Belmont Park

Belmont Park Race Track is a horse-racing facility located just outside New York City, in the adjacent Nassau County suburb of Elmont, Long Island. It first opened May 4, 1905. It is world-famous as the home of the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown.

Belmont Park today

The last race at the old Belmont Park was run in October 1962. The following spring, NYRA chairman James Cox Brady announced that two separate engineering surveys found the grandstand/clubhouse was unsafe and had to be rebuilt. The old structure was demolished and rebuilt between 1963 and May of 1968 (the Inner Turf Course was also added during this time). The Belmont race meetings were moved to Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, Queens, during that time.

Related Topics:
1963 - May - 1968 - Aqueduct Racetrack

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The new $30.7 million Belmont Park grandstand, designed by Arthur Froehlich, was opened May 20, 1968. It has a total attendance capacity of 100,000, the largest in racing. The seating portion totals nearly 33,000. (Ironically, the smaller, more cramped Churchill Downs grandstand has more seats than Belmont, 51,000.)

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Racing at Belmont Park is conducted in two annual installments, or "meetings": The "spring-summer meeting," which usually begins on the second Wednesday in May and lasts through the fourth Sunday in July, followed by a "fall meeting" commencing on the Friday after Labor Day and ending the fourth Sunday in October. Racing is held at Saratoga during the time between these two meetings. Prior to 1977 a summer meeting was contested at Aqueduct from mid-June until Saratoga began; its abolition led to the Belmont spring meeting being lengthened to its present duration (and eventual renaming).

Related Topics:
Wednesday - May - July - Friday - Labor Day - Sunday - October - 1977

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The autumn installment is known as the Fall Championship meet, since many of the eventual Eclipse Award title winners have earned key victories in some of the meeting's races -- such as the Woodward Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup. Before the advent of the Breeders' Cup series in the mid-1980s, the Belmont Fall Championship races themselves helped determine the divisional championships.

Related Topics:
Jockey Club Gold Cup - Breeders' Cup

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Belmont has been home to the daylong Breeders' Cup championship in 1990, 1995 and 2001, and will again host the event in fall 2005.

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Belmont's backyard is well-known as a gathering place for racing fans to see their horses saddled before they hit the track. The center of the paddock is dominated by a white pine that predated the track itself -- it turned 179 years old in 2005. A stylized version of the pine has been the centerpiece of Belmont Park's corporate logo since 1968.

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The paddock also serves as a picnic area for the increasing numbers of fans who make Belmont Stakes Day — the Saturday that falls within the range of June 5 through June 11 — a tourist attraction. (Unlike Churchill and Pimlico, Belmont does not allow spectators to picnic in the infield.)

Related Topics:
June 5 - June 11 - Pimlico

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Officials of the New York Racing Association made a concerted effort to boost attendance on Belmont Stakes Day after the 1995 installment drew only 37,171. In 1997, NYRA and local officials put together the Long Island Belmont Stakes Festival -- featuring parades, food fests and other events in surrounding communities to promote the big race.

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The effort succeeded in creating a buzz around the Belmont Stakes apart from the chance of seeing a Triple Crown. The 2000 and 2001 Belmonts -- both run when there was no Crown on the line -- drew announced crowds of 67,810 and 73,857. The Belmont Stakes Festival continues to be held in communities near the track, such as Floral Park and Garden City.

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