Inside the new grandstand at Belmont Park as construction continues
The new Belmont Park grandstand under construction on June 15, 2026. Credit: Rick Kopstein
The Japanese White Pine, believed to be there since the 19th century, and the inspiration for the Belmont Park logo as well as the statue of Triple Crown record-setter Secretariat will remain centrally located in the expanded paddock area.
Otherwise, visitors to the reconstructed Elmont racetrack with its state-of-the-art grandstand, which reopens for racing on Sept. 18, will find few similarities to the old, cavernous, aging facility. The New York Racing Association granted Newsday a preview of the interior of the new building on Monday.
NYRA chief executive officer and president David O’Rourke called it a “front to back” experience compared to the difficulty of viewing the horses in the paddock and then navigating through the old grandstand – with its rows of betting windows in the middle of the concourse – to get toward the rail in time for the race.
“The way the cadence of the day is you watch the race, you might go down to the paddock to see the horses and there’s a lot of flow,” O’Rourke told Newsday. “And puts some stress, actually, on the internal circulation. Given the footprint we had, we wanted to try something a little different. Pretty much everywhere in that building, it’s front to back. You’re walking 50 feet and you’ve got a view of horses no matter where you are.”
As a result, O’Rourke believes the new, 300,000 square foot grandstand will be more efficient with larger crowds than the old 1.2 million square foot building.
New York State committed $455 million to the project with NYRA contributing an additional $100 million. O’Rourke said the reconstruction was on budget. Belmont Park has been closed since July 9, 2023.
The new Belmont Park will feature 10 hospitality areas – with names such as Silks, Trackside Lounge, Stretch View and Triple Crown – and 620 mounted televisions ranging from 55 inches to 110 inches. The old grandstand had one proper restaurant. The fourth level will house 32 suites – the old grandstand had none, just box seats – with capacities ranging from 16 to 50 people.
The fifth level has outdoor viewing access to both the tracks and the paddock area with a 360-degree view of the surrounding area – including the Manhattan skyline and the tower at JFK Airport – and is also expected to be used for corporate and private events.
The building has a 45-degree slant in its outdoor seating so racegoers on the west side – away from UBS Arena – will not have their view obstructed by fans on the east side as the horses come down the stretch.
There’s an emphasis on the outdoor experience with numerous balconies and picnic tables as well as 90 benches near the rail. Tunnels from the south (grandstand side) and the north (the parking area) allow both pedestrian and vehicle traffic to the infield – 20 acres of space – whereas there was no infield access for fans previously.
It’s a lesson O’Rourke said NYRA learned from Saratoga Race Course and how it expanded its backyard experience in the 1980s.
“The experience that you see there and the way people and fans interact with the backyard specifically, it opens up the opportunity to have a sports/entertainment product at an extremely low price point that’s accessible to family and kids,” O’Rourke said. “That’s a little bit more of the pivot.”
At the back of the paddock area, there will be access for fans to pet the ponies [not the thoroughbreds] and large interior windows will allow fans to be at eye-level with the jockeys as they parade their horses toward the track.
Inside, the white color scheme with bright LED lighting is a considerable change from the dim interior of the old grandstand. Outside, so is the 65-feet high, 115-feet wide scoreboard.
A sports bar, Big Red’s, Secretariat’s nickname, is in the new building and will be open for Islanders’ games at UBS Arena. The paddock area, 85% larger, will still allow the Islanders to have space for their Park at UBS Arena.
But a major part of the reconstruction also came with the now four tracks, including the new, interior synthetic track and the upgraded drainage and irrigation system.
In addition to year-round NYRA meets – Aqueduct will close for good on June 28 – and the Belmont Stakes, Belmont Park will host the Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 29-30, 2027, and is expected to return to the prestigious meet’s regular hosting rotation.
“When we host the Breeders’ Cup, I have an agreement with the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] that I can build my own quarantine compound so the horses don’t have to go through an official USDA facility,” Breeders’ Cup executive vice president and chief racing officer Dora Delgado told Newsday of the international horses. “There was an old barn complex [at Belmont] that that they used to use as a holding barn. They’re going to tear that down and rebuild it.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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