Why the Belmont Stakes Will Be at Saratoga on Saturday

Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll find out why the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown, won’t be run at Belmont Park on Saturday. We’ll also get details on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s unexpected 11th-hour decision to halt congestion pricing.

Credit…Christine Kozak

Belmont Park is a demolition site.

That’s why the Belmont Stakes will not take place there on Saturday. The race was moved to Saratoga, while Belmont gets a $455 million makeover.

But first the old Belmont had to go. “It’s a relic of racing’s heyday,” my colleague Melissa Hoppert told me, “when people would pack the stands” day after day, not just on the day of the Belmont Stakes. The grandstand was huge, longer than the Empire State Building is tall.

The crowds have since thinned out, except during the Belmont Stakes. “If you go to Belmont on any other race day,” she said, “there are 20 handicappers huddled around the rail.” The jockeys, trainers and horsemen outnumber the fans, or seem to.

The less crowded stands reflect changes in racing and betting in the last 10 years or so. People can still go to the track on big race days to take in the parade of gravity-defying hats and eye-catching outfits. But to bet on regular racing, they can just use their cellphones. The New York Racing Association, which runs Belmont Park, still makes money that way, so it doesn’t matter that the stands are not packed.