After the controversary and history made in the Kentucky Derby with the highest win payout since 1913 and the first race-day disqualification of Maximum Security, plus an exciting Preakness Stakes, we are granted an extra week off before the Belmont Stakes.
How should you handle this extra time?
Take a break from trying to make your living by playing the races and check out some fun facts about the Belmont Stakes!
1 – Jockey to have won the Belmont Stakes over three different surfaces. Braulio Baeza won in 1961 with Sherluck at the old Belmont Park; in 1963, he won with Chateuagay at Aqueduct; and, in 1969, he won at the new Belmont Park with Arts and Letters.
1 – Horse bred in Montana to win the Belmont Stakes (Scottish Chieftain in 1897).
2 – Horsemen that have won the Belmont Stakes as both a jockey and trainer. James G. Rowe, Sr. (1872 and 1873 as a jockey and a record eight times as a trainer) and George M. Odom (1904 as a jockey and 1938 as a trainer).
2 – Number of years the Belmont Stakes was not run due to the Hart-Agnew law, which prohibited gambling.
2 – The number of geldings to win the Belmont Stakes (Ruler on Ice in 2011 and Crème Fraiche in 1985).
2 – The number of winners that have sired a future winner that ended up siring a future winner. Spendthrift won in 1879 and sired Hastings, who won in 1896; Hastings sired Masterman, who won in 1902. Seattle Slew won in 1977 and sired A.P. Indy, who won in 1992, and then sired Rags to Riches, who won in 2007.
3 – Number of fillies to win the Belmont Stakes. The most recent was Rags to Riches in 2007.
The first filly to do so since Tanya won in 1905.
5 – The number of different distances at which the Belmont Stakes has been contested. (1 1/8 miles, 1 ¼ miles, 1 3/8 miles, 1 ½ miles and 1 5/8 miles).
5 – The number of times the Belmont Stakes was run at Aqueduct (1963 – 1967)
5 – The number of consecutive years that Trainer Woody Stephens saddled the Belmont Stakes winner (1982 – 1986).
8 – Most wins by a trainer. James G. Rowe, Sr. saddled winners in 1893, 1894, 1901, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1910, and 1913.
9 – Number of foreign-born winners. The most recent was Victory Gallop in 1998. Victory Gallop was born in Canada. There have been three Irish-bred horses and five English-bred horses to win as well.
10 – The number of female trainers of Belmont Stakes runners. The most recent was Kathy Ritvo with Mucho Macho Man in 2011.
13 – The current streak of a Kentucky-bred horse winning the Belmont Stakes (Jazil in 2006 to present).
14 – The number of Belmont Stakes winners that have sired a future Belmont Stakes winner. Birdstone was the most recent, having won in 2004 and then siring Summer Bird, who won in 2009.
15 – The number of times the Belmont Stakes was run at Morris Park (1890 – 1904)
23 – The number of times the Belmont Stakes was run at Jerome Park (1867 – 1889)
24 – The numbers of Belmont Stakes winners from post position 1 (since 1905), the most of any post position in that time frame.
31 -The largest margin of victory in the Belmont Stakes (by Secretariat in 1973).
37 – The number of times the Belmont Stakes has been run over an off track, most recently in 2011, when Ruler on Ice won over a sloppy (sealed) track.
38 – The number of years when geldings were barred from running in the Belmont Stakes (1919 – 1956)
55 – The number of chestnut- colored winners.
57 – The number of bay-colored winners.
99 – The number of winners bred in Kentucky. The most recent being Justify in 2018. The next-closest state in terms of producing Belmont Stakes winners is Virginia with 11, the most recent being Colonial Affair in 1993.
2,036 – The total number of horses who have run in the Belmont Stakes.
