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The Belmont Stakes is a prestigious horse race held yearly on the first Saturday of June, at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The race is the third leg of the Triple Crown, following the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. It is a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old Colts and geldings carrying a weight of 126 pounds (57 kg) and for fillies with a weight of 121 pounds (55 kg).
The first Belmont Stakes was held at Jerome Park in the Bronx, built in 1866 by stock market speculator Leonard Jerome (1817-1891) and financed by August Belmont, Sr. (1816-1890) for whom the race was named. The race continued to be held at Jerome Park until 1890 when it was moved to Morris Park, a nearby racetrack in the Bronx. The race remained there until the May 1905 opening of the new Belmont Park, 430 acre (1.7 km²) racetrack in Elmont, New York.
Anti-betting legislation was passed in New York State, closing Belmont and canceling the race for two years between 1911 and 1912.
The first post parade in the United States was at the 14th Belmont, in 1880. Until 1921, the race was run in the clockwise tradition of English racing.
Since 1926, a silver bowl, made by Louis Comfort Tiffany and donated by the Belmont family, has been given to the winning owner. Atop the bowl's cover is a silver figure of Fenian, winner of the third running of the Belmont Stakes in 1869.
Because of its length, and because it is the final race of the Triple Crown, it is called the "Test of the Champion". Most three-year-olds are unaccustomed to the distance, and lack the ability to maintain a winning speed for so long.
The race distance has varied: from 1867 until 1873, it was 1 5/8 miles (2.6 km). In 1874 the distance was reduced to 1 1/2 miles (2.4 km), and from 1890 to 1892, and in 1895, the distance was 1 1/4 miles (2 km). From 1896 until 1925, the distance was increased to the original 1 5/8 miles (2.6 km). In 1926, the race distance was set at the present 1 1/2 miles (2.4 km).
Trainers with most wins:
- James Rowe Sr. : 8
- Sam Hildreth : 7
- "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons : 6
- Woody Stephens : 5
- Max Hirsch , Robert W. Walden: 4
- Elliott Burch , John M. Gaver, Lucien Laurin, D. Wayne Lukas, Frank McCabe, David McDaniel: 3
Jockeys with most wins:
- Jim McLaughlin , Eddie Arcaro: 6
- Earle Sande , Bill Shoemaker: 5
- Braulio Baeza , Laffit Pincay, Jr., James Stout, Gary Stevens: 3
In 1870, a jockey recorded only as "Dick," a freed slave who later adopted the name Ed Brown, became the first African-American jockey to win the race.
On June 5, 1993 thoroughbred racing's all-time leading female jockey, Julie Krone, became the first woman to win a Triple Crown race when she rode to victory in the Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair.
Secretariat's 1973 Belmont victory set a record not only for the race, but for the mile and a half (2.4 km) on dirt, that still stands.
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