The Belmont Stakes is the final leg of the Triple Crown, a Grade 1 for three-year-olds on dirt. Its traditional 1 1/2-mile distance at Belmont Park has made stamina central to the race's identity.
Original GradedStakes reference graphic. Confirm current-edition conditions with the official sources below.
What the Belmont Stakes is
The Belmont Stakes is the third and final leg of the American Triple Crown, a Grade 1 dirt race for three-year-olds. It is run three weeks after the Preakness and five weeks after the Kentucky Derby, and its home is Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. NYRA's official history identifies it as the oldest of the three Triple Crown races, first run in 1867.
The race is defined by its traditional trip of 1 1/2 miles. Twelve furlongs on dirt is longer than any other race an American three-year-old is likely to have run, and longer than almost any race most of them will run again. That single fact is why the Belmont has a reputation the other two legs do not: it asks a question the horses have not been asked before and, for the most part, will not be asked afterwards.
Its position on the calendar gives it a second role. When a horse arrives having won the Derby and the Preakness, the Belmont is the last obstacle to a Triple Crown. When no sweep is live, it still functions as one of the defining races of the three-year-old season rather than a formality.
The conditions that define the race
The Belmont is restricted to three-year-olds, so like the Derby and the Preakness it is a one-chance race drawn from a single foal crop. The field is usually smaller than the Derby's, and the runners often include horses that skipped one or both earlier legs to arrive with a longer rest.
Distance is the variable to check most carefully, because it has moved. The traditional Belmont Park configuration is 1 1/2 miles, but temporary venue arrangements have changed the trip in specific years. Treat 1 1/2 miles as the race's identity and the published conditions for the edition in front of you as the operative fact.
- Surface: dirt.
- Traditional distance: 1 1/2 miles, or twelve furlongs, at Belmont Park.
- Eligibility: three-year-olds, colts, geldings, and fillies.
- Grade: Grade 1.
- Home track: Belmont Park, Elmont, New York.
- Timing: three weeks after the Preakness, five weeks after the Kentucky Derby.
Why a mile and a half is a different question
At twelve furlongs the shape of the race changes. A horse that can carry its speed through nine furlongs may not sustain it through twelve, and a horse that looked one-paced at shorter trips can suddenly be competitive. That is why the Belmont has produced results that look anomalous against the earlier legs; the anomaly is usually the distance doing exactly what it is supposed to do.
Stamina is not a single statistic, though. Pedigree, running style, how hard the horse was used in its previous starts, the early pace, and the dirt condition all feed into whether a horse finishes the trip well. Each is evidence. None is a forecast, and a pedigree that reads well over twelve furlongs has no obligation to perform.
The distance has not been fixed across the race's history. NYRA's official history records that the Belmont was run at a mile and five furlongs from 1867 to 1873, and at a mile and a quarter in 1890, 1891, 1892, 1895, 1904 and 1905, among other configurations. The modern twelve-furlong trip is a long-standing convention, not an unbroken one.
Belmont Stakes history
NYRA's official history states that the first running of the Belmont Stakes was in 1867 at Jerome Park, on a Thursday. That predates the Preakness by six years and the Kentucky Derby by eight, making the Belmont the oldest of the three Triple Crown races.
The race is named for August Belmont Sr., described by NYRA as a leading banker and racing man of the 19th century whose influence on New York racing was substantial. The name attached to the race before it attached to the track that would eventually host it.
Its venues have moved repeatedly. NYRA records the race at Jerome Park from 1867 to 1889, at Morris Park from 1890 to 1904, and at Aqueduct from 1963 to 1967, alongside its long association with Belmont Park. A reader encountering a temporary relocation in the present is looking at something the race has done several times before.
How to read the race
This guide does not offer selections, and the Belmont is a good example of why confident predictions overstate what is knowable. Almost no runner has proven form at the distance, so any claim about who will handle twelve furlongs is an inference rather than an observation.
What a reader can do is check the inputs. A smaller field over a long trip usually means a slower early pace, which can favor a horse ridden close to the lead and can leave a deep closer with too much to do. That is a tendency rather than a rule, and one honest pacesetter changes it.
- Distance: what is the longest trip the horse has actually completed well?
- Rest: how many days since the last start, and did the horse run in the Derby or Preakness?
- Pace: how many runners want the lead over a trip that punishes an early duel?
- Configuration: what distance and track is this year's edition actually being run at?
- Race day: confirm official entries, scratches, and the posted dirt condition.
Current edition: the 2026 running at Saratoga
This section covers facts specific to the 2026 edition and does not describe the race's permanent conditions. NYRA's announcement of the 2026 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival lists the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 6, 2026 at Saratoga Race Course as a Grade 1 with a $2 million purse, run at 1 1/4 miles rather than the traditional 1 1/2 miles because of the Saratoga track configuration.
The shorter trip is a consequence of the host venue, not a change to the race. Saratoga's main track cannot accommodate the twelve-furlong configuration used at Belmont Park, so the distance was adjusted for the duration of the relocation. Nothing about the 2026 running establishes 1 1/4 miles as the Belmont's standard.
The relocation is ending. NYRA states that a new and re-imagined Belmont Park is scheduled to open for live racing on September 18, 2026, and that the Belmont Stakes will return to its Long Island home beginning in 2027. The 2026 edition was the last of the Saratoga runnings held during the reconstruction.
Distance, venue, date, and purse are announced annually, so confirm the current edition against NYRA's published conditions.
- Permanent home and traditional trip: Belmont Park at 1 1/2 miles.
- 2026 venue: Saratoga Race Course, temporary, during Belmont Park's reconstruction.
- 2026 date and distance: Saturday, June 6, 2026 at 1 1/4 miles, shortened for the track configuration.
- 2026 grade and purse: Grade 1, $2,000,000, per NYRA's stakes schedule announcement.
- Return: NYRA says Belmont Park opens for live racing on September 18, 2026, with the Belmont Stakes back on Long Island from 2027.
Common questions
How long is the Belmont Stakes?
Traditionally 1 1/2 miles, or twelve furlongs, on dirt at Belmont Park. The 2026 running at Saratoga Race Course was contested at 1 1/4 miles because the Saratoga track configuration cannot accommodate the longer trip. NYRA has announced the race returns to Belmont Park in 2027.
Where is the Belmont Stakes run?
Belmont Park in Elmont, New York is the race's home. It was held at Saratoga Race Course during Belmont Park's reconstruction, including the June 6, 2026 running, and NYRA states that the Belmont Stakes returns to its Long Island home beginning in 2027.
When is the Belmont Stakes held?
Three weeks after the Preakness Stakes and five weeks after the Kentucky Derby, in June. The 2026 running was on Saturday, June 6.
Why is the Belmont called the toughest leg of the Triple Crown?
Because of distance and timing together. Twelve furlongs is longer than any race most three-year-olds have run, and it comes five weeks after the Derby for horses that have already raced twice in that span.
Is the Belmont Stakes the oldest Triple Crown race?
Yes. NYRA's official history records the first running in 1867 at Jerome Park, six years before the first Preakness and eight before the first Kentucky Derby.
Has the Belmont always been run at a mile and a half?
No. NYRA's history lists the race at a mile and five furlongs from 1867 to 1873 and at a mile and a quarter in 1890, 1891, 1892, 1895, 1904 and 1905, among other configurations. The twelve-furlong trip is a long-standing convention rather than a fixed rule.
Primary sources
Verify the race conditions
Race dates, venues, conditions, and entries can change. Confirm the current edition with the official sources below.