Belmont Racetrack
Belmont Park Logo
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| Location | 2150 Hempstead Turnpike Elmont, New York 11003, United States |
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| Owned by | State of New York |
| Operated by | New York Racing Association |
| Date opened | May 4, 1905 |
| Screened on | NBC (Belmont Stakes) |
| Course type | Flat/Thoroughbred |
| Notable races |
Belmont Stakes Jockey Club Gold Cup Metropolitan Handicap Champagne Stakes Manhattan Handicap Suburban Handicap Vosburgh Stakes Beldame Stakes Acorn Stakes Mother Goose Stakes Ogden Phipps Handicap Man O' War Stakes Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Frizette Stakes Vosburgh Stakes Belmont Derby Belmont Oaks |
| Official website | |
Belmont Park is a major Thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont, New York, just outside New York City limits. It first opened on May 4, 1905. It is typically open for racing from late April through mid-July (known as the Spring meet), and again from mid-September through late October (the Fall meet).
It is widely known as the home of the Belmont Stakes, regarded as the "Test of the Champion", the third leg of the Triple Crown.
The race park's main dirt track has earned the nickname, "the Big Sandy", given its prominent overall dimensions and the deep, sometimes tiring surface. Belmont is also sometimes known as "The Championship Track" because almost every major champion in racing history since the early 20th century has competed on the racecourse – including all of the Triple Crown winners. Along with Saratoga Race Course, in Upstate New York, Keeneland Race Course, in Lexington, Kentucky, Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Kentucky, and Del Mar and Santa Anita racecourses, in Southern California, Belmont is considered one of the elite racetracks in the sport.
Belmont hosted its largest crowd in 2004, when 120,139 saw Smarty Jones upset by Birdstone in its Triple Crown bid.
Belmont Park is operated by the non-profit New York Racing Association, as are Aqueduct and Saratoga Race Course. The group was formed in 1955 as the Greater New York Association to assume the assets of the individual associations that ran Belmont, Aqueduct, Saratoga Race Course, and the now-defunct Jamaica Racetrack.
In May 2007, reports surfaced suggesting that then New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was considering closing Aqueduct Racetrack, which is ten miles west of Belmont in Ozone Park, New York, and turning Belmont into a nearly year 'round race track when the New York Racing Association lease for all three of New York State's tracks expired at the end of 2007. According to the plans being discussed, Belmont's stands would be heated, additional barns built for Aqueduct's 400 horses, and the track modified to accommodate winter racing. In addition, video lottery machines would be introduced. A new entity would operate Belmont from fall to spring while the New York Racing Association would operate Saratoga Race Course in the summer. Any plans the former governor might have had for the track alignment likely left office with him when Spitzer was forced to resign amid a prostitution scandal in March 2008.
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Wikipedia