The first-ever Belmont Stakes was in 1867 and was held at the Jerome Park Racetrack in the Bronx. This was until 1890, at which point it was held at the close by Morris Park Racecourse. It was in 1905 that Belmont Park was opened in Long Island. It became the new host of this race up to the present day.

Levy has agreed a deal with the New York Racing Association (NYRA) to become the food and beverage provider of Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course.

1. In an equally telling comment, the magnitude of winning the Belmont Stakes is also reflected in the way California Chrome, Smarty Jones, Sunday Silence, Alysheba, Spectacular Bid, Canonero II and Majestic Prince all found the 1,097-feet of Belmont Park’s stretch to be too demanding and were thwarted in their bid for a Triple Crown and denied.
2. Belmont Park is a neighborhood in Long Beach, California with a population of 4,433. Belmont Park is in Los Angeles County and is one of the best places to live in California. Living in Belmont Park offers residents an urban suburban mix feel and most residents own their homes. In Belmont Park there are a lot of bars, restaurants, coffee shops.
3. Belmont Park, with its big, wide, sweeping turns and long homestretch, is considered one of the fairest racetracks. The Hall of Fame champion Easy Goer graces the cover of the 2005 book, 'Belmont Park: A Century of Champions,' with paintings by Richard Stone Reeves and text by Edward L. The book chronicles seventy racehorses who competed.

Levy will begin serving Belmont Park from the opening of its spring meet on April 24. The course’s spring meet runs until July 12 and includes 58 total stakes races, highlighted by the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from June 4-6.

Levy has agreed a multi-year deal with Belmont Park. After the track’s spring meet concludes in July, Levy will manage Saratoga Race Course’s 1863 Club, The Stretch, Turf Terrace, Club Terrace, The Porch and Easy Goer spaces. Saratoga’s 2020 meet will run from July 16 to September 7.

Levy will manage a hospitality team comprised of CxRA, Mazzone Hospitality and Union Square Events. Levy’s technology and analytics company, E15 Group, will also develop food and beverage options at the two race courses based on fan preferences and dining trends.

The agreement bolsters Levy’s horse-racing portfolio, with the company also serving as the dining and hospitality partner of Churchill Downs. Levy oversees all concessions, VIP suites and clubs, as well as on-site restaurants during Kentucky Derby week and the full racing calendar.

NYRA chief executive and president Dave O’Rourke said: “This new partnership between NYRA and Levy demonstrates our commitment to providing racing fans in New York with the highest quality hospitality offerings available today.

“Levy’s depth of experience operating in significant, well-known sports and entertainment venues here in New York and around the country makes this an ideal arrangement for NYRA and our fans.”

Andy Lansing, president and chief executive of Levy, added: “Few venues and events match the impact Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park have had on our sports culture. We’re excited to be partners with the New York Racing Association and entrusted to elevate the hospitality experience at two of the country’s most iconic venues. We’ll honour that tradition and set the bar within and outside the racing world with a truly world-class collection of hospitality and culinary talent.”

Levy’s other sports clients include the Rose Bowl, tennis’ US Open and golf’s Ryder Cup, while it also holds partnerships with venues such as Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island.

Image: NYRA

From Furlongs to Ovals – More Racetracks and Stretch Run Variations

In a prior article we looked primarily at the Saratoga and Belmont main tracks. Click here to read the article From Furlongs to Ovals (How Distances Vary by Racetrack). Now we’ll look at a few other tracks in North America, and show a comparison chart of the oval size and stretch run distances for the most popular tracks.

First there is Aqueduct, located in New York State.

How Long Is The Stretch At Belmont Park Racetrack

Notice that Aqueduct has two Dirt tracks (light and dark brown on the diagram). I also included a piece of a past performance to show how this is presented in The Daily Racing Form. The red box shows two races (Mar 28 and Nov 21) at Aqueduct, where the distance (6f) is shown with no additional information. In fact, if you look below the top two Aqueduct races, you will see races at Belmont, Delaware, and Monmouth that all appear the same way. The absence of anything to the right of the distance means the race was run on the “Main Track.”

The bottom two races listed (Mar 11 and Jan 7) have a small box with a dot in the middle; and appear to the right of the 6f distance. This signifies that the race was run on the “Inner” dirt track. There are other symbols that can appear to the right of the distance but they relate to Synthetic and Turf courses.

Here are a few other track diagrams of some popular tracks in North America:

How Long Is The Stretch At Belmont Park Queens

Each track has slightly different characteristics. Churchill Downs has the classic chute (like Saratoga) to the far right of the dirt track. Keeneland has a chute to the upper left side of their Synthetic track that allows them to run the 4.5f sprints for 2-year old horses. And, Santa Anita, has a very interesting turf extension to the left side of the track where they run their 6.5f turf races. I’ll go into that more in a future post when I focus on Turf Course layouts.

Is Belmont Park Open To The Public

The following is a chart of some popular tracks in North America. The second column is the total distance of the Main Track oval. The third column is the distance from the last turn to the finish line, or put another way, the length of the stretch run. The list is sorted first by oval size and second by stretch run.

For a complete list of the Race Tracks, and detailed information of course sizes for both Main tracks and Turf courses, click here to go to the Daily Racing Form website page containing this information.

As you can see, track sizes and configurations vary significantly. These variations matter when handicapping, and a firm understanding of the different track configurations gives you an edge when reviewing the past performances of a horse. We’ll be getting into this in much more detail in future posts.

How Long Is The Stretch At Belmont Park Open

By Neal Benoit