The 156th running of the Belmont Stakes is set for Saturday at the Saratoga Race Course. This third leg of the Triple Crown, usually held at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, is being hosted in Saratoga for the first time due to renovations.
Belmont Park is undergoing a $455 million renovation to enhance track surfaces and construct a newer, smaller grandstand, as reported by The Associated Press.
Saturday’s venue brings more than just a change in name. Belmont Park features a marathon 1 ½-mile race around the largest racing oval in America. In contrast, the Saratoga Race Course covers a shorter 1 ¼ miles, the same as the Kentucky Derby.
With different winners for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, there will be no Triple Crown champion in 2024. Only 13 horses have claimed all three races in history, the most recent being Justify in 2018.
The Belmont Stakes, starting at 6:41 p.m. ET, still promises plenty of excitement.
Sierra Leone, trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Flavien Prat, is the 9/5 favorite. This 3-year-old has previously won the Blue Grass Stakes and Risen Star Stakes, and finished second in the Kentucky Derby.
Brown, hailing from nearby Mechanicville, New York, has yet to win the Belmont Stakes.
Mystik Dan, the Kentucky Derby winner, has the second-best odds at 5/1. Trainer Kenny McPeek aims for his second Belmont Stakes victory, having won with Sarava in 2002.
Legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas seeks his fifth Belmont victory (1994, 1995, 1996, 2000). His contender, Seize the Grey, the Preakness Stakes winner, stands at 8/1 odds.
A win by either Mystik Dan or Seize the Grey would make them the 53rd horse in history to win two legs of the Triple Crown.
Two long shots with strong betting value are Mindframe and Resilience.
Mindframe (7/2 odds) is one of the most inexperienced horses in the field but has dominated both his previous races: the maiden race at Gulfstream Park and the third race on Kentucky Derby Day. This could be Todd Pletcher’s fifth Belmont victory (2007, 2013, 2017, 2022).
Resilience, trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado, enters with 10/1 odds. The 3-year-old finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby and has won two of his four races in 2024. Mott previously won this race with Drosselmeyer in 2010.