Belmont Stakes
| Grade I race | |
The final and longest leg of the
United States Triple Crown "The Third Jewel of the Triple Crown" "The Test of the Champion" "The Run for the Carnations" |
|
| Location |
Belmont Park Elmont, New York, United States |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1867 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred |
| Website | belmontstakes.com |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1 1⁄2 miles (12 furlongs) |
| Record | 2:24, Secretariat (1973) |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | Left-handed |
| Qualification | 3-year-olds |
| Weight | Colt/Gelding: 126 pounds (57 kg); Filly: 121 pounds (55 kg) |
| Purse | US$1.5 million 1st: $800,000 |
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) horse race, open to three-year-old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies carry 121 pounds (55 kg). The race, nicknamed The Test of the Champion and The Run for the Carnations, is the third and final leg of the Triple Crown and is held five weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks after the Preakness Stakes, on a Saturday between June 5 and June 11. The 1973 Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown winner Secretariat holds the mile and a half stakes record (which is also a track and world record on dirt) of 2:24.
The attendance at the Belmont Stakes is among the American thoroughbred racing top attended events. The 2004 Belmont Stakes drew a television audience of 21.9 million viewers, and had the highest household viewing rate since 1977 when Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown.
The 149th Running of the Belmont Stakes will take place on Saturday, June 10, 2017.
The first Belmont Stakes was held at Jerome Park Racetrack in The Bronx, built in 1866 by stock market speculator Leonard Jerome (1817–1891) and financed by August Belmont, Sr. (1816–1890), for whom the race was named. The first race in 1867 saw the filly Ruthless win, while the following year was won by General Duke. The race continued to be held at Jerome Park until 1890, when it was moved to the nearby facility, Morris Park Racecourse. The 1895 race was almost not held because of new laws that banned bookmaking in New York: it was eventually rescheduled for November 2. The race remained at Morris Park Racecourse until the May 1905 opening of the new Belmont Park, 430-acre (1.7 km2) racetrack in Elmont, New York on Long Island, just outside the New York City borough of Queens. When anti-gambling legislation was passed in New York State, Belmont Racetrack was closed, and the race was cancelled in 1911 and 1912.
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