A crowd of 85,811 wagered $13,777,920 on Belmont Stakes day races June 9, the second largest Belmont Stakes day on-track handle ever.
It trailed only the $14,461,402 wagered in 2004 when Birdstone broke the Triple Crown bid of Smarty Jones at Belmont Park.
The on-track handle was also the third largest ever at Belmont, behind only the $14,742,521 wagered on Breeders’ Cup Day 2005 and the 2004 Belmont Stakes day handle. It easily eclipsed the previous non-Triple Crown Day record of $10,581,093 set in 2001 by 30.2% and was up 36.4% over $10,098,573 in 2011.
The on-track attendance was the sixth largest ever at Belmont Park. It smashed the previous non-Triple Crown Day record of 73,857 set in 2001 by 16.2% and was up 53.8% from 55,779 on Belmont Stakes Day last year.
All-sources handle, which includes all wagering on NYRA Belmont Stakes day races nationwide, was $96,485,985, the third highest ever for Belmont Stakes day. It broke the previous non-Triple Crown Day record of $89,705,885 set in 2009 by 7.6%, and was up 18.8% over last year’s total of $81,245,326.