The Belmont Stakes is sometimes referred to as the run for the carnations, because the winner of the race gets draped with a blanket of white carnations. Head to your local flower shop and grab a bunch of carnations to make centerpieces, or provide flowers to the lady guests as a parting gift! Belmont Stakes Traditions Like its Triple Crown counterparts, the Belmont Stakes has many nicknames. The “Test of the Champion” tag was given to reflect both the difficulty of the race and its status as the final trial in the Triple Crown. Belmont Stakes Traditions The 152nd running of the $1,000,000 Belmont Stakes (Grade I), will be the opening leg of the Triple Crown for the first time in history and is set for Saturday, June 20, 2020 at historic Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. BET ON THE BELMONT STAKES.
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Belmont Stakes Length
The horses are busy gearing up for the third (and, considered by many, the hardest) leg of the Triple Crown, spectators are finalizing their outfits (you found your swanky hat, right?) and in the kitchens, at Belmont Park, the staff is preparing to serve the 90,000 spectators expected to attend.
They’ve actually been planning the menus for this year’s Belmont Stakes for a year. They started holding weekly meetings on the food, right after last year’s Belmont Stakes.
A Milestone Year at Belmont
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“This is a milestone year for Belmont Park, so we want fans to enjoy a menu that’s worthy of the occasion, and has a distinct New York flavor,” said Centerplate Regional Vice President Bobby Dichiaro.
The Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the three Triple Crown events. The race dates back to 1867 when it occurred on a Thursday at Jerome Park. This year, when Justify attempts to become just the 13th horse to win the Triple Crown, (American Pharoah was the last winner in 2015, previous to that no horse had won since Affirmed in 1978), marks the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes.
What to Eat and Drink at the Belmont Stakes
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While post time for the Belmont Stakes isn’t until 6:37 p.m., there are a number of races at Belmont throughout the day. And there’s also a lot of food. The chefs at Belmont Park create the menus for the day, based on what they can source using as many New York purveyors as possible.
The day starts with brunch items, including lox and smoked fish with cream cheese and jellies, melon, and Greek Frittata with roasted red pepper, asparagus and artichoke topped with heirloom tomato and feta salad.
From noon to 2:30 p.m., Belmont Park plays homage to different New York style food with an Adirondacks style meal (Crown Maple Baked Turkey Breast, Grilled Sweet Potato Salad and more), Street Fair food (Duck Confit Street Tacos, Pork Carnitas, Pepitas and more), Italian (Sweet Sausage filled Porchetta petite sandwich, Individual Neapolitan Vegetable Lasagnas and more) and classic New York Steakhouse food including a Delmonico Ribeye with “Signature” Steak sauce).
Later on in the day, you’ll be able to snag Eataly cannolis, Ferrara NY cheesecakes, soft pretzels, Coney Island water dogs and black & white cookies.
To drink, you have to have at least one Belmont Jewel, made with Woodford Reserve bourbon, lemonade and pomegranate juice but also expect to find New York-produced wine, beer and spirits options.
Just try not to get so caught up in the food that you forget to watch the main event.
New York's Belmont Stakes, the horse race first run in 1867 that will complete its 145th running this weekend, has long been the unloved stepchild of horse racing's Triple Crown—often ignored except when a horse comes into the race having won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
But recently, the Belmont Stakes seems to have belatedly discovered the marketing appeal of its own distinguished history; its website boasts of its rich traditions as well as the unique challenges posed by the 1 ½ mile long 'Test of the Champion.' Unfortunately, the celebration of its history is at odds with the lack of respect shown for one of its most cherished traditions when it comes to the choice of the theme song for the event.
As the website reminds us, 'the Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the Triple Crown events. It predates the Preakness Stakes (first run in 1873) by six years and the Kentucky Derby (first run in 1875) by eight.' Not only that, but the winner of the first Kentucky Derby (Aristides) could do no better than third in that year's Belmont. A feature article on the site (by Richard Rosenblatt) makes the point that
there is no easy way to win the Belmont, no tried-and-true set of rules for navigating one lap around a racetrack that is unlike any other in the world. That's because one trip around Belmont Park on the first Saturday in June is a daunting 1½ miles, about the longest race any thoroughbred will ever run in his life. Jockeys rarely ride that far, either, so when it comes to strategy, there are all kinds of opinions on what it takes to be successful.
Belmont Stakes Traditional Flower
Another website commentator, Paul Moran, celebrates the fact that
a century after its opening, Belmont Park remains the keystone of thoroughbred racing in North America; hallowed ground on which every great American thoroughbred has claimed its place in history. It is racing's Broadway, destination of the immortal and merely great, a place defined not by its founders, but the horses who have run here—from Man o' War, Colin, Count Fleet, Gallant Fox, Whirlaway, and Citation to Jaipur, Buckpasser, Kelso, Fort Marcy, Arts and Letters, Key to the Mint, Native Dancer. Their spirits live in the very winds that sweep the Hempstead Plain.
But the race's embrace of its history, welcome as it is, unfortunately neglects one notable part of the Belmont's heritage—the playing of 'The Sidewalks of New York' as the accompaniment to the parade after the race. The Kentucky Derby knows enough to stick with 'My Old Kentucky Home' and the Preakness stands by 'Maryland, My Maryland'—and those races are unimaginable without them. But the Belmont scratched 'Sidewalks' in 1997 in favor of the cheesy, strident anthem 'New York, New York.' (It's not much of a consolation, but it could be worse: The 2010 Belmont featured Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' truly awful 'Empire State of Mind.' That was apparently just a one-year mistake, and 'New York, New York' was back on the soundtrack thereafter.)
Belmont Stakes Traditional Food
Recommended Reading
Secretariat's Jockey on Winning the Triple Crown at Belmont, 40 Years Ago
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Recommended Reading
Secretariat's Jockey on Winning the Triple Crown at Belmont, 40 Years Ago
Becoming a Parent During the Pandemic Was the Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done
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What a shame. 'The Sidewalks of New York,' written in the 1890s, dates back to the era when Belmont Park itself was built. The wonderfully jaunty song from a by-gone New York is very much in tune with the worldly yet innocent spirit of horse racing itself—especially in the park-like setting of Belmont, which rubs up against the western edge of New York City (okay, Queens, but it's still the city). This great sporting spectacle hardly needs the overly commercialized bombast provided by 'New York, New York.' If the New York Racing Association wonders why its signature race fails to measure up to the timeless atmospherics of the Derby and the Preakness, it need look no further than its repudiation of 'The Sidewalks of New York,' a charming piece of genuine local lore that held its own with the parade music of those other two jewels of the Triple Crown.
So bring back 'The Sidewalks of New York,' the song that set the stage for the Triple Crown triumphs of Affirmed, Seattle Slew, and Secretariat, to name just the last three Triple Crown winners. The Triple Crown tally for the 'New York, New York' era? Zero. And as 'New York, New York' blasts out again this afternoon, there won't be a Triple Crown winner this year, either. You can bet on that.