Belmont Park Reopens Ahead of Final Triple Crown Leg After Air Quality Caused Closure

The New York Racing Association announced Friday that racing would resume at Long Island's Belmont Park following significant improvement in air quality after smoke from the Canadian wildfires blanketed New York City earlier this week.

"Moving forward, NYRA will continue to actively monitor air quality conditions and forecasts to ensure the environment remains safe for racing participants and fans this weekend," the NYRA said in a statement.

Racing at Belmont Park was canceled Thursday due to poor air quality across New York City. Air quality reached a hazardous level in the area Wednesday and was still considered to be in an unhealthy range Thursday.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters Thursday that the Belmont Stakes could be canceled if the air quality index didn't improve.

"People come from all over the country," Hochul said. "It's huge for the local economy. And so we … hopefully can get this going, but there's no assurance of what the weather's going to be. So it's going to be a last-minute decision, I'm sure."

Belmont Park will host 11 races on Friday, highlighted by five graded stakes.

The Belmont Stakes, which is the final jewel of the Triple Crown, will be held Saturday. The Gustavo Delgado-trained Mage won the Kentucky Derby and the Bob Baffert-trained National Treasure won the Preakness Stakes.

National Treasure's win ensured there would be no Triple Crown winner this year. Justify is the last horse to claim the crown, doing so in 2018.

Poor air quality in New York City resulted in several professional sporting events being postponed Wednesday.

A matchup between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers was postponed and played as part of a doubleheader Thursday.

The National Women's Soccer League also postponed a match between the NJ/NY Gotham and Orlando Pride, and the WNBA postponed a game between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx

The National Weather Service issued an alert about the air quality in New York City on Wednesday afternoon and about 98 million people across parts of 18 states were under air quality alerts due to the impact from the Canadian wildfires, per NBC News.

As of Friday afternoon, the air quality index in New York City was listed at 52, which is considered to be moderate. If it remains in a normal range, the Belmont Stakes will likely go on as scheduled.