NYRA has released the stakes schedule for the 2011 meet at Saratoga Race Course.

The 143rd meet at the historic track runs from Friday, July 22 through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5, with the dark day on Tuesdays. The 40 days of live racing include 52 total stakes races. At least one stakes race is carded for each day of racing. The schedule includes 17 Grade 1 events, with at least one scheduled for each Saturday of the meet.

The centerpiece of the meet is the Grade 1 Travers Stakes on Saturday, Aug. 27. As always, the Mid-Summer Derby, expected to attract some of the nation’s top 3-year-olds, anchors a strong program. The four other graded events on the day are the Grade 1 Ballerina for female sprinters, the Grade 1 King’s Bishop for sophomore sprinters, the Grade 3 Victory Ride for 3-year-old fillies and the Grade 2 Ballston Spa for turf females.

The 52 stakes carry total purses of just over $10.9 million. The only substantial purse change was an increase from $100,000 to $150,000 to the With Anticipation Stakes, which was upgraded from a Grade 3 to a Grade 2 for this summer.

NYRA also released the stakes schedule for the upcoming Belmont spring/summer meet, which opens on April 29 and runs through July 17. The schedule features the return of four graded events that were on hiatus in 2010 due to NYRA’s financial woes. The Futurity, for 2-year-olds, and the Matron, for 2-year-old fillies, will be renewed on July 3. The two events, both Grade 2s, were previously run during Belmont’s Fall Championship meet.

The Grade 2 Peter Pan, the local prep for the Belmont, was another of the events on hiatus last year; it returns to its spot in the lineup on May 14. The Grade 2 Dwyer, which was moved from July to May last year to fill the gap as a prep race, moves back to its old position on July 2.

The Grade 3 Poker for older turf horses also returns and will be run July 10.