By US Racing Team

Belmont Stakes Winners List

Can there be two unanimous selections to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Class of 2021?

Going off at 5-1 odds, Tapwrit chased down Irish War Cry to win the 149th Belmont Stakes for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Jose Ortiz.» Subscribe to NBC S. The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,012 metres), and it is scheduled to take place as part of British Champions Day each year in October.

American Pharoah – Photo Courtesy of Adam Coglianese / NYRA

Maybe, maybe not, but there should be: 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and seven-time Eclipse Award winning trainer Todd Pletcher.

Both were chosen as finalists in their first year of eligibility by the 15 members on the Museum’s Hall of Fame nominating committee. Five other racehorses, two trainers and one jockey also made the list of finalists, which was released on Feb. 25.

The other horses are Blind Luck, Game On Dude, Havre de Grace, Kona Gold, and Rags to Riches; the other trainers are Christophe Clement and Doug O’Neill; and the jockey is Corey Nakatani.

Any finalist receiving 50% of the vote plus one [last year, there were 167 voters] will be elected. Voters can vote for as many candidates as they want from the list of 10 finalists. To become a finalist, candidates were first required to receive two-thirds of the votes by the nominating committee.

The results will be announced on May 5; the induction ceremony [which will honor the 2020 inductees, too] is scheduled for Aug. 6 at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, New York. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, details on the ceremony are still to be determined.

Trainers must be licensed for 25 years to become eligible for consideration; jockeys must be licensed for 20 years; and horses must be retired for five years. All candidates must have been active within the past 25 years. Exceptions could made by the museum’s executive committee.

American Pharoah

A bay colt bred in Kentucky by owner Zayat Stables, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile—Littleprincessemma, by Yankee Gentleman), became racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 37 years when he swept the Kentucky Derby (G1), Preakness (G1), and Belmont Stakes (G1) in 2015 en route to Eclipse Awards for Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert and ridden by Hall of Famer Victor Espinoza, American Pharoah won the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old male in 2014 on the strength of Grade 1 victories in the Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner Stakes. At 3, he won the Rebel Stakes (G2) and Arkansas

Belmont Stakes 2017

Derby (G1) prior to the Triple Crown. Following his Belmont victory, he won the Haskell Invitational (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). Overall, American Pharoah posted a record of 9-1-0 from 11 starts and earned $8,650,300.

Todd Pletcher

Todd Pletcher Photo Courtesy of Brien Bouyea Photo

The 52-year-old Pletcher has won 5,072 races [eighth all time] with record North American purse earnings of $400,647,175 in a career that began in 1996. In addition to his Eclipse Awards as top trainer, he’s a two-time Derby winner with Super Saver [2010) and Always Dreaming [2017) and a three0time Belmont winner with Rags to Riches [2007], Palace Malice [2013], and Tapwrit [2017]. He ranks fourth at the Breeders’ Cup in earnings [$21,508,030] and fifth in wins [11] and has won 699 graded stakes.

A native of Dallas, Pletcher has led all North American trainers in earnings 10 times. He has trained 11 Eclipse Award-winning horses — Hall of Famer Ashado, English Channel, Fleet Indian, Lawyer Ron, Left Bank, Rags to Riches, Shanghai Bobby, Speightstown, Wait a While, Uncle Mo, and Vino Rosso — and 20 horses that have earned more than $1.8 million. On the New York Racing Association circuit, Pletcher has won 16 leading trainer titles at Belmont, 14 at Saratoga, and six at Aqueduct. He has won 16 titles at Gulfstream, five at Keeneland, and two at Monmouth.

Chaired by Edward L. Bowen, the Hall of Fame nominating committee is comprised of Bowen, Steven Crist, Tom Durkin, Bob Ehalt, Tracy Gantz, Teresa Genaro, Jane Goldstein, Steve Haskin, Jay Hovdey, Tom Law, Neil Milbert, Jay Privman, John Sparkman, Michael Veitch, and Charlotte Weber.

The Belmont Stakes is the final race of the three that comprise the Triple Crown. It takes place every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. For the second year in a row history could be made at the 2015 Belmont Stakes. American Pharoah has already won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and is one win away from becoming only the 12^th Triple Crown winner in history. There hasn’t been a Triple Crown winner in the sport of horse racing since Affirmed in 1978. California Chrome gave it a good run last year, winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness before finishing fourth behind Tonalist in the Belmont.

The Belmont is a Grade 1 stakes race contested over a 1 ½ mile dirt track for three-year-olds. During the Triple Crown campaign, a horse must not only deal with the longest distance of their career but the grueling schedule. The Belmont takes place three weeks after the Preakness and five weeks after the Kentucky Derby. Since most high-level thoroughbreds usually race every three or four weeks, the scheduling of the Triple Crown races is as big of a challenge as the competitions themselves. The scheduling is so demanding that many horsemen have called for the racing schedule to be changed to provide horses with more time between races.

First held in 1866, the Belmont is the oldest of the Triple Crown races by nearly a decade. The race is the namesake of 19th-century financier August Belmont, Sr. and was originally run at the Jerome Park Racetrack in the Bronx. The Jerome Park track got its name from a Wall Street colleague of Belmont’s, Leonard Jerome. August Belmont died in 1890 and Jerome in 1891 and following their passing the event was moved to the nearby Morris Park Race Course until the opening of Belmont Park. The race has been held annually since then with the exception of 1911 and 1912. Between 1963 and 1967 the race was held at nearby Aqueduct Racetrack due to a major renovation project at Belmont Park.

While the Kentucky Derby has the nickname ‘the run for the roses’, the Belmont winner traditionally receives a blanket of carnations. Despite the floral tradition of the Belmont the moniker “the run for the carnations” hasn’t exactly become part of the American lexicon. The race’s catch phrase may not have gained traction with the American public, but the Belmont does boast what many consider the greatest performance in the history of thoroughbred racing. In 1973, Secretariat clinched the Triple Crown in the Belmont with a downright dominant performance—“Big Red” set a course record of 2:24 in winning the race by an astounding 31 lengths. One of the most enduring images of Secretariat’s victory is the shot of jockey Ron Turcotte easing up his mount near the finish line as he looks back over his shoulder in amazement that the rest of the field is nearly out of sight.

The 2016 Belmont winner was Creator who emerged victorious by a nose over runner up Destin. Creator was trained by Steve Asmussen with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard and an ownership group including WinStar Farm and celebrity chef turned horseman Bobby Flay. , trained by Christophe Clement with jockey Joel Rosario aboard. Tonalist was 10/1 on the morning line and closed at just over 16/1. Creator paid $34.80 to win, $14.60 to place and $9.40 to show. Runner up Destin returned $9.40 and $6.20 with third place Lani paying $6.60 to show.

The 2017 Belmont Stakes will take place on Saturday, June 10th. For those looking to attend the race live, gates open at 8:30 AM. In addition to the highly sought after reserved seating, Belmont Park admits thousands of fans via general admission on a first come, first served basis. Reserved seats should be purchased well in advance–in 2014, they sold out long before race day.