Belmont Stakes Horse Race

Belmont Stakes Horse Race “The Test of the Champions”


 

The Belmont Stakes Horse Race is the 3rd and Final leg of the races in the “Triple Crown”.

Belmont Stakes Horse Race

Belmont Stakes Horse Race has a few nicknames “The Test of Champions” and “The Run for the Carnations” and “The Third Jewel of the Triple Crown”.

Whatever you call it, it sure is a spectacular sight to see.

The first running of the Belmont Stakes was in 1867 and is the oldest of the Triple Crown races. Jerome Park Racetrack was the site for the first Belmont Stakes.

The track was built in 1866 by Leonard Jerome a stockbroker and financed by August Belmont, Sr. for whom the race was named.  

A filly named Ruthless with jockey Gilbert Patrick and owner A. Jack Minor was the first Belmont Stakes Winner.

The Belmont Stakes continued at Jerome Park Racetrack until 1890, until it moved to Morris Park Racecourse in May 1905. The location of the race was moved once again to the current 430-acre Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, New York.  

The 1.5 mile-long (12 furlongs) Stakes Race is open to all three-year-old Thoroughbred Horses.  Colts and Geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds and Fillies carry 121 pounds.

Belmont Stakes Race is held in June every year, five weeks after the Kentucky Derby on a Saturday between June 5th and June 11th.

Stakes races draw over 21 million television viewers each year and it keeps increasing as does the sport.

There were 2 years when the race did not take place between 1911 and 1912 due to gambling legislation in New York State at the time.  Then in 1919, we had our first Triple Crown Winner, Sir Barton.  After that, there have been many great Triple Crown Winners.  

 

 

Triple Crown Winners Since 1919


There have been 12 Triple Crown Winners from 1919 through 2015 with American Pharoah being the last one. 

Secretariat holds the World Record Stakes Time of 2:24.00 minutes on dirt at 1-1/2 miles in the 1973 Belmont Stakes Race.  

 

 

Belmont Stakes Trivia 


  • Who has won the Belmont Stakes as a Jockey and Trainer?
    • James G. Rowe, Sr and George M. Odom

     

  • Who was the first woman jockey to win the Triple Crown?
    • Jockey Julie Krone rode Colonial Affair to victory on June 5, 1993.

     

  • Which horse won the Belmont Stakes at odds of 70-1?
    • Sarava won the 2002 Belmont Stakes upsetting War Emblem’s bid for the Triple Crown.

     

  • What color horse has the most victories prior to 2016?
    • Bay Color Horse has 56 victories followed by Chestnuts with 54 wins.

     

  • How many horses have missed their chance at the Triple Crown?
    • Twenty-three horses couldn’t win the last leg of the Triple Crown races.  Pensive (1944), Tim Tam (1958), Forward Pass (1968), Majestic Prince (1969), Sunday Silence (1989), Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), Smarty Jones (2004),  Northern Dancer (1964), Spectacular Bid (1979), Pleasant Colony (1981), Charismatic (1999), Funny Cide (2003), Kauai King (1966), Canonero II (1971), Alysheba (1987), California Chrome (2014), Carry Back (1961), War Emblem (2002), Big Brown (2008). Three Derby/Preakness winners did not race in the Belmont Stakes: Burgoo King (1932), Bold Venture (1933) and I’ll Have Another (2012).

     

  • Which Post Position favors winners in the Belmont Stakes?
    • Post Position (1) has 23 wins and Post Position (10) and (11)  only have 2 wins.

     

  • What is the flower of the Belmont Stakes?
    • Carnations are the Belmont Stakes Flowers,  Kentucky Derby is Red Roses, Preakness Stakes is Black-Eyed Susan.

     

  • How many Fillies have won the Belmont Stakes?
    • Three (3) 1867 Ruthless, 1905 Tanya, and 2007 Rags to Riches.

     

  • What is the minimum number of horses who ran in the Belmont Stakes?
    • There are five times were only two (2) horses competed in the Belmont Stakes, 1887, 1888, 1892, 1910, and 1920.

     

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