Belmont Stakes 2024 Betting
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Last Updated: The Belmont Stakes is the final leg of the US Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, run on the first or second Saturday in June at Belmont Park racecourse in Elmont, New York. It is known as ‘The Test of the Champion’, open only to 16 runners, often including the first three finishers from the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.
The Belmont Stakes is the final leg of the US Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, run on the first or second Saturday in June at Belmont Park racecourse in Elmont, New York. It is known as ‘The Test of the Champion’, open only to 16 runners, often including the first three finishers from the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.
Now 150 years old, the Belmont Stakes purse is $1.5million, the 16 qualified three-year-old thoroughbreds racing over 1 1/2 miles, in front of crowds breaching 100,000. It is a big day out, particularly for New Yorkers, ready to test their luck on the Belmont Stakes betting.
The Belmont Stakes day total horse racing betting handle is regularly in excess of $130million, reaching a New York Racing Association single-day record of $151million when Tonalist denied California Chrome the Triple Crown in 2014.
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How To Bet On The Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is the second-most wagered on race in the US. Upwards of $130million is bet on the Belmont Stakes card each year, making it second only to the Kentucky Derby in appeal for betting. The Belmont Stakes betting markets include the ‘win’, ‘place’, and ‘show’ standard horse racing wagers, and also have these exotic bets:
- Exacta - Pick the first and second horse home in any race, in the correct order.
- Trifecta - Predicted the first three home in the right order.
- Superfecta - Select the first four to finish the race in the right order.
- Quinella - This bet boxes an Exacta, meaning you still win as long as the two picks finish in the first two, regardless of their order. You can also box a Trifecta and Superfecta.
You can bet on the Belmont Stakes at the racecourse and online, including on betting sites outside the US, with many online horse racing bookmakers offering Belmont Stakes betting markets, such is the prestige of betting on the Run for the Carnations.
Top Belmont Stakes Betting Trends
The Belmont Stakes is defined by its unique dirt course. It is nicknamed ‘Big Sandy’ because it is the biggest dirt course in North America, at a full 1 1/2 miles around. Belmont Stakes betting strategy often revolves around deciding which horse will handle this best, and it is rarely the Kentucky Derby or Preakness Stakes winner. These betting tips can help:
- The draw - Post 1 on the rail has produced 38% of winners since 1905, fellow odd numbers 3, 5, and 7, all achieving more than a 20% win-rate. It does pay to be drawn in below gate 10.
- The ground - Belmont Park’s dirt course is notoriously deep and can become very heavy. Look for horses with experience of this, and plenty of stamina.
- Favourites - This is the Triple Crown race to look for a big-price winner with favourites winning about 40% throughout history, and just 22% in the past 30 years. Look for horses that finished down the field in the Kentucky Derby or Preakness Stakes.
- Top jockey - Gary Stevens leads the active jockeys for most Belmont Stakes wins, having taken three victories from 11 rides.
- Top trainer - D Wayne Lukas is the active trainer who has saddled the most Belmont Stakes winners, boasting four wins from 24 runners.
- Triple Crown - Justify last year became the 13th horse in history to win the Triple Crown by landing the final leg at the Belmont Stakes, but 23 tried and failed before him, including California Chrome in 2014. Big Brown and I’ll Have Another failing in 2008 and 2012 through injury. It is a tall order, so don’t play the Triple Crown bidder lightly in the Belmont Stakes betting.
Belmont Stakes Betting in Japan
In 2017 Belmont Stakes Betting Odds were made available in Japan for the first time, owing to the participation of Japanese-trained star Epicharis. Bred by the son of the 1989 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Sunday Silence, Epicharis made the long journey on the promise of the New York Racing Association’s $1million bonus to any Japan-based winner of the Belmont Stakes.
Japan’s Lani had competed in all three legs of the 2016 Triple Crown, generating enough international interest for Japanese wagering on the 2017 Belmont Stakes odds to be launched. For the first time a US Triple Crown event was available for parimutuel betting through a separate, non-comingled pool.
Despite Epicharis being scratched from the Belmont Stakes on the dar of the race, nearly $5million was bet on the Japanese Belmont Stakes betting market - the race going off at 7.38am JST on Sunday, June 11.
Recent Belmont Stakes Odds
The Belmont Stakes odds can often throw up a shock, as the nature of the course, and the placement on the calendar makes it notoriously tricky to win. The most recent recipients of the famed carnations have not all been favourites in the Belmont Stakes Odds:
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds / $2 Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Sir Winston | Joel Rosario | Mark Casse | 10/1 – $22.60 |
| 2018 | Justify | Mike Smith | Bob Baffert | 4/5f / $3.60 |
| 2017 | Tapwrit | Jose Ortiz | Todd Pletcher | 53/10 / $12.60 |
| 2016 | Creator | Irad Ortiz Jr | Steve Asmussen | 164/10 / $34.80 |
| 2015 | American Pharoah | Victor Espinoza | Bob Baffert | 3/4f / $3.50 |
| 2014 | Tonalist | Joel Rosario | Christophe Clement | 61/20f / $8.10 |
| 2013 | Palace Malice | Mike Smith | Todd Pletcher | 138/10 / $29.60 |
The Belmont Stakes Course Information
The Belmont Stakes is run over 1 1/2 miles on the dirt track at Belmont Park in the US state of New York. The track is 1 1/2 miles in circumference, making it the longest dirt track in North American horse racing, and earning it the nickname ‘Big Sandy’. Course length should always be taken in considering when plotting your horse racing betting strategy.
It opened in May, 1905, having been built by August Belmont, Jr, Williams Collins Whitney, and a host of smaller investors. Belmont’s father created the Belmont Stakes at his friend Leonard Jerome’s track, Jerome Park in 1867, but when Belmont Park opened, the Grade 1 moved.
It has been run at Belmont Park every year since, with the exceptions of 1911-12 when betting was banned in New York State, and between 1963-67, while grandstands were reconstructed.
How is the Belmont Stakes field decided?
The Belmont Stakes field is limited to 16 runners, but there can often be more than 400 horses nominated for the race. In order to take part in the Belmont Stakes, horses must first be entered at a cost of $15,000 to pass the entry box, and $15,000 to start the race.
If more than 16 horses pay to start the race, the final line up will be decided by prize money already won. The first eight places are filled by horses accumulating the highest earnings in Graded races at 1 mile or further. The next five places go to horses accumulating the highest earnings in stakes races whose conditions contain no restrictions other than age or sex.
The final three places are selected by the Belmont Stakes Selection Committee, with Triple Crown nominees preferred. In addition, any horse earning prize money in the Kentucky Derby or Preakness Stakes shall be included in the initial eight starters.
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