The 2026 Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet is here, and the meet will mark the final season ever of live racing at Aqueduct. The spring/summer season of Belmont Park race dates held at Aqueduct (and Saratoga) will begin on April 30 and will continue until June 28 when Aqueduct closes its doors for the last time.

The future reimagined Belmont Park is currently under reconstruction and on schedule for a Sept. 18, 2026, opening date. Until then, Aqueduct, and later this summer Saratoga, will host Belmont Park’s traditional spring/summer dates, including the running of Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets on June 6 at Saratoga. Even with spring racing being contested at Aqueduct, however, the day-to-day quality of racing, purses, and significance of the meet will be nearly or par with what it should be if it were held at Belmont Park – hence the moniker, “Belmont at the Big A.”

Besides simply being a sentimental time for New York racing fans, the final Belmont at the Big A meet this spring and summer will be among the season’s most important race meets for horses, horsemen and horseplayers. Many of the country’s best jockeys and trainers will call the meet home for the next couple of months, ensuring the season will remain atop of handicappers’ simulcast menus for much of May and June.

The 2026 Belmont at the Big A meet has been whittled down to just 28 race days at Aqueduct plus five days at Saratoga for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from June 3 to June 7. The statistics for the meet will include all the dates at Aqueduct plus the June dates at Saratoga until Saratoga’s own summer meet opens in July.

Here is a closer look at handicapping the top trainers and jockeys at the 2026 Belmont at the Big A meet. Best of luck and enjoy the last season ever at Aqueduct.

Belmont at the Big A Leading Trainers

Linda Rice with Kendrick Carmouche (Eclipse Sportswire)

Top trainers and horses typically return to New York in full force this season. Looking ahead to the trainer’s race at the Belmont at the Big A meet, it should come down to a battle between Linda Rice and Chad Brown for top honors with Rice holding the advantage because she enters far more starters at the meet. Rice has been the runaway leading trainer at both of Aqueduct’s meets so far this year.

At the most recent Belmont at the Big A spring meet in 2025, Brown edged Rice for the training title 21 wins to 18. Brown won the corresponding Belmont training title back at the 2024 spring meet with 29 wins and Rice was second that year with 22 wins. Rice had won the 2023 Belmont title with 34 wins from 140 starters for 24%. It goes back and forth. Brown was the winningest trainer at the 2022 Belmont spring/summer meet with 47 wins.

Rice gets her wins at meet with sheer dominance in volume. She started 114 horses at this meet last year and won with 16%. Brown on the other hand had only 64 starters and his 21 winners represented a 33% win percentage.

Another trainer that posted a giant win percentage at this meet last year was Brad Cox, who concentrates his forces at Churchill Downs at this time of year but maintains a New York string and does quite well with them. He was the third-leading trainer last year with 11 wins despite only 38 starters, giving him a big win percentage of 29%.

Todd Pletcher is another trainer that probably can’t keep up with Rice and Brown in terms of volume and number of winners but can hold his own in terms win percentage. Pletcher was 10-for-54 (19%) at the meet in 2025 and should compete for the third on Belmont at the Big A spring 2026 leaderboard along with Cox and Bill Mott, who finished last year’s meet with nine winners from 37 starters for 24%. An honorable mention from last spring’s meet goes to Wesley Ward, who managed to win seven races from only nine starters (78%)

Bet the best trainers in their best spots at Belmont at the Big A. Based on stats from the last three spring/summer meets, several trends stand out for horseplayers. By far, Brown should win the most turf races while Pletcher, Rice, and Mike Maker and Miguel Clement will also win their fair share on the grass. Brown’s and Pletcher’s turf winners mostly come in route races, while Rice, Ward, and George Weaver, in particular, are the standouts in turf sprints.

On the main track, Linda Rice should win the most dirt races. She is dangerous in all categories but wins at a higher percentage in dirt routes (including one mile). Pletcher does much better in routes than sprints. Cox primarily wins on the main track. Rice also leads in dirt sprint winners at the meet, but other trainers win at high percentages in those races, too, including Brown, Cox, and Mott. In New York’s early-season 2-year-old races, Weaver, Pletcher, Maker, and especially Ward are the main trainers you want to bet.

Several trainers are coming off very subpar seasons last spring/summer at Belmont at the Big A, and bettors should proceed with caution with this group unless you see early signs of life. Trainers that had tough meets in spring 2025 included James Ferraro (1-for-29), John Terranova (1-for-16), Melanie Giddings (1-for-18), Carlos Martin (1-for-19), Jose Jimenez (0-for-17), and Charlton Baker (0-for-15 after going 0-for-18 in 2024). Even horses from some high-profile barns can struggle at this meet, too. Mark Casse, for example, went 3-for-21 last spring after going 0-for-14 the year before.

Top Jockeys at Belmont at the Big A

Manny Franco after a win. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Nationally prominent top riders will be returning to New York full time for the Belmont at the Big A season. They will battle it out against leading Aqueduct jockeys topped by Manny Franco, the leading rider at the brief 2026 Aqueduct April meet and the clear winner of the Aqueduct 2026 winter meet jockey titles. Franco beat the big names for the spring 2024 Belmont jockey title and finished second in the Belmont at the Big A spring meet standings last year.

The 2025 Belmont at the Big A spring meet leading rider was Flavien Prat who finished first with 28 wins from just 90 mounts for 31%. Prat rode regularly at Aqueduct’s recent winter meet this year and finished tied for third in wins with 39 while clearly tops in terms of win percentage with 32%. Franco finished second at the 2025 Belmont at the Big A spring meet with 26 wins from 137 mounts (19%). Third last spring was Irad Ortiz Jr. with 24 wins from 81 mounts for a strong 30% win percentage. Ortiz finished second at the corresponding 2024 meet two years ago with 31 wins, and was the second leading rider in spring 2023 with 58 wins, one behind brother Jose Ortiz, who subsequently relocated to Kentucky.

Like his brother, Irad Ortiz rode full-time at Churchill Downs last fall and could spend time at the Louisville track during its summer meet, but he should also be present for big New York race days. He’ll lead the star-studded group of jockeys traveling in and out as Prat, a local rider during the winter, returns to New York after an April stint at Keeneland. The Belmont at the Big A jockey’s room will also include many more big names including Javier Castellano (ninth in last year’s standings with 13 wins from 79 mounts (16%), John Velazquez (7-for-33 last year, 21%), Joel Rosario (15-for-65, 23%), and Junior Alvarado (8-for-40, 20%, in an injury-shortened season last year).

The jockeys returning from out of town will join local standouts like Jose Lezcano (22-for-139, 16% last year), Kendrick Carmouche (22-for-112, 20%), Ricardo Santana Jr. (19-for-138, 14%), and Dylan Davis (21-for-114, 18%) as contenders to finish in the top 10 in the jockey standings. You also now have to put Jaime Rodriguez into the mix, as well. He has become prominent recently in the Aqueduct standings after tying for third in the winter meet standings with 39 wins from 241 mounts (16%) and finishing second in the Aqueduct April meet standings. Finally, keep tabs in the entries for apprentice Dalila Rivera, who made a splash at the April meet by winning aboard seven of her first 26 mounts (27%) and finishing eight for 34 overall (24%) at the meet under the tutelage of jockey agent Angel Cordero.