Belmont Stakes 2015: Race time, TV schedule
The Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, will be run Saturday at Belmont Park. All eyes will be on American Pharoah as it looks to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed accomplished the feat in 1978.
If you're planning a Belmont Stakes party, here's everything you need to know to make sure you don't miss a chance at watching history.
WHEN: Saturday, June 6, 2015: Post time for Belmont Stakes: 6:50 p.m. ET (First post time of the day: 11:35 a.m.)
WHERE: Belmont Park - Elmont, N.Y.
HOW TO WATCH:
Belmont Stakes prep, NBC Sports Network, 2:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Belmont Stakes, NBC, 4:30 p.m.-7 p.m.
Belmont Stakes post, NBC Sports Network, 7:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
FULL FIELD:
MUST-READ STORIES
- Belmont a brutal final test for American Pharoah. Jack Knowlton still has one gnawing regret about the 2003 Belmont Stakes, and naturally it's the one thing Funny Cide's human connections had the least amount of control over.
- Brennan: Triple Crown winner will not save horse racing. Horse racing is mired in the ultimate athletic slump, crossing not only decades, but centuries. The best and most exciting thing that can happen in the sport is for a horse to win the Triple Crown. But the last time that happened was 37 years ago, in 1978.
- Winning trainers mixed about spoiling Triple Crown. The week after the Preakness Stakes in 1998, Elliott Walden wasn't sure Victory Gallop should stay on the Triple Crown trail.
- Would American Pharoah winning Triple Crown cure the sport? Don't bet on it. There will be relief and joy, poetry and exultation. The end of the Triple Crown drought – whether it's 37 years or 137 – will also be the end of an obsession that has teased horse racing fans 13 consecutive times and still kept bringing them back to Belmont Park for more heartbreak.
- Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher schooled in business side at Arizona. Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher, the two primary human figures in Saturday's Belmont Stakes, have almost been omnipresent in major races from coast-to-coast over the last 15 years.
- Some horses win first two Triple Crown legs, can't compete in Belmont. If American Pharoah wins the Belmont Stakes Saturday, he would become the first since 1978 to win the Triple Crown while avoiding even more exclusive — and less desirable — company.
- Post positions, odds for Belmont Stakes. American Pharoah will come out of the No. 5 post position in Saturday's Belmont Stakes as he tries to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978.
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PHOTOS: Preparing for the Belmont Stakes