Today’s Belmont Park Picks

Belmont Park – located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits – stands as one of the country’s oldest and most storied horse racing tracks.

Home to the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, Belmont Park has been the stage for many of racing’s greatest legends in the last century, including Man o’ War, Curlin, Beldame, Rachel Alexandra, Seabiscuit, and Cigar.

Some of the most memorable Belmont Stakes races of all time include when Secretariat set an undefeated world record (2 minutes, 24 seconds) in his 1973 victory. Also, in 2004 a record-sized crowd of 120,139 witnessed Birdstone defeat Sandy Jones for the Triple Crown.

Top fillies race in the Mother Goose Stakes and the Coaching Club American Oaks, while the Bowling Green Handicap and Man O’ War Stakes represent the track’s most prestigious turf races. The racecourse also stages the iconic races the Travers Stakes, and Whitney.

Along with Saratoga in Upstate New York, Keeneland and Churchill Downs in Kentucky, and Del Mar and Santa Anita in California, Belmont is considered one of the elite racetracks in North America.

The main dirt track of the park is known as ‘the Big Sandy’ because of its dimensions as well as the rugged surface. Inside this sit two turf courses: the 1 5/16-mile Widener Turf Course and the 1 3/16-mile Inner Turf Course.

The main track is 1,097 feet long – making it the longest dirt track for thoroughbreds in the United States – and stretches from top all the way to the finish line.

The Widener Turf Course has one chute for 1 1/16-mile races and another for 1-mile races. The Inner Turf Course also contains a chute for 1 1/16-mile races.