NYRA 2yo Bonus
 

I hadn't seen it mentioned on here so I was wondering what people thought about the bonus that NYRA is offering to any 2yo that is able to win a maiden race at the Belmont spring/summer meet and couple that with a graded stakes win at any NYRA track by the end of the year? The bonus is $100k and it is included in a horse's graded stakes earnings which means that it could play a factor in determining who makes next year's Derby field.

I think efforts would be better spent trying to find incentives for older horses.

Everyone is trying to attract young horses by dangling more money in front of them in hopes of making the Derby.

I agree. The one thing I like about this is that it may entice a few more outfits to start their younger horses a little earlier in the year and I've always felt that the more racing for the youngsters, the better.

The main idea is to incent folks to run their maiden 2yo's in NY. Over the last 8-10 years NY has just watched as the 2yo's ran in KY and didn't come to NY. There was a time when their were 2yo colts on Wed and 2yo fillies on Thu every week starting in mid April. By Belmont week they were running stakes for each sex. Big NY outfits used to point to break a 2yo's maiden and get some stakes cred before shipping to Saratoga. I'm not talking about the 30's but 15-20 years ago.

Moving the Futurity and Matron (and still calling them G2) is a ploy. They are no longer "G2" races while placed in the early summer. Of course, now you could win an early maiden then an inflated G2 and pick up a huge bonus That said, I think they have run one mixed sex baby race in NY, with a very short field. Of course to win the Futurity (formerly the Tremont) you have to beat a KY shipper and a Delaware shipper who each probably faced better horses.

The Futurity is the Futurity, it is not formerly the Tremont, and if you bothered to look, you would see that neither the Futurity nor the Matron is on the Belmont Summer Stakes schedule this year. As for " still calling them G2 " they are Grade 2s. Are you suggesting we should voluntarily lower them...or drop the grade altogether? You are aware that last year's Matron winner was Millionreasonswhy?

Hopefully the bonus offer will bolster both the 2YO maiden races at Belmont and the 2YO Stakes at Saratoga. The racing office is doing what they can to strengthen these races. The money is there. We'll see if the horses run.