The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies carry 121 pounds (55 kg). The race, nicknamed The Test of the Champion and The Run for the Carnations, is the traditional third and final leg of the Triple Crown. It is usually held on the first or second Saturday in June, five weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks after the Preakness Stakes. The 1973 Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown winner Secretariat holds the mile and a half stakes record of 2:24.
Man o' War, also known as Big Red, was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. Several sports publications, including The Blood-Horse, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and the (AP) Associated Press, voted Man o' War as the best American racehorse of the 20th century. During his racing career, just after World War I, Man o' War won 20 of 21 races and $249,465 in purses. He was the unofficial 1920 American horse of the year and was honored with Babe Ruth as the outstanding athlete of the year by The New York Times. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957. On March 29, 2017, the museum opened a special exhibit in his honor, "Man o' War at 100".
Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905.
Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on Union Avenue in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. Opened in 1863, it is often considered to be the oldest major sporting venue of any kind in the country, but is actually the fourth oldest racetrack in the US. In 1857 the Empire Race Course was opened on an island in the Hudson River near Albany, but was in operation only a short time.
Gallant Fox was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the second winner of the American Triple Crown.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It has traditionally been the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers Stakes is of the summer meeting at Saratoga. The past winners of the Gold Cup are a veritable who's who of award-winning Hall of Fame horses, including Easy Goer, Man o' War, Cigar, Skip Away, Curlin, Slew o' Gold, John Henry, Affirmed, Forego, Shuvee, Damascus, Buckpasser, Kelso, Sword Dancer, Nashua, Citation, Whirlaway and War Admiral. Despite the current $1,000,000 purse and Grade 1 status, the stature of the race has suffered somewhat in recent years thanks to the emergence of the Breeders' Cup Classic held not long afterward, as well as a change in distance to 1+1⁄4 miles in 1990, reducing its distinctiveness.
Nashua was an American-born thoroughbred racehorse, best remembered for a 1955 match race against Swaps, the horse that had defeated him in the Kentucky Derby.
The Whitney Stakes is an American Grade 1 stakes race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of 1+1⁄8 miles. The current purse is $1,200,000.
The Futurity Stakes, commonly referred to as the Belmont Futurity, is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid-September or October at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, United States. Open to two-year-old horses, it is raced on turf over a distance of six furlongs.
The Sanford Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the third week of July at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. A six furlong sprint race, the Grade III event is open to two-year-old horses.
The United States Hotel Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in the late summer or early autumn until 1955 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It was run on dirt over a distance of six furlongs. Raced in the pre-grading era, for most of its existence the race was one of the premier shorter distance competitions for two-year-old horses in the United States.
The Flash Stakes was an important and prestigious race for two-year-old Thoroughbred horses and one of the longest running horse racing events in America. Run before races were graded, the Flash was won by a host of starry names. Begun before the United States Hotel Stakes, it was the oldest race for juveniles of either gender in the US.
Tom Ochiltree (1872–1897), was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1875 Preakness Stakes and several other major stakes. In 1877, he lost in one of the most famous match races of the nineteenth century – a race that had been so anticipated that both houses of Congress were adjourned so members could attend. In 2016, Tom Ochiltree was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
The East View Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. It is restricted to fillies bred in the State of New York. Run in December, the race is contested on dirt over a distance of 1+1⁄16 miles.
The Wilson Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run from 1930 through 1958. Inaugurated as the Wilson Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, it was named in honor of the late Richard Thornton Wilson Jr., a prominent Thoroughbred owner and president of Saratoga Race Course.
William J. Knapp was an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He was known for racing horses such as Exterminator and Sun Briar. He became the jockey for Exterminator in the 1918 Kentucky Derby. He was expecting to race Sun Briar, an extremely fast colt, but Sun Briar became ill and he had no choice but to race Exterminator, Sun Briar's training horse. However, Exterminator won the Derby and Knapp became his lifelong jockey.
Don Enrique was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1907 Preakness Stakes. Owned and bred by August Belmont Jr., he was sired by Hastings and out of the mare Bella Donna, a daughter of Hermit.
Upset is notable as the only horse to have ever defeated Man o' War. Man o' War, who would go on to a career in which he won 20 of his 21 starts, faced Upset in the seventh running of the Sanford Memorial Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on August 13, 1919. Losing by a neck, Man o' War had been fractious at the starting line and got a bad start, leaving close to last. He also carried 15 pounds more than Upset.
The Juvenile Stakes was a Thoroughbred horse race run for 109 years between 1874 and 1984. First run on June 13, 1874, it was an important part of Jerome Park's "Spring Meeting." The race was designed to show which were the top two-year-olds at that point in the calendar.
The Champlain Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older first run in 1901 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Placed on hiatus in 1945, it was revived in 1954 at Jamaica Racetrack as a sprint race restricted to fillies and mares. The race was discontinued after the 1957 running.
