Why the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga has such a different feel to it

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The banners celebrating thoroughbred racing’s close association with this bucolic upstate city line Broadway, the main thoroughfare through town. That’s an annual sight for the summer New York Racing Association season at Saratoga Race Course.

But one word – “Belmont” – is a new addition to this year’s banners.

The 156th Belmont Stakes will be run at Saratoga on Saturday with the namesake home of Triple Crown’s final leg in Elmont undergoing a planned two-year reconstruction. The three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which includes 23 stakes races, kicked off Thursday.

And there is a definite difference between upstate racing and on Long Island.

“I think it’s going to feel very different,” said Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who will saddle three horses in the Belmont. “A different venue and such a historical difference. I’m not sure if it’s going to be like Travers Day (Saratoga’s marquee August event) necessarily. I think it will have a similar feel to that.

“To me, probably Thursday and Friday and Sunday are going to be a lot more different than Saturday. At Belmont, Saturday is always a huge deal but, I think, Saratoga supports racing all the time. I would envision those other days will be more impacted by being at Saratoga than being at Belmont.”

There are logistical differences, too, beyond how packed the race track is expected to be on the non-Belmont Stakes days.

For one, the Belmont will be run at 1 1/4 miles rather than its usual, grueling 1 1/2 miles to accommodate the smaller oval at Saratoga. The attendance will be 50,000 at the oldest thoroughbred racing track in the U.S., which opened in 1860. While that is in line with the 48,089 that attended last year’s Belmont as attendance had been capped at the cavernous grandstand – now undergoing demolition – both first because of the COVID-19 pandemic and then because of on-site construction, the massive Elmont facility could squeeze in much more. The record attendance was 120,139 in 2004.

Todd Shimkus, the president of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce, told News10 Albany on Thursday he expects the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will have a $50 million impact on the region, including the areas surrounding Saratoga since the city, with a population of around 30,000, cannot house all the visitors.

For some, including Kenny McPeek, the trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, a 5-1 choice in the Belmont, having this race at Saratoga is simply more convenient.

“I don’t have what I call a setup at Belmont,” McPeek said. “So it’s an away game for us at Belmont. But here it’s not. I’m excited for it to be here for the next couple of seasons. It’s easier on me and my team.”

Chad Brown, trainer of 9-5 favorite Sierra Leone, the Derby runner-up by a nose, is also thrilled to have Belmont at Saratoga. He grew up in nearby Mechanicville, which is in Saratoga County.

“A totally different atmosphere,” Brown said. “And approaching this race at a mile and a quarter, it’s very unique. It’s a great feeling, especially growing up nearby.”

But to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who has won 15 Triple Crown races, including four Belmont Stakes, the shorter distance does stand out. He will saddle Preakness winner Seize the Grey, an 8-1 choice from the rail, in this year’s Belmont.

“The mile and a half changes things immensely,” Lukas said on a National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference. “Heck, it took me 10 years (at Belmont) to figure out what I should be doing before I got one.”

However, there’s one thing that’s not likely to differ from Belmont to Saratoga on Saturday – the traffic.