Make sure you read the race cards before going ahead and placing those all-important bets. We take all events from this racecourse seriously and you can read the American race card information before going ahead with your bets.
The New York Racing Association operate Belmont Park and this is a not-for-profit organisation, with the group also running Aqueduct and Saratoga Race Course, with the company being formed in 1955.
The thoroughbred horse racing season at Belmont Park traditionally runs between late April and early August, with a large number of race meets taking place in that time. After the Spring meet, there is also something called the Fall meet later in the year and that tends to run between mid-September and late October.
Enjoy the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park
In early June, the US horse racing industry focus on this race course considering that the Belmont Stakes is one of the most prestigious races on the entire calendar. Indeed, this is the third leg of the famous Triple Crown and follows hard on the heels of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.
The Belmont Stakes is known as the “Test of the Champion” and this race is run over a distance of 1.5 miles or 12 furlongs. This is a longer stretch than the average race and is clearly designed to test a particular horse’s stamina, with three-year-old horses competing on a left-handed dirt track for major honours.
This is a big money race considering there is normally a purse of around $1.5 million for this race and the winning connections can hope to pocket around $800,000 for producing the winning horse. It is sometimes referred to as Race for the Carnations due to the champion getting a blanket made of that flower.
Historically famous horse Secretariat continues to hold the record when it comes to the winning time, with the runner landed victory in 1973 in an astonishing time of 2:24. This continues to be the track and world record on dirt so it’s not likely to be to beaten any time soon.
Bet on the Championship Track Meetings
Belmont Park has many nicknames and that includes the “Championship Track” due to the fact that several major American champion horses have competed on this race course over the years. It’s a course which is renowned for having wide and sweeping turns, while there’s a long homestretch and that can often see the lead change hands several times.
The course itself has many distinctive features and the main dirt track is known as “The Big Sandy” due to the fact that it almost resembles a desert due to the amount of width that horses and riders have in which to operate. However, it’s a course which tends to prove popular with owners, trainers, jockeys and punters due to the fact that the dimensions lend themselves to fairness and tend to eliminate draw bias.
It’s important to note that Belmont Park doesn’t just have a dirt track and that a grass course is also available for several key races. It’s important to make the distinction as dirt and grass are effectively different kinds of sports and the latter course plays hosts to races such as the Belmont Derby, Belmont Oaks, Manhattan Handicap, Just A Game Handicap, Bowling Green Handicap, Man O' War Stakes, Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes and the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational.
Other prominent dirt track races include the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Woodward Stakes, the Suburban Handicap and the Memorial Day standby—the Metropolitan Handicap, also known as the "Met Mile”. However, there are also several regular race meetings where you can expect the purse to be around $50,000 for the winner.
At Belmont Park, we also see several races for fillies that are prominent in the calendar, with the Mother Goose Stakes and the Coaching Club American Oaks being among the biggest ones. These are run as the first two instalments of the New York Racing Association’s Triple Tiara series for fillies, with the Alabama Stakes being run at Saratoga to complete the set.
In total, there are seventeen Grade I races which is generally considered to be the highest class of horse race when it comes to US thoroughbred racing, while there are a similar number of Grade II encounters and the same applies to Grade III races.
Justify Wins 150th Running of Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes recently celebrated the 150th running of this massive race and it was Justify that landed the Race for the Carnations which meant that the horse became the thirteenth Triple Crown winner in the history of US horse racing. Indeed, Justify joined Seattle Slew as an unbeaten horse to land the treble of Preakness Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
After the Belmont Stakes Festival, the second most prestigious meeting at Belmont Park is the Stars & Stripes Racing Festival and the showcase race is the Belmont Derby Invitational and the Belmont Oaks Invitational.
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