
The schedule also includes eight races restricted to New York-bred horses. The National Steeplechase Association will present the $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Stakes on July 23 and the $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Memorial Stakes on August 20.
The complete Saratoga stakes schedule is available on the NYRA website.
