MyWinners Morning Line: Belmont is back. $1M Gold Cup. Forever Young.
Hi there,
It rained in New Haven this week. I don't mean it rained. I mean I watched a recycling bin float past my house at a pace that would have won a Wheeling maiden.
My wife and I were supposed to go out Saturday. Instead we spent the weekend on the couch with the blinds shut, a bag of pretzels, and the Woodbine card, which is either the saddest sentence I've ever written or the best weekend of my marriage, depending on who you ask. She asked me at one point why I was yelling "DETERMINISTIC, HOLD SECOND" at my MyWinners app. I explained that I had a trifecta key. She said, and I quote, "I have a headache." Notable Speech won, Deterministic held second, we cashed. She still has the headache. I have the ticket.
So the sun's out today. Not literally. I checked. But the new Belmont Park opens its doors for the first time this afternoon, $455 million worth of racetrack, and the best older horse on the planet flew in from Japan to christen it. I have not been this excited about a building since the Stamford Bobby V's got a re-fit.
Let's get into it.
🏇 RACING THIS WEEK
TODAY (Fri) · 🇺🇸 Belmont Park · OPENING DAY · Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1, $1M, BC Classic WAYI) · Race 5 of 9 · 4:14pm ET · live on MyWinners · 🇺🇸 Presque Isle Downs · MASTERS DAY · PID Masters (G2, $300K) · $725K across 5 stakes · 🇺🇸 Hoosier Park · Peter Haughton Memorial + Jim Doherty Memorial (harness) · 🇬🇧 Ayr · GOLD CUP FESTIVAL DAY 2 · LADIES DAY
TOMORROW (Sat) · 🇺🇸 Parx Racing · PENNSYLVANIA DERBY DAY · Pennsylvania Derby (G1, $1M, 5:48pm ET) + Cotillion (G1, $1M) + Gallant Bob (G2, $400K) · $3.3M across 8 stakes · first post 10:35am ET · 🇺🇸 Churchill Downs · STAKES TRIPLEHEADER · Dogwood (G3, $300K) + Harrods Creek ($300K) + Seneca Overnight (L, $200K) · 🇺🇸 Belmont Park · Floral Park (Listed, $175K) · 🇨🇦 Woodbine · Durham Cup (G3, $175K) · 🇬🇧 Ayr · AYR GOLD CUP DAY · Ayr Gold Cup (£180K, 10:40am ET) + Ayr Bronze Cup + Firth of Clyde (G3)
SUNDAY · 🇺🇸 Belmont Park · Forever Together ($175K) · 🇺🇸 Gulfstream Park · MANDATORY RAINBOW 6 PAYOUT · 🇺🇸 Delaware County Fair · LITTLE BROWN JUG WEEK OPENS (harness, Sun-Thu)
WED-THU · 🇺🇸 Delaware County Fair · Wed: Jugette (G1) · Thu: LITTLE BROWN JUG (G1) + Old Oaken Bucket (G3) + Buckette (G3)
GREYHOUNDS (nightly, Tue-Sun) 🐕 · 🇺🇸 Wheeling Downs + Tri-State · 🇦🇺 Australian greyhounds overnight · 4% cashback
→ THE NEW BELMONT PARK OPENS TODAY
Last week I told you this was coming. Now it's here. The $455 million redevelopment of Belmont Park is complete: four new tracks, a synthetic surface, two turf courses, a rebuilt dirt oval, and 72 stakes worth $17.7 million across the fall meet through December 6. Today is opening day. And they booked a headline act.
The $1,000,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1, 1 1/4 miles, race 5 of 9, 4:14pm ET, live on the MyWinners app) is the first Grade 1 ever run at the new Belmont, and it doubles as a Breeders' Cup Classic "Win and You're In" qualifier. This is the 108th running. Man o' War won it. Kelso won it five times. Forego, Cigar, Curlin twice. That's the company today's winner keeps. FOX is building a network special around it, "Belmont Park Returns," 3pm ET to 4:30pm ET, but you'll be watching on the app anyway.
Forever Young (3/5) is here. The Japanese Horse of the Year won the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar last fall by a half-length over Sierra Leone, finished second to Magnitude in the Dubai World Cup in March, and shipped to New York this week to open the new Belmont. Yoshito Yahagi is running him right back through America for the fall, and this is stop one before a Classic title defense at Keeneland on October 31. His record is 15 starts, 11 wins, a second and three thirds. With back-to-back $20 million Saudi Cups on the ledger, he's earned $31,758,590, which makes him the highest-earning horse ever to race in North America. At 3/5, you're paying for it. The one question: he hasn't run since March. Six months off the track and straight into a G1 is a lot to ask, even of him.
Sovereignty is out. The reigning Horse of the Year, the horse I told you was "50/50" last week, developed an abscess and is bypassing the Gold Cup entirely. He's going straight to the Breeders' Cup Classic. And he's not the only one. NYRA confirmed Tuesday that Banishing and Chunk of Gold have both scratched too, both pointing to the Lukas Classic at Churchill next Saturday. That leaves five in the gate, and it changes the race completely.
Phileas Fogg (4/1) is the horse this scratch-down helps most. He's now the lone speed in a five-horse field, and he's already proven at this exact trip on this exact track: he won the Suburban here in July by 10 lengths at a mile and a quarter. Loose on the lead with nobody to press him, against a favorite coming off a six-month layoff. If you're looking for the upset, that's the shape of it. Baeza (9/2) is the third choice. He comes in off a solid Saratoga campaign and has the closing kick to get a piece if the pace collapses, but with only one speed horse in the race, it might not. Stars and Stripes (15/1) and Render Judgment complete the five.
The Gold Cup is the only stakes on today's card (the Jockey Club Derby, Oaks, and Long Island run November 28 on Man o' War Day). Tomorrow brings the Floral Park ($175K), and Sunday features the Forever Together ($175K). If you want to bet the new Belmont Park all weekend, you can.
One more thing before you build your ticket. Forever Young's form is Japanese, Dubai, and Del Mar. If you want to see his full record rather than take my word for it, the international past performances are free to download in the Handicapping Store in your MyWinners app. Full US PPs for the whole Belmont card are in there too. No charge.
→ PENN DERBY DAY: $3.3 MILLION AT PARX TOMORROW
While Belmont takes the spotlight today, tomorrow belongs to Parx Racing. First post is 10:35am ET and the G1 Pennsylvania Derby ($1M, 1 1/8 miles) goes as race 14 of 15 at 5:48pm ET, so pace yourself. It's an 11-horse field led by Further Ado (2/1), who was the Kentucky Derby favorite in the spring and is trying to get back to the form that made him one. Iron Honor, The Puma, and Zihnal are all in the mix behind him. The G1 Cotillion ($1M) drew Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner, the best name on the card and the filly everyone's been waiting to see back at this level.
And it's a deep undercard. The Gallant Bob (G2, $400K) is the three-year-old sprint, and it usually produces the fastest final time on the card. The Parx Dirt Mile ($300K) is for older horses at a distance that sets up nicely for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Then four more at $150K apiece: the Greenwood Cup (marathon, 1 1/2 miles), the Liberty Bell, the Stable Recovery, and the Philly Special. Eight stakes worth $3.3 million on one card, and it's a Pick 5 and Pick 6 player's dream because the stakes run back to back. If you're not at Belmont today, you're at Parx tomorrow. Both is the right answer.
→ THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
🏇 Leading Change won the Travers. On just his third career start, the Wathnan Racing colt upset Kentucky Derby/Belmont winner Golden Tempo at Saratoga on August 29. Brad Cox trained him. Manny Franco rode him. He was 12/1 on the morning line and paid $22.76, so roughly 10/1 at the off. A maiden winner in June, a G3 Indiana Derby winner in July, and a Travers winner in August. Three starts, three wins, and the "Mid-Summer Derby" trophy on a horse nobody saw coming. Cox said: "Even with the lack of seasoning, he was able to get the job done with talent." What to do with it: he's 12/1 for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on October 31. If he shows up in a prep at Belmont or Keeneland in the next few weeks, that number shortens fast. Write his name down now.
🏇 Notable Speech did it again. Godolphin's star won the Woodbine Mile for the second straight year on September 12, running down Deterministic by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:33.86. William Buick called him "an incredible horse." Charlie Appleby also took the Summer Stakes with Al Hudaiba on the same card. The man's running at a 46% strike rate over the last two weeks. What to do with it: Notable Speech is 7/4 for the Breeders' Cup Mile, and Appleby ships to the Belmont fall meet every year. When you see a Godolphin blue silks in a Belmont turf stakes over the next six weeks, don't fade it.
🏇 Daryz is 9/4 for the Arc. The defending champion won the Prix Foy on September 6, his final prep and his fourth start of the year, and heads to Longchamp on October 4 as the one to beat. It was some afternoon for the Aga Khan Studs team: Francis-Henri Graffard and Mickael Barzalona completed a treble with Erdenali in the Prix du Moulin (at 15/2, breaking the Longchamp course record), Varandir in the Prix Niel, and Daryz in the Foy. What to do with it: the Arc is a World Pool race, which means deeper pools and bigger exotic payouts. It's bettable straight from your MyWinners lobby. Two weeks out is the time to start building your ticket, and Erdenali at 15/2 last time tells you the Mile picture is wide open.
🏇 Highwayman won the St Leger. Saffie Osborne made history at Doncaster, steering Highwayman home at 11/1 by 2 1/2 lengths from stablemate Enceladus, a one-two for Joseph O'Brien. Osborne is the first woman to win any of the five British Classics, and she only picked up the ride days before. What to do with it: stayers who win the Leger often turn up in the Breeders' Cup Turf or the Melbourne Cup in November. Follow the blog for the international Breeders' Cup previews as the fields firm up.
→ MORE RACING THIS WEEKEND
🏇 Presque Isle Downs: Masters Day, today. Five stakes, $725,000, all on the Tapeta, and all before the Gold Cup goes off at Belmont. The Presque Isle Downs Masters (G2, $300K) is the headliner, a filly and mare sprint that regularly draws Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint hopefuls looking for one more synthetic prep. The Presque Isle Mile ($150K) is the older-horse route. Then three two-year-old races that are worth a look if you like betting first-time stakes horses at a price: the Presque Isle Debutante ($100K) for fillies, the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile ($100K), and the Power by Far ($75K). Synthetic form is its own thing. Horses that love it, love it. Check the PPs for Tapeta or Polytrack wins before you bet a dirt horse to handle it.
🐴 Harness. Bet Hoosier Park tonight featuring the Peter Haughton Memorial and the Jim Doherty Memorial. The Delaware County Fair kicks off Sunday and runs through Thursday, with the Jugette on Wednesday and the Little Brown Jug on Thursday. If you bet harness, clear your calendar mid-week.
🏇 Churchill Downs: Three stakes under the lights tomorrow night. The Dogwood (G3, $300K) is a seven-furlong sprint for three-year-old fillies that often produces a Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint longshot. The Harrods Creek ($300K) is the three-year-old colts' equivalent. And the Seneca Overnight (L, $200K) rounds out the three. Churchill's night cards draw big pools because the East Coast tracks are done and everyone's still awake, so the exotics pay properly. If you've bet Parx all afternoon and want one more card, this is it.
🏇 Woodbine: Durham Cup Day. The Durham Cup (G3, $175K) is the feature tomorrow, a 1 1/16-mile Tapeta route for older horses, with the Sweet Briar Too ($125K) for fillies and mares in support. Woodbine's turf and Tapeta form has been rock solid this fall (Notable Speech proved that last week), and the pools are deep on a Saturday.
🏇 Gulfstream Park: mandatory Rainbow 6 payout Sunday. This is the one to circle. The Rainbow 6 jackpot has been building for weeks, and on Sunday it must be paid out in full whether or not there's a single winning ticket. No carryover. Everything in the pool goes to whoever has the most winners. That changes the math completely: on a mandatory payout day, the effective takeout drops and the smart play is to spread wide in the leg you're least sure of. Check the pool size Sunday morning in your lobby before you build the ticket.
🏇 International. 🏴 Scotland, three days, today is Ladies Day. The festival opened Thursday and builds to tomorrow's Ayr Gold Cup (£180K, 10:40am ET), a six-furlong cavalry charge and the most valuable flat handicap in Europe. 263 horses were entered for 25 places. It's one of the hardest races in Britain to pick. The Ayr Bronze Cup runs on the same card for the horses that didn't make the cut, and the Firth of Clyde (G3) for two-year-old fillies is the class act on the undercard. Today's Ladies Day card is the warm-up.
Now, a word on the weather. I complained about New Haven up top. Ayr makes New Haven look like Del Mar. The going at Ayr in September is usually described as "soft," which in Scotland means the horses are wearing kilts and the jockeys are wearing snorkels. If you're betting the Gold Cup, find a horse that's won on heavy ground, ignore the ones that look pretty on fast, and pray the draw hasn't put yours on the wrong side of the track. The Scots have been running this race since 1804 in exactly this weather. They're fine. Your horse might not be.
🐕 Greyhounds. Wheeling Downs and Tri-State run every night this week except Monday, and if you're not betting them yet, you're behind half the room. These two West Virginia tracks are consistently top-five on the platform by handle, ahead of Gulfstream some weeks. Tri-State Greyhound Night is the sleeper: 15-race cards, quick turnaround, and trifectas that pay because most people haven't done the homework. CF turned $16 into $2,400 on the dogs a couple of weeks back. It happens. And when Wheeling wraps up, Australian greyhounds pick up the overnight shift with 4% cashback on every bet this week.
Don't want to do the homework yourself? There are daily greyhound tip sheets for both Wheeling and Tri-State in the Handicapping Store in your lobby, alongside the Racing Dudes thoroughbred picks and the Yonkers Empire Report. Same place every day. And while you're in there: full past performances, including international PPs, are all available on MyWinners.
Coming up. Santa Anita's Autumn Meet opens September 25. The Mohawk Million is September 27.
[Bet This Weekend's Racing on MyWinners →]
🤑 Carryovers. The best value in pari-mutuel betting. Churchill Downs $368,053 Jackpot 8, tonight, Race 10. Thistledown $422,719 Pick 6, Monday Sep 21 · Gulfstream mandatory Rainbow 6 payout Sunday. Bookmark this one so you can always find live carryovers:
→ SPORTS THIS WEEK
🏈 NFL Week 2 Sun Sep 20 1pm ET: Packers @ Jets · Steelers @ Patriots 1pm ET · Bears @ Panthers 1pm ET · Saints @ Ravens 1pm ET · Bengals @ Texans 1pm ET · Sun Night: Colts @ Chiefs · Mon Sep 21 8:15pm ET: Giants @ Rams
⚽ EPL Matchweek 5 Today 3pm ET: Brentford vs Chelsea · Tomorrow 7:30am ET: Tottenham vs Aston Villa · 10am ET: Brighton vs Arsenal · Everton vs Ipswich · Man City vs Sunderland · Newcastle vs Hull · 12:30pm ET: Nottingham Forest vs Coventry · Sun 9am ET: Bournemouth vs Liverpool · Leeds vs Crystal Palace · 11:30am ET: Fulham vs Man Utd
🏈 College Football Sat: #7 LSU @ #8 Ole Miss 7:30pm ET (Oxford)
🥎 Jai Alai Pelota Miami Season X · Pari-mutuel matches Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11:30am ET · 3% cashback on exacta/trifecta at MyWinners
What to Bet On
🏈 NFL. Three games for our crowd this Sunday. The Packers come to MetLife to face the Jets at 1pm ET. The Jets beat the Titans in Week 1, and I am cautiously optimistic, which is the most dangerous sentence a Jets fan can write. I'm not betting against my team at home. The Steelers visit the Patriots at Gillette, 1pm ET, for the Pats home opener. And Monday night it's the Giants at the Rams, 8:15pm ET. Victor's staying out of the CT games entirely this week (his three picks are below). Giovanni likes the 49ers laying 13.5 against Miami as the safest number on the board.
⚽ EPL. Chelsea at Brentford today, 3pm ET. A west London derby on a Friday afternoon is not a bad way to start the weekend. Draw no bet on Chelsea at plus money could be the play of the weekend.
🏈 College Football. #7 LSU at #8 Ole Miss, Saturday 7:30pm ET in Oxford. Lane Kiffin goes back to face the program he walked out on. The Grove will not be polite about it. The OVER looks tempting with both offenses humming.
Bet on sports at all of our nine venues in CT.
→ 🥎 JAI ALAI IS BACK: PELOTA MIAMI
Season X opened Tuesday at JAM Arena in Miami and runs through November 18. If you haven't bet jai alai yet, this is the week to start. The bettable pari-mutuel cards, the ones that count for the cashback below, run Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 11:30am ET. Put it in your calendar now: next Tuesday, Sep 22, is your first shot.
Who to watch: Look for Mikel Amigorena and Aratz Mendizabal in the early rounds: both are quick starters who tend to dominate the opening points of a new season before the rest of the field finds its rhythm.
What to bet on: Trifecta is the king of jai alai betting. The pools are deeper and the payouts are worth the risk. If you're new to it, start with a $1 trifecta box on the 1-2-4 positions: it's the most frequent winning combination in jai alai history and covers all six finishing orders for $6. For more experienced players, key the top-seeded pelotari on top and box three underneath for a cheaper ticket with more upside.
And don't forget: MyWinners is running 3% cashback on all jai alai exacta and trifecta bets at Pelota Miami this season. Plus the jersey giveaway: place $2,500+ in jai alai bets and win a game-worn Pelota Miami jersey. Dave from our MyWinners team is wearing his in the photo above. Yours could be next.
→ MY EXOTIC OF THE WEEK
Last week's Woodbine Mile trifecta key was on the money. Notable Speech won, Deterministic ran second, and we cashed. I'm not saying I'm a genius. I'm saying I'm 1-for-1 in September and feeling dangerous. Tommy (above) knows it.
This week: the Jockey Club Gold Cup at the new Belmont, and I'm going against the favorite. Five runners after the scratches, so a trifecta is barely a bet. The play is the exacta. $2 exacta: Phileas Fogg over Forever Young, and Forever Young over Phileas Fogg. $4 total. Here's the logic. Phileas Fogg is the only speed left in the race. He won the Suburban here in July by 10 lengths at this exact distance. Nobody's going to press him, so he gets to set his own fractions and kick. Forever Young is the best horse in the world, but he hasn't run since March, and a six-month layoff into a G1 against a loose front-runner is how favorites get beat. I think one of those two wins and the other runs second. If it's Phileas Fogg on top, that exacta pays properly. If it's Forever Young, it pays your money back and a bit. Either way I'm not sweating Baeza.
→ VIC'S PICKS: WEEK 2
Victor's words, not mine: he spread himself thin last week splitting picks between the NFL and college, and a pure collapse by the Packers cost him an NFL sweep and a winning week. Lesson learned. This week he's pros only. Natalie (above) is confident too. Three picks:
👉 Eagles -7 @ Titans. Anyone who watched Tennessee lose to the Jets last week has to be shocked this isn't a double-digit spread. Victor's laying the number while he can.
👉 Bucs -8 @ Browns. See above for rationale. Victor thinks the Browns might go 0-17.
👉 Cardinals +4 vs Seahawks. Yes, Drew Lock steered Seattle to a win last week, but Victor says this Arizona team is fun to watch and actually pretty good. They keep the momentum from the Week 1 upset and keep this one close.
Hold him to his record. We're keeping score all season.
→ Live promos this week.
Update on Leon. Last week he was muttering "spend, spend, spend" in the corridors. This week he arrived at the office in a floor-length pink feather coat, introduced himself to reception as Zsa Zsa Leon Gabor, and spent the morning throwing dollar bills in the air shouting "I'M MAKING IT RAIN, DAHLING." He has also acquired two pink poodles. We don't know where from. We haven't asked. Nobody has told him the dollar bills are the promo budget, and nobody is going to, because look at what he's giving away: Bet & Get at Mountaineer + Finger Lakes · 3% cashback on all US & Canadian harness · 4% cashback on Australian greyhounds (the poodles are furious about this) · 3% cashback on jai alai exacta/trifecta at Pelota Miami · Pelota Miami jersey giveaway: place $2,500+ in jai alai bets this season and win a game-worn Magic City Jai-Alai jersey.
Small stakes, big wins. Congrats to JS on an $8,000 Pick 5 at Assiniboia Downs. That's how you do it.
→ THE SHORT VERSION
If you skipped to the bottom, here's the weekend in one breath. Today the new Belmont opens and the Gold Cup goes at 4:14pm ET with five runners: Forever Young is 3/5 off a six-month layoff, Phileas Fogg is 4/1 and the lone speed, and my exacta box is those two for $4. Presque Isle Masters Day runs before it, Hoosier Park harness runs after it, and Churchill's Jackpot 8 is tonight in Race 10 at $368,053. Chelsea are at Brentford at 3pm ET. Tomorrow is Parx, eight stakes and $3.3 million, with the Penn Derby at 5:48pm ET, Further Ado chasing his Derby-favorite form, and Always a Runner in the Cotillion, plus Churchill's stakes tripleheader at night and the Ayr Gold Cup at 10:40am ET if you're up early. Sunday is Gulfstream's mandatory Rainbow 6 payout, where everything in the pool goes out, so check the size in your lobby before you build a ticket, and the Jets and Pats kick off at 1pm ET with the Giants on Monday night. Next week brings Thistledown's $422,719 Pick 6 carryover on Monday, jai alai pari-mutuel cards Tuesday and Wednesday at 11:30am ET, the Little Brown Jug Wednesday and Thursday, and Santa Anita opening Friday with a full Breeders' Cup prep card. And every night, Wheeling and Tri-State greyhounds, with tip sheets and free PPs waiting in the Handicapping Store.
Phew. See you at the rail.
Mike B
VIP & Community, MyWinners
Tel: +1800 468 2260 (support)
P.S. If you're heading to the new Belmont today, send me a photo. Just reply to this email. I want to see what that place looks like from the rail. Can't make it? There's an AI-rendered flyover of the new facility on YouTube that gives you the idea, but trust me, nothing beats the real thing. And if you've been watching races with us since the Teletrack days, since Sports Haven, since the very beginning, you know what today means. New track. New era. Same passion. We're going forward.
P.P.S. One more thing about watching. If you're still betting through the website, do yourself a favor and get the MyWinners app. Live streams, free PPs, the Handicapping Store, carryover alerts, all in one place. It's so fast and the best way to bet on horses. Dave spent 40 years making sure you could watch the races in retail. But the app is how you do it now. Download on the App Store → for iPhone, or Download for Android → direct from us.
P.P.P.S. Tonight's Mega Millions is $244 million. Saturday's Powerball is around $280 million. That's more than half a billion across two draws this weekend. Tickets are available at all nine MyWinners venues. I think it could be you.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 2026 Jockey Club Gold Cup is race 5 of 9 on opening day at the new Belmont Park, with post time set for 4:14pm ET. It is the first Grade 1 run at the redeveloped track and a Breeders' Cup Classic Win and You're In qualifier.
Forever Young is the 3/5 favorite. The Japanese Horse of the Year won last year's Breeders' Cup Classic and finished second to Magnitude in the Dubai World Cup in March, but he has not raced since that Dubai start in March.
Reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty developed an abscess and was scratched from the race. Banishing and Chunk of Gold were also scratched, with both pointing instead to the Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs.
Phileas Fogg, the 4/1 second choice, is the lone confirmed speed in the five horse field after the scratches. He won the Suburban Stakes at this same course and distance in July by 10 lengths and could get an uncontested lead.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup streams live and is bettable on the MyWinners app, at app.mywinners.com, or at any MyWinners or Winners venue in Connecticut.
