The Belmont Stakes is a Grade I race held in Beltmont Park, Elmont, New York, US. The location of the race is in the heart of New York City. The race is of interest to racing fans both in the United States and around the world due to its stellar reputation for racing excellence. The race track is 12 furlongs long and 3 year old horses are eligable to take part. It’s a real test of champions.
The history of Belmont Stakes started in 1867 in the Jerome Park Racetrack in the Bronx. The track was in fact specially built by stock market analyst Leonard Jerome, and the financer was August Belmont Sr, and thus the race got the name of Belmont Stakes. A century and a half back, in 1867 a filly called Ruthless won the first historic race.
Since that time the race was gone from strength to strength, in 2002 over 100,000 attended, a record for US sports. The 2015 race was a real stand out because American Pharaoh, attained the privileged Triple Crown (winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in the same year!), the first horse to do so in 37 years when Affirmed claimed the accolade. On June 9th , 2018, Belmont Stakes completed 150 years of racing.
The 107th year of the race was held in 2018. The crowd was a healthy 90,327. Justify came first and the runner-up was Gronkowski. The race was tight with two high spirited horses but Justify won the day. Unbelievably, Justify also claimed the Triple Crown title that year, solidifying something of a golden age for American horse racing.