The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of 1+1⁄2 miles. 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, The Test of Champions 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 track record of 2:24.
Secretariat, also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who was the ninth winner of the American Triple Crown, setting and still holding the fastest time record in all three of its constituent races. He is widely considered to be the greatest racehorse of all time. He became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and his record-breaking victory in the Belmont Stakes, which he won by 31 lengths, is often considered the greatest race ever run by a thoroughbred racehorse. During his racing career, he won five Eclipse Awards, including Horse of the Year honors at ages two and three. He was nominated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Secretariat was second to Man o' War.
The Pacing Triple Crown is a series of three major harness races for three-year-old Standardbred pacers. It consists of the Cane Pace, the Messenger Stakes, and the Little Brown Jug. It was inaugurated in 1956, one year after the Trotting Triple Crown. A horse that wins all three races becomes a Triple Crown winner and is presented with the Pacing Triple Crown trophy.
1997 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
Affirmed was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the eleventh winner of the American Triple Crown. Affirmed was well known for his famous rivalry with Alydar, whom he met ten times, including Alydar coming second in each of the three 1978 Triple Crown races. After Affirmed won the Triple Crown, there was a 37-year wait until American Pharoah swept the series in 2015.
Smarty Jones is a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and came second in the Belmont Stakes.
Real Quiet was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was nicknamed "The Fish" by his trainer due to his narrow frame. He is best remembered for winning the first two legs of American Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. His loss in the third leg, the Belmont Stakes, was the smallest margin of defeat ever at only four inches.
Count Fleet was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the sixth winner of the American Triple Crown. He won the Belmont Stakes by a then record margin of twenty-five lengths. After an undefeated season, he was named the 1943 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old. Also a champion at age two, he is ranked as one of the greatest American racehorses of the twentieth century, ranking fifth on the Bloodhorse magazine's listing. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1961.
Whirlaway was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fifth winner of the American Triple Crown. He also won the Travers Stakes after his Triple Crown sweep to become the first and only horse to win all four races.
Kent Jason Desormeaux is an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who holds the U.S. record for most races won in a single year with 598 wins in 1989. He has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes three times each, and the Belmont Stakes once. Aboard Real Quiet, he lost the 1998 Triple Crown by a nose.
Robert A. Baffert is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, eight Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks. He has been the subject of significant controversy regarding repeated incidents of his horses failing drug tests or dying under his care.
Patrick Alan "Pat" Day is a retired American jockey. He is a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. Day won nine Triple Crown races and 12 Breeders' Cup races. He was once the leader for career Breeders' Cup wins though he was later surpassed as the events were expanded after he retired.
The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on dirt.
Calvin H. Borel is an American jockey in thoroughbred horse racing and rode the victorious mount in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, the 2009 Kentucky Derby and the 2010 Kentucky Derby. His 2009 Derby win with Mine That Bird was the third biggest upset in Derby history,, and Borel's winning margin of 6+3⁄4 lengths was the greatest in Derby history since Assault won by 8 lengths in 1946. On May 1, 2009, Borel won the Kentucky Oaks aboard Rachel Alexandra, only the second time since 1993 that a jockey has won the Oaks-Derby combo, and just the seventh time overall a jockey has accomplished this feat in the same year. On May 16, 2009, Borel won the 2009 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico with thoroughbred filly Rachel Alexandra. In doing so, Borel became the first jockey to win the first two jewels of the Triple Crown on different mounts. Borel's nickname is "Bo'rail'" due to his penchant for riding close to the rail to save ground.
Javier Castellano is a Venezuelan jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three races were inaugurated in different years, the last being the Kentucky Derby in 1875. The Triple Crown Trophy, commissioned in 1950 but awarded to all previous winners as well as those after 1950, is awarded to a horse who wins all three races and is thereafter designated as a Triple Crown winner. The races are traditionally run in May and early June of each year, although global events have resulted in schedule adjustments, such as in 1945 and 2020.
American Pharoah is a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2015. He was the 12th Triple Crown winner in history, and in winning all four races, became the second horse to win the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing. The older "Grand Slam" was to win the Triple Crown and the Travers in one season, which began in 1875. Whirlaway with jockey Eddie Arcaro was the first horse to win the "Grand Slam" of Thoroughbred racing in 1941. The Grand Slam is also referred to as a Superfecta or Quadruple Crown. He won the 2015 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and 2015 Champion three-year-old. In 2021 he was inducted into the American Racing Hall of Fame. He was bred and owned throughout his racing career by Ahmed Zayat of Zayat Stables, trained by Bob Baffert, and ridden in most of his races by Victor Espinoza. He now stands at stud at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.
The 2001 Belmont Stakes was the 133rd running of the Belmont Stakes. The 1+1⁄2-mile (2,400 m) race, known as the "test of the champion" and sometimes called the "final jewel" in thoroughbred horse racing's Triple Crown series, was held on June 9, 2001, three weeks after the Preakness Stakes and five weeks after the Kentucky Derby.
Michel "Mike" Lachance is a retired harness racing driver. Widely recognized as among the best drivers of all time, his outstanding career began in 1967 in Quebec City. At retirement, he had won 10,253 races and purses totalling $187,710,149. He has been inducted into both the United States and Canadian Harness Racing Halls of Fame.
Canadian Harness Horse of the Year is an annual award in the sport of harness racing in Canada. It is the most prestigious Canadian award among those given to a Standardbred horse. Part of the O'Brien Award program, named in honour of legendary Canadian driver / trainer Joe O'Brien since 1989, the Horse of the Year award honours the top performing pacer or trotter in Canadian racing. In 2018, Standardbred Canada renamed the award to the Somebeachsomewhere Horse of the Year to honour the late champion, who died earlier that year. Operated by Standardbred Canada, its website states that "every media person across Canada who covers harness racing on a regular basis receives a ballot, this includes writers for the various trade publications as well as those in print, radio and television. All Canadian race secretaries and track publicists also participate in the voting," and that "The voters' list is vigorously scrutinized each year with names added and deleted when necessary."
