Rice Sends 16 Runners to Fall Starter Championships
The stable has horses in 10 of the 11 races on Belmont Park’s October 17 card, with Rice leading all NYRA trainers in 2026.
Linda Rice will be busy on Saturday, October 17. The stable has entered 16 horses in 10 of the 11 races on the Fall Starter Championships card at Belmont Park, a day of starter stakes and allowances worth more than $1 million in combined purses.
Starter races are open only to horses that have run for a claiming price, which plays to the strength of a barn built largely through the claim box. Rice has two runners in several of the races: Commuted and Cool Andy in the opener, Le Gris and Systemic Change in the 1¼-mile third race, and pairs in the Silver Timber, Battle Bling, Be Bullish and Royal Posse. Urgency runs in the Voodoo Song, a race named for one of the Grade 1 winners Rice has trained.
It’s an exciting day for us.
Linda Rice
Rice goes into the card as the leading trainer on the NYRA circuit in 2026, with 163 wins at Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga so far this year. She is second in the standings at the first fall meet at the new Belmont Park.
Post times, jockeys and live video for every Rice starter are on the Watch Live page on race day, and the full list is on Entries & Results.
Sources: NYRA Press Office via Paulick Report, NYRA standings
