Affirmed 1978

Exclusive Native - Won't Tell You, by Crafty Admiral

• Owner: Harbor View Farm
• Trainer: Lazaro Barrera
• Jockey: Steve Cauthen

If you care anything about horse racing, you must have seen the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) unless something else happened that was very important. If you saw it on television, then you know that it was a great race--maybe the greatest you have seen or ever will see--and you know about the coolness of the riders and the courage of the horses. More...

Seattle Slew 1977

Bold Reasoning - My Charmer, by Poker

• Owner: Karen L. Taylor
• Trainer: William H. Turner
• Jockey: Jean Cruguet

Seattle Slew is about out of answers, but only because racing is about out of questions. Speed?--Plenty, whenever needed. Stamina?--Name the distance and he'll run it. Heart?--See For The Moment and Cormorant. Class?--Absolutely. More...

Secretariat 1973

Bold Ruler - Somethingroyal, by *Princequillo

• Owner: Meadow Stable
• Trainer: Lucien Laurin
• Jockey: Ron Turcotte

This one we saw. Seeing is believing, but Secretariat's Belmont challenged credulity. He ran so far beyond known reference points, he left us with no measurable comparison. We saw it, believed it; we are having trouble, however, comprehending the preternatural. More...

Citation 1948

Bull Lea - *Hydroplane II, by Hyperion

• Owner: Calumet Farm
• Trainer: Ben A. Jones
• Jockey: Eddie Arcaro

Citation was passing the half-mile pole, three lengths ahead. Behind him Arnold Kirkland swung Escadru to full stride, and around the turn the margin shortened. Three furlongs away it was a scant two lengths, and the whole lone searching Belmont stretch lay ahead. It looked long to me; maybe it looked interminable to Citation. More...

Assault 1946

Bold Venture - Igual, by Equipoise

• Owner: King Ranch
• Trainer: Max Hirsch
• Jockey: Warren Mehrtens

When King Ranch's Assault made a tentative bid for a grand slam of the 3-year-old classics by winning the six-furlong Experimental Handicap at Jamaica on April 9, his first start of the year, scarcely anyone was looking. Most observers were studying the Maine Chance Farm challengers, which they continued to do in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, both of which fell to Assault. More...

Count Fleet 1943

Reigh Count - Quickly, by Haste

• Owner: Mrs. John D. Hertz
• Trainer: Don Cameron
• Jockey: John Longden

Small fields are not new in the history of the Belmont Stakes, and the result of the seventy-fifth running ($25,000 added, 3-year-old colts and fillies, 1 1/2 miles) on June 5 was no more of a foregone conclusion than the renewal of 1920, when Man o' War was 1 to 20 to beat Donnacona, not much more than that of 1910 when only Duke of Ormonde contested Sweep's victory, or those of 1887 and 1888, when Hanover and Sir Dixon were the respective winners. More...

Whirlaway 1941

Blenheim II - Dustwhirl, by Sweep

• Owner: Calumet Farm
• Trainer: Ben A. Jones
• Jockey: Eddie Arcaro

In a manner of speaking, Whirlaway won the Belmont Stakes on successive Saturdays in May, for his decisive triumphs in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes left owners of other contenders with little hope for the Belmont. When Whirlaway charged in the earlier races nothing had proved able to go with him, and in the stretch at Churchill Downs and Pimlico it was a clear case of "the farther it went, the worse it got." More...

War Admiral 1937

Man o' War - Brushup, by Sweep

• Owner: Glen Riddle Farms
• Trainer: George Conway
• Jockey: Charles Kurtsinger

In 1879, at Jerome Park, James R. Keene's Spendthrift won the Belmont Stakes. He was the third son of Australian to win this test, Joe Daniels having been successful in 1872, Springbok in 1873. A grandson, Algerine, had won it in 1876. More...

Omaha 1935

Gallant Fox - Flambino, by *Wrack

• Owner: Belair Stud
• Trainer: James Fitzsimmons
• Jockey: Willie Saunders

The nearest counterpart to England's Derby now left in America is the Belmont Stakes (3-year-olds, 1 1/2 miles), endowed for its sixty-seventh running with $25,000. The 1935 renewal, at Belmont Park, June 8, brought only five starters to the post, so completely had the superiority of Belair Stud's Omaha been conceded. More...

Gallant Fox 1930

Sir Gallahad III - Marguerite, by Celt

• Owner: Belair Stud
• Trainer: James Fitzsimmons
• Jockey: Earl Sande

Gallant Fox, magnificent son of Sir Gallahad III, property of William Woodward, proved his superiority and his rightful claim to championship of the 3-year-olds when, at Belmont Park, June 7, he added the famous Belmont Stakes to his Wood Memorial, Preakness Stakes, and Kentucky Derby victories. More...

Sir Barton 1919

Star Shoot - Lady Sterling, by Hanover

• Owner: Commander J.K.L. Ross
• Trainer: H.G. Bedwell
• Jockey: Johnny Loftus

The Derby was generally thought to lie between Eternal and Billy Kelly, which had finished in that order in a match the previous fall. Earl Sande chose to ride Billy Kelly, leaving Sir Barton to John Loftus. Through driving rain, Sir Barton led all the way, supposedly as Billy Kelly's pacemaker. More...