this year Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA BETS It will be held on June 7th, and for the second year in a row, the last gem of the Triple Crown will be hosted by the Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York.
The race is traditionally held at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, and is set to return there in 2026 after the famous racetrack completes a major renovation.
The 2025 Belmont Stakes field can present some compelling storylines, particularly the possibility of a rematch between the top three finishers of this year’s Kentucky Derby, announced by Woodford Reserve. Runner-up and subsequent winner of Preakness Stakes Journalism. Baeza finished third. If all three compete in the Belmont stakes, it will not only be a great story, but also a great horse racing worthy of the final leg of the Triple Crown.
To prepare the final gem of the Triple Crown, below are 17 interesting facts about the race called “The Champion Test.”
1. The Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the three triple crown races. It was first held in 1867, and this year it is 157.th Running, compared to 151st Derby May 3rd and 150th Preakness May 17th. The Belmont Stakes is the fourth oldest stakes race in North America. The Phoenix Stakes in Keeneland were first run in 1831, and the Plate of the Canadian King held its first race in 1860, and in 1864 the Travers Stakes began in Saratoga.
2. The 2020 Belmont Stakes marks the first time since 1926 that the race has not been contested for the famous 1½ mile distance, with two years taking place in Saratoga (2024 and 2025) for 1¼ mile. The Covid-19 pandemic has temporarily closed many racetracks, leading to postponement or cancellation of key races on the Triple Crown Trail, as well as disruptions to the training schedules for trainers and their racehorses. That led to the Belmont stake being held at 1 1/8 miles around turn, and was scheduled for the first time in racing history as the first leg of the Triple Crown instead of the last floor. The race has returned to normal distance and placement as the final leg of the next three editions of the Triple Crown, but the ongoing construction project at Belmont Park brought about another change last year. Belmont Park features an oval shape of 1½ miles, while the Saratoga race course is a 1 1/8 mile main track. The Saratoga layout makes it nearly impossible to hold a 1½ mile race on the main track. Therefore, the Belmont stakes took place last year at 1¼ mile and will again be held in that distance in 2025. This is the same distance as the Kentucky Derby and Saratoga signature summer race, the Travers Stakes.
3. A record crowd of 120,139 ended up seeing the Triple Crown’s Smart Jonesvey in 2004. Fan favorites were beaten by the 36-1 long shot bird stone. The second-largest crowd of 103,322 came two years ago when Saraba, 70.25-1, was disrupted the coat of arms of war in the latter bid of the 2002 Triple Crown.
4. Historically, betting favourites won the Belmont Stakes 42% (66 out of 156 running) and four of the last seven editions won favourites from Mo Donegal (2022), Essential Quality (2021), Tiz the Law (2020), and Justify (2018). In 2019, Ir Winston paid $22.40 with a $2 win. Arcangelo in 2023 was the fifth choice of bets, returning $17.80 with a $2 win. And Dornoch was the third-highest price on the board from 10 starters a year ago, paying $37.40 in a $2 win after being overlooked at 17.70-1 odds
5. The Triple Crown winner pair owns two biggest victory margins at Belmont. The Secretariat won 31 lengths in 1973, and the Count Fleet won 25 lengths 30 years ago. Who owns the biggest victory margin in the Belmont Stakes since the Secretariat? Well, it was Risen Star, the secretariat’s son, who won the Belmont Stakes in 1988, in a breathtaking performance.
6. Speaking of the office, the 1973 Triple Crown winner set a 1½ mile world record in the dirt when he won 1973 Belmont at 2:24. He was so fast, the Secretariat also holds the record of the fastest half-mile, one mile, one mile and one ¼ mile fractions in the history of the Belmont Stakes. Obviously, there is no chance that the 1½-mile stakes record will be broken this year, as the distance changes to 1¼-mile. Can you improve the 1:59 1¼ mile fractional hours? Considering the 1¼ mile traver stakes stakes record, Saratoga’s “Mid Summer Derby” is 1:59.36 set by arrogate in 2016.
7. The first Belmont Stakes featured a total wallet of $2,500. The filly took home a ruthless $1,850 winner’s share. This year’s race is worth $2 million, including the winner’s $1.2 million.
8. From 1882 to 1888, Jockey James McLaughlin won six editions of Belmont Stakes over seven years. McLaughlin established the record for the most Belmont victory by jockeys who were equal in 1955 with Eddie Arcaro’s sixth and final Belmont Stakes victory at Nashua. The main active riders are Mike Smith, who won three races, including Droschel Meyer (2010), Palace Maris (2013) and Justifi (2018). He was able to add to that total in 2025 as a rider for the Wood Memorial Stakes presented by Resorts World Casino winner Rodriguez.
9. In 1913, trainer James Lowe Sr. won the 8th Belmont Stakes with Prince Eugene. Establishing records is never broken. Lowe also won the Belmont twice as a jockey at Joe Daniels in 1872 and at Springbok in 1873. The only person to train on the winners of the Belmont Stakes is George Martin Odom. George Martin Odom won Delhi (1904), and in 1938 the winner of Addddled was pasteurized.
10. The main active trainers from the Belmont Stakes victory were Hall of Fame D. Wayne Lucas and Todd Pluterger (former assistant to Lucas), four each. Lukas won the race with Tabasco Cat (1994), Thunder Gulch (1995), Editor’s Notes (1996), and Celebrity (2000). Pletcher’s victory came with rich rags and rich rags in 2007 along with Palace Maris (2013), Tapwrite (2017), and Mo Donegal (2022).
11. Julie Krone at the Belmont Stakes in 1993 became the first woman to ride the winner in the US Triple Crown Race. The clones acquired the events of the Longshot colonial era at 2¼ lengths from the pace.
12. In 2024, 30 years after Krone’s achievements, Jena Antonucci became the first woman to train the winner of the Belmont Stakes when Arcangelo scored 1½ length. There were only 11 Antonucci.th The first woman since 2011 to saddle a horse in the “Champion Test.”
13. The aforementioned Saraba gave the bettors the biggest winning payment in Belmont history with a 70.25-1 confrontation. His 2002 victory earned $142.50 per $2 bet, with the $2 Exacta using runner-up Medaglia D’Oro paying $2,454 after Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem stumbled into the start and eighth place.
14. The 1921 Belmont Stakes first ran counterclockwise. That year, 53rd The Belmont Stakes run was a 1 3/8 mile race on the main track. Previous editions were fish hook-shaped courses that included parts of the training track and main dirt ovals, running clockwise according to English habits.
15. The 20th edition of Belmont’s Stakes was acquired by horses whose names began with the letter C. Recent creator of 2016. The Letter S ranks second with 18 winners, but the Belmont winner’s name never started with last year’s Letter X or Y. Dornoch.
16. The 2020 law became the first New York product winner of the Belmont Stakes in an astonishing 138 years. He participated in history books in Ruthless (1867), Fenian (1869), and Forester (1882).
17. Journalism would be about to turn 19 if he was competing in the race.th Preakness-Doubling the Stakes and not the first Crown winner since Afleet Alex in 2005. Obviously, 13 Triple Crown winners also won both races, but Carlin Colt was Cloverbrook (1877), Duke of Magenta (1878), Grenada (1880), Sounder (1881), Belmar (1895), Man-O-Wor (1920), Pillar (1922), Bimmel (1940), cap (1940), cap), (1953), Nashua (1955), Damascus (1967), Little Current (1974), Risen Star (1988), Hansel (1991), Tabasco Cat (1994), Point (2001), and the aforementioned Afret Alex.
18. In 2006 and 2007, Honor produced Jazil: Jazil: Jazil, seeking Gold and Rags to Riches by Ap Indy. Rags to Fortune in 2007 became the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes since Tanya in 1905, the third female winner in racing history, and traced her half-sieble victory a year before the name of horse racing history. Big Brown’s Puka runs his own remarkable run as a breeder, and could be better than his feat of honor in Saratoga this year. Puka’s son Baeza by McKinsey came in third in the Kentucky Derby and was one of the top candidates for the Belmont Stakes, a race won by Half Seven Dornock a year ago. She was the dam of the winner of the 2023 Kentucky Derby, and by Good Magic, it was a great run for Puka. Puka had three starters for the Kentucky Derby starters (Mage, Dornoch and Baeza) over three years, but now Baeza has given her a third US Triple Crown Race victory over the years, earning her second straight Belmont Stakes winner.
