The Belmont Stakes is known by a few nicknames, from the “Third Jewel of the Triple Crown” to “The Run for the Carnations” to “The Test of Champions.” That last nickname may not be as applicable to the 2024 Belmont Stakes, which will look a bit different to horse racing fans.
The race takes place on Saturday, June 8, with a 6:41 p.m. ET post time. However, it will not take place at its longtime home of Belmont Park, nor will it be contested over its traditional distance of 1½ miles.
That grueling distance gave the race its “Test of Champions” moniker. However, this year’s Belmont Stakes will only be 1¼ miles, to accommodate the change in venue from Belmont Park on Long Island to Saratoga Race Course in Upstate New York.
Ongoing renovations at Belmont Park necessitated the temporary move to Saratoga, which is also slated to host next year’s race before it returns to Belmont Park in 2026. Saratoga is a smaller racetrack than Belmont Park, and the difference in track circumference led to the shorter race.
This marks the first time since 1967 that the Belmont Stakes will not take place at Belmont Park. It was held at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, N.Y., from 1963–67, also due to construction at Belmont Park.
As far the shorter distance, the Belmont has been run over 1½ miles consistently since 1925, the only exception being 2020, when due to COVID delays in the race schedule, it was run over 1⅛ miles. So, the race, visually, will look different from what horse racing fans are familiar with. However, the stakes remain the same.
There is no Triple Crown on the line as different horses claimed the Kentucky Derby on May 4 and the Preakness Stakes on May 18. But both of those Triple Crown race-winning horses are in the 2024 Belmont Stakes field.
Mystik Dan, who won at Churchill Downs and finished second at the Preakness, is the only horse in the Belmont field who will attempt all three Triple Crown races. As for the Preakness winner Seize the Grey, he’s also slated to run in Saturday’s race after not competing in the Kentucky Derby. Both horses can clinch what’s known as The Double—winning two legs of the Triple Crown.
The Derby-Belmont Double has been completed just 11 times—not including 13 Triple Crown champions—and a win by Mystik Dan would make him the first since Thunder Gulch (1995) to win the first and last legs of the Triple Crown. Meanwhile, Seize the Grey is angling for the Preakness-Belmont Double—a feat that is a little more common but has only been done 18 times in horse racing history, the last time being by done by Afleet Alex (2005).
Mystik Dan and Seize the Grey are the biggest names in the Belmont Stakes field, but neither is the favorite, or even second-favorite, for the race.
The favorite is a 3-year-old colt named Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone finished runner-up to Mystik Dan at the Kentucky Derby; however, the horse won his two previous races, and over his five career starts, he has finished first or second in all of them.
A dark bay thoroughbred named Mindframe is the second-favorite this year, despite being the least experienced horse in the field. He has just two races under his belt, and while both were victories, the other nine horses in the field have an average of 6.3 starts. What Mindframe lacks in seasoning, he makes up in pace: his raw speed numbers check in as the highest of any 2024 Belmont Stakes horse.
Outside of those four horses, the other six contenders are considered long shots. But just last year, a long shot emerged victorious: in 2023, Arcangelo prevailed, despite not being one of the three favorites in a nine-horse field.
And the favorite, more often than not, does not win the Belmont Stakes. Fewer than 43 percent of favorites have won over the previous 155 runnings of the race. The biggest betting long shot in this year’s race is a horse named Protective, who is the only horse in the field who has never previously won a race. He’s 0 for 4 in his career, with one runner-up, a pair of third-place finishes and a fourth-place finish.
Protective’s strength, clearly, isn’t his race resume but rather his connections. The horse’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, has won the Belmont Stakes four times previously, while Protective’s owner, Mike Repole, also has a Belmont Stakes trophy on his mantle.
Mr. Pletcher is giving himself three opportunities to win this race. Protective is among a trio of horses he’s running in the 2024 Belmont race, joining Mindframe and Antiquarian. The latter shouldn’t be overlooked, as he will be ridden by two-time Belmont-winning jockey John Velazquez.
Rounding out the rest of the field are three horses who last raced at the Kentucky Derby: Resilience, Dornoch, and Honor Marie, as well as a colt named The Wine Steward, his name derived from his father, Vino. The 10-horse field is one thoroughbred larger than the Preakness this year, but only half as big as the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field.
The 2024 Belmont Stakes has a purse of $2 million, a record-high for the race, besting the previous mark of $1.5 million. The winner’s owner, trainer, and jockey will share $1.2 million of that prize pool.
Saturday’s race will be broadcast by FOX with an approximate start time of 6:41 p.m. ET.
