Ungraded Stakes race | |
Location |
Belmont Park Elmont, New York, United States |
---|---|
Inaugurated | 1887 |
Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
Race information | |
Distance | 5 1⁄2 furlongs |
Surface | Dirt |
Track | left-handed |
Qualification | Two-year-olds |
Weight | Assigned |
Purse | US$200,000 (2016) |
The Tremont Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually for 2-year-olds at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is the first stakes race on the Belmont Park stakes schedule for two-year-old colts.
Due to the troubled economy in 2008, the Tremont was canceled by the NYRA as they adjusted races to meet the new Grade I standard purse of $300,000. The Tremont Stakes was previously run in early July over a distance of 5 1⁄2 furlongs with a purse of US$200,000 added. It was reinstated in 2014 in mid June at the same distance. In 2015, the date for the race was moved to the Friday before the Belmont Stakes as part of the Belmont Racing Festival.
First held in 1887, it is named for the horse Tremont, who, according to the New York Racing Association, was acclaimed by 19th Century horse racing historians as the best two-year-old ever bred in the United States. It was first run at the Gravesend Race Track at Coney Island in Brooklyn until 1910 when racing was no longer viable after the state of New York outlawed all racetrack betting. Although the law was repealed in time to resume racing in 1913, the Gravesend Racetrack never reopened. The Tremont Stakes was restarted in 1914.
Although the race is currently ungraded, the Tremont has been won by some of the great names in Thoroughbred racing such as U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductees Man o' War, Sarazen, Buckpasser, Foolish Pleasure, and Alydar.
The Tremont Stakes has also been run at the following tracks