ELMONT, N.Y. – Horses, hockey, concerts, and Big Bird. For better or worse, that’s all in the offing over the next 11 weeks on Long Island as the New York Racing Association consummates its marriage with the UBS Arena on Thursday with the opening of Belmont Park’s 44-day spring/summer meet. The UBS Arena, located directly behind the western part of the grandstand, opened in November, two weeks after Belmont’s fall meet ended. Built primarily for the NHL’s New York Islanders, the 18,000-plus seat venue also hosts other events. There will be hockey games Thursday and Friday night – the final two games of the season for the Islanders – and then the arena will have events on five racing days in May, including a John Mayer concert on May 7, the night of the Kentucky Derby, and six Sesame Street Live performances over the May 14-15 weekend. :: For the first time ever, our premium past performances are free! Get free Formulator now! The arena took up a sizeable portion of the backyard. However, the NYRA is the process of renovating the remaining backyard area and has gained some space behind the paddock and the administration building. As of Sunday morning, there was mostly dirt and gravel in the backyard. By Thursday, however, there will be new sod put down in some areas and the gravel will become a paved walkway. Other areas will still be a work in progress, including a new permanent bar where the old paddock pavilion tent once stood. “In another two weeks this will be a whole different place,” Glen Kozak, NYRA’s senior vice president/operations and capital projects, said Sunday while standing in the backyard. NYRA has instituted a policy that bans fans from bringing large coolers and alcohol to the backyard. Fans may bring coolers and alcohol to the Top of the Stretch picnic areas, any of the 19 sections that can be reserved in advance and online. Tickets to the Top of the Stretch are $15 per person, which includes admission and access to a shared table for the day. General admission to the track is $5. There are varying costs for parking. This is Phase 1, if you will, of what will be a further transformation of Belmont Park. The NYRA is in the final stages of evaluating bids to build a tunnel that will ultimately allow for fan access to the infield but more immediately will enable NYRA easier access to its two turf courses and main track in order to renovate them. Depending on timing, the project could prompt NYRA to move the Belmont fall meet to Aqueduct. NYRA also is hoping that the state will pass a bill to float bonds to enable it to obtain financing for a rebuild of the Belmont grandstand itself. Before that all takes place, though, there will be 44 days of live racing with a robust stakes schedule consisting of 59 races worth $16.95 million to be run. The $1.5 million Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, is one of 12 Grade 1 stakes offered at the meet, eight of which are offered on that same June 11 card. Frank Gabriel, who took over as NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations in February after Martin Panza left that job last fall, said one of his and racing secretary Keith Doleshel’s goals is to try and strengthen the weekday programs at Belmont. “We know the weekends can always be strong with the stakes and allowance races.” Gabriel said. “We’re trying to make sure the weekdays can stay strong.” Doleshel is officially the year-round racing secretary at NYRA. Under Panza, NYRA had used multiple racing secretaries, including Pat Pope at Belmont for the last few years. Pope, who is the racing secretary at Oaklawn Park, was not brought back. Gabriel, who spent 15 years in Dubai before returning to the United States, said he hopes to build on the international participation at Belmont and Saratoga that trended upward during Panza’s tenure. “With Covid maybe reducing, hopefully we can get more international participation this year,” he said. The jockey colony will be strengthened by the presence of Flavien Prat, the Southern California kingpin who will ride here Sunday and then full time starting May 8, after the Kentucky Derby. He adds to an already strong group that includes Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose Ortiz, Joel Rosario, John Velazquez, Javier Castellano, Manny Franco, Dylan Davis, Kendrick Carmouche, and Trevor McCarthy. For the most part, racing will be conducted on Thursdays through Sundays with two holiday cards – Memorial Day and July 4 – through July 10. First post for the first three days of the meet is 1:20 p.m. before 1 p.m. becomes the norm May 1. Beginning May 12, Thursday post times will be 3:05 p.m. This Thursday’s feature is a second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claimer at six furlongs on dirt. One of the contenders is Repo Rocks, who has been competitive against tougher but lately has been hampered by slow breaks from the gate. Thursday, he will go out first time for trainer Greg DiPrima, who took over the gelding’s trainer from Juan Vazquez. Andrew Wolfsont, who last week at Parx Racing recorded his 1,000th career victory, has the mount. “If he can just break with the field and not have too much to do, he’ll have a good shot,” DiPrima said. “I got two works in him, and both were real good.” Spun and Won ships in from the New Jersey for trainer Jorge Duarte Jr. He is coming off a second-place finish in a similar spot at Laurel three weeks ago. Fitzpatrick comes off a solid first-level win on March 5 at Aqueduct.