This year’s Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets will be held June 7, and for the second straight year the final jewel of the Triple Crown will be hosted by Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York.

The race traditionally is held at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., and is scheduled to return there in 2026 after the famed racetrack completes a massive renovation.

The field for the 2025 Belmont Stakes could present several compelling storylines, most notably the possiblity of a rematch between the top three finishers from this year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve: winner Sovereignty; runner-up and subsequent Preakness Stakes winner Journalism; and third-place finisher Baeza. Should all three compete in the Belmont Stakes, it would make for not only a great story but a fantastic horse race befitting the last leg of the Triple Crown.

To help get you ready for the final jewel of the Triple Crown, below are 17 interesting facts about the race called the “Test of the Champion.”

1. The Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the three Triple Crown races. It was first held in 1867, and this year is the 157^th running, compared with the 151^st Derby May 3 and 150^th Preakness May 17. The Belmont Stakes is the fourth-oldest stakes race in North America. The Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland was first run in 1831, the King’s Plate in Canada held its inaugural race in 1860, and the Travers Stakes started at Saratoga in 1864.

2. The 2020 Belmont Stakes marked the first time since 1926 that the race was not contested at its famed 1 ½-mile distance, and for the two years at Saratoga (2024 and 2025) it will be held at 1 ¼ miles. The COVID-19 pandemic led to many racetracks being temporarily shut down, the postponement or cancellation of key races on the Triple Crown trail, and the interruption of training schedules for trainers and their racehorses. That prompted the Belmont Stakes to be held at 1 1/8 miles around one turn and scheduled as the first leg of the Triple Crown instead of the last one for the first time in the race’s history. The race returned to its normal distance and placement as the final leg of the Triple Crown for the next three editions, but the construction project underway at Belmont Park again led to changes last year. Belmont Park features a 1 ½-mile oval, while Saratoga Race Course is a 1 1/8-mile main track. Saratoga’s layout makes it nearly impossible to hold 1 ½-mile races on the main track, thus the Belmont Stakes was held at 1 ¼ miles last year and will be held at that distance again in 2025. That’s the same distance as the Kentucky Derby and Saratoga’s signature summer race, the Travers Stakes. 

Birdstone defeated Smarty Jones in the 2004 Belmont Stakes. (BloodHorse Library/Anne M. Eberhardt)

3. A record crowd of 120,139 turned out to watch Smarty Jones vie for the Triple Crown in 2004. The fan favorite was beaten by 36-1 longshot Birdstone. The second-largest crowd of 103,322 came two years beforehand when 70.25-1 Sarava upset War Emblem in the latter's bid for a Triple Crown in 2002. 

4. Historically, the betting favorite has won the Belmont Stakes 42% of the time (66 of 156 runnings) and four of the last seven editions featured winning favorites: Mo Donegal (2022), Essential Quality (2021), Tiz the Law (2020), and Justify (2018). Sir Winston in 2019 paid $22.40 for a $2 win bet; Arcangelo in 2023 was the fifth choice in the betting, returning $17.80 for a $2 win bet; and Dornoch was the third-highest price on the board from 10 starters a year ago, paying $37.40 for a $2 win bet after being overlooked at 17.70-1 odds

5. A pair of Triple Crown winners owns the two largest winning margins in the Belmont. Secretariat won by 31 lengths in 1973 and Count Fleet won by 25 lengths 30 years prior. Who owns the largest winning margin in the Belmont Stakes since Secretariat? Well, that would be Secretariat's son Risen Star, who in 1988 won the Belmont Stakes by 14 3¾ lengths in a breathtaking performance.

6. Speaking of Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner set a world record for 1 ½ miles on the dirt when he won the 1973 Belmont in 2:24. He was so fast that Secretariat also holds the record for the fastest half-mile, three-quarters of a mile, one-mile, and 1 ¼-mile fractions in Belmont Stakes history. Obviously, there is no chance for the 1 ½-mile stakes record to be broken this year because of the distance change to 1 ¼ miles. Could Secretariat's 1 ¼-mile fractional time of 1:59 be bettered? Considering the stakes record for 1 ¼-mile Travers Stakes, the "Mid-Summer Derby" at Saratoga, is 1:59.36 set by Arrogate in 2016, it seems extraordinaily unlikely but much more realistic than 1 ½ miles in less than 2:24.

A drawing of inaugural Belmont Stakes winner Ruthless. (Courtesy of NYRA/BloodHorse Library)

7. The first Belmont Stakes featured a total purse of $2,500, with the filly Ruthless taking home the $1,850 winner’s share. This year’s race is worth $2 million, including $1.2 million for the winner.

8. From 1882 through 1888, jockey James McLaughlin won six editions of the Belmont Stakes in the span of seven years. McLaughlin established the record for the most Belmont wins by a jockey that Eddie Arcaro equaled in 1955 with his sixth and final Belmont Stakes victory aboard Nashua. The leading active rider is Mike Smith with three wins in the race: Drosselmeyer (2010), Palace Malice (2013) and Justify (2018). He could add to that total in 2025 as the rider of Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino winner Rodriguez.

9. Trainer James Rowe Sr. in 1913 won his eighth Belmont Stakes with Prince Eugene, establishing a record has never been broken. Rowe also won the Belmont twice as a jockey in 1872 on Joe Daniels and 1873 aboard Springbok. The only other person to both ride and train a Belmont Stakes winner is George Martin Odom, who rode Delhi (1904) to victory and in 1938 saddled winner Pasteurized.

10. The leading active trainers by Belmont Stakes victories are Hall of Famers D. Wayne Lukas and Todd Pletcher (a former assistant to Lukas) with four each. Lukas won the race with Tabasco Cat (1994), Thunder Gulch (1995), Editor’s Note (1996), and Commendable (2000). Pletcher’s victories came with the filly Rags to Riches in 2007 as well as Palace Malice (2013), Tapwrit (2017), and Mo Donegal (2022). 

11. Julie Krone in the 1993 Belmont Stakes became the first woman to ride a winner in a U.S. Triple Crown race. Krone guided longshot Colonial Affair from off the pace to win by 2 ¼ lengths.

12. In 2024, 30 years after Krone's accomplishment, Jena Antonucci became the first woman to train the winner of the Belmont Stakes when Arcangelo scored by 1 ½ lengths. Antonucci was only the 11^th woman to saddle a horse in the “Test of the Champion” and the first since 2011. 

13. The aforementioned Sarava gave bettors the biggest win payout in the history of the Belmont at odds of 70.25-1. His 2002 win earned bettors $142.50 for every $2 bet and the $2 exacta with runner-up Medaglia d’Oro paid $2,454 after Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem stumbled at the start and finished eighth.

14. The 1921 Belmont Stakes was the first to be run in the counter-clockwise direction. That year, the 53^rd running of the Belmont Stakes was a 1 3/8-mile race on the main track. Previous editions had been run clockwise, in accordance with English custom, on a fish-hook-shaped course that included part of the training track and the main dirt oval.

15. Twenty editions of the Belmont Stakes have been won by horses whose names began with the letter C, most recently Creator in 2016. The letter S ranks second with 18 winners, while no Belmont winner’s name has ever started with the letters X or Y. Dornoch last year became the seventh Belmont Stakes winner whose named started with the letter D.

16. Tiz the Law in 2020 became the first New York-bred winner of the Belmont Stakes in a remarkable 138 years. He joined Ruthless (1867), Fenian (1869), and Forester (1882) in the history books as the only New York-bred winners of the race.

17. Journalism, if he competes in the race, would be trying to become the 19^th non-Triple Crown winner to complete the Preakness-Belmont Stakes double and the first since Afleet Alex in 2005. Obviously, the 13 Triple Crown winners also won both races, but the Curlin colt could join Cloverbrook (1877), Duke Of Magenta (1878), Grenada (1880), Saunterer (1881), Belmar (1895), Man o’ War (1920), Pillory (1922), Bimelech (1940), Capot (1949), Native Dancer (1953), Nashua (1955), Damascus (1967), Little Current (1974), Risen Star (1988), Hansel (1991), Tabasco Cat (1994), Point Given (2001), and the aforementioned Afleet Alex.

18. In 2006 and 2007, Better Than Honour produced back-to-back Belmont Stakes winners: Jazil, by Seeking the Gold, and Rags to Riches, by A.P. Indy. Rags to Riches in 2007 became the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes since Tanya in 1905 and only the third female winner in the history of the race and followed her half-sibling's win a year prior to etch Better Than Honour's name into the horse racing history books. Puca, by Big Brown, has been on a remarkable run of her own as a broodmare and could equal Better Than Honour's feat this year at Saratoga. Puca's son Baeza, by McKinzie, finished third in the Kentucky Derby and is one of the top contenders for the Belmont Stakes, a race his half-sibling Dornoch won a year ago. It's been a terrific run for Puca as she also is the dam of 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, by Good Magic. Puca had three Kentucky Derby starters in three years (Mage, Dornoch, and Baeza) and now Baeza has a chance give her a third U.S. Triple Crown race victory in as many years and a second consecutive Belmont Stakes winner.