NYRA's 2-Year-Old Stakes Bonus Back in 2013

The New York Racing Association, Inc. has announced it will again offer a $100,000 bonus to the connections of any juvenile who breaks his or her maiden during the Aqueduct Racetrack winter/spring or Belmont Park spring/summer meets and goes on to win a graded stakes at any NYRA track in 2013.

The NYRA Reorganization Board approved the bonus program during its Feb. 27 meeting.

When the bonus was introduced in 2012, it was claimed by both Bern Identity and Shanghai Bobby  for their respective wins in the Sanford Stakes and Three Chimneys Hopeful, both grade II races at Saratoga Race Course. Bern Identity broke his maiden June 1 at Belmont in his second start, while Shanghai Bobby debuted a winner on April 19 Aqueduct and went on to earn the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male.

"The bonus was a tremendous success last year," Rick Violette Jr., president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, was quoted in a NYRA release. "It generated about 15 additional maiden races at Belmont, and certainly spurred significant interest in NYRA's 2-year-old program. We're pleased that NYRA is offering the bonus again this year."

"New York having a quality 2-year-old racing program is essential to American racing," said Todd Pletcher, trainer of Shanghai Bobby. "It seemed like it had slowed down in recent years in that horses were debuting later in the year, but the bonus program has created a great incentive for horsemen to prepare their horses to run earlier in the year. It showed last year when you had a horse like Shanghai Bobby run in April and go on to win the Eclipse. What the bonus has done is assure horsemen there would be plenty of 2-year-old maiden races, which has encouraged them to bring 2-year-olds to New York."