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.

Course layouts

The 430 acre (1.7 km²) racing, training and barn complex is located on the western edge of the Nassau County region known as the Hempstead Plains. Just a few miles east on the same plains, the first racing meet in North America was held in 1665, supervised by colonial governor Richard Nicolls.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The dirt racecourse — known officially as the Main Track and nicknamed Big Sandy by racing followers — has a circumference of 1½ miles (2,414 m). Immediately inside of this is the Widener Turf Course (named after the Widener family that has a long and prestigious history in American horse racing) spanning 1 5/16 miles plus 27 feet (2,120 m), which in turn rings an Inner Turf Course 1 3/16 miles plus 103 feet (1,942 m) round. On the Main Track, it is 1,097 feet (334 m) from the top of the stretch to the finish line, and the segment between the wire and the start of the first (clubhouse) turn covers 843 feet (257 m) (this latter segment is shorter by approximately 165 feet on both of the turf courses, in order to accommodate the two chutes that exist on the Widener Turf Course, from which turf races of one mile and 1 1/16 miles are started; an additional chute exists for 1 1/16-mile races on the inner turf course).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to June 2005 research of several sources, including the Daily Racing Form and Newsday, Belmont has the largest dirt racecourse of any Thoroughbred track in not only North America but the world -- a mile and a half (2414 m). Woodbine Race Course in Toronto has a grass course of the same size; however it is located outside of the dirt track, the only North American track of which this is true.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By comparison, the King Abdul Aziz racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has a mile-and-a-quarter (2012 m) main track (as does Colonial Downs in Virginia), while Aqueduct is a mile and an eighth (1811 m). (Other grass courses in Europe have been longer, and Saudi Arabian racing once featured a course in old Riyadh from nine to 12 miles (14 to 19 km) in length).

Related Topics:
Riyadh - Saudi Arabia - Virginia - Aqueduct

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~