Tag: Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Tickets Go On Sale Thursday

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced that a limited number of tickets for the 2021 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will go on sale to the public on Thursday, May 6 starting at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.com.

Headlined by the 153rd running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 5, the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival kicks off on Thursday, June 3 and will include 17 stakes races in total with eight Grade 1 races to be contested on Belmont Stakes Day.

NYRA will offer advance pre-sale opportunities to 2020 Belmont Stakes ticket buyers, along with NYRA Bets Elite, Preferred and Bronze members, beginning on Wednesday, May 5. Eligible groups will be notified via email.

Beginning May 19, New York State will expand capacity at outdoor sports and entertainment venues to 33 percent of capacity. With required mandatory assigned seating and social distancing in place, Belmont Park is able to host approximately 11,000 ticketed spectators.

Accordingly, available ticket inventory is currently limited to reserved seats and hospitality areas. There will be no general admission tickets made available at this time. Additional ticket inventory will be released should capacity limits increase prior to the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.

In accordance with current New York State requirements, all ticketed spectators must submit proof of completed vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result in order to enter Belmont Park.

For additional information on health and safety protocols in effect for the 2021 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, please visit: https://www.belmontstakes.com/tickets/know-before-you-go.

To reduce entry time, NYRA encourages all ticketed spectators who have been vaccinated or tested in New York State to retrieve secure proof using the New York State Excelsior Pass. To retrieve an Excelsior Pass, attendees can download the free NYS Excelsior Pass Wallet app onto their smartphone, available on the App Store and the Google Play Store, and follow the on-screen prompts.

Alternatively, attendees can also retrieve and print out a Pass through the Excelsior Pass Online Portal to bring to the event. Use of Excelsior Pass is free and voluntary. Attendees also have the option to provide their Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccination card or lab results from a recent test upon entry. For more information on retrieving Excelsior Pass for out-of-state visitors, approved vaccinations, or approved tests visit the Excelsior Pass FAQs.

All tickets must be purchased in advance. In order to enter Belmont Park, tickets must be presented digitally via a mobile device through Ticketmaster.com or the NYRA Account Manager. For additional details, please view NYRA's digital ticket guide.

The 2021 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will mark the return of the Belmont Stakes to its customary spot on the racing calendar and its famed distance of 1 1/2-miles. In 2020, a readjustment to the stakes schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic saw the “Test of the Champion” run at a one-turn, 1 1/8 miles as the opening leg of the Triple Crown series for the first time in history.

The Belmont Stakes is an American tradition inaugurated in 1867 at Jerome Park Racetrack and moved in 1905 to its familiar home at Belmont Park. The final jewel of the Triple Crown series has showcased many of history's greatest thoroughbreds over 152 editions of the American classic.

The Belmont Stakes has been won by Hall of Famers from Sir Barton, Man o' War and Native Dancer to Secretariat, Affirmed and Easy Goer. That only 13 horses in history have achieved Triple Crown glory by winning the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes attests to its mystique as one of the rarest accomplishments in all of sports.

Two of those Triple Crown triumphs have come in the last six years with American Pharoah ending a 37-year Triple Crown drought in 2015 and Justify capping a perfect 6-for-6 career with a Triple Crown-clinching effort in 2018.

For additional information and details on hospitality offerings, ticket packages and pricing, visit BelmontStakes.com. For full terms and conditions, visit https://www.belmontstakes.com/tickets.

The post Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Tickets Go On Sale Thursday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Essential Quality to Bypass Preakness; Belmont Possible

Trainer Brad Cox told Steve Byk on At the Races Tuesday morning that champion Essential Quality (Tapit), fourth in the GI Kentucky Derby as the 29-10 favorite, will skip the GI Preakness S. May 15.

The grey could be considered for the GI Belmont S. June 5, with Godolphin's Jimmy Bell telling TVG's Alicia Hughes that the Belmont is “part of the conversation, but that's not definitive at all. We're skipping the Preakness, that's for sure. Our primary goal is to run in the [Aug. 28 GI] Travers and we'll work backwards from there. His next start may or may not be in the Belmont as all options are being considered.”

Cox told Byk that Triple Crown decisions on Derby runner-up Mandaloun (Into Mischief) and Smarty Jones S. winner Caddo River (Hard Spun) would be made in the coming days with their respective co-owners.

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Cox Confirms Essential Quality Will Skip Preakness, Point To Belmont Stakes

Reigning champion trainer Brad Cox told Steve Byk this morning that Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Essential Quality will not return in the Preakness Stakes, but would instead come back in five weeks for the Belmont.

The 3-year-old son of Tapit was undefeated prior to his run on the first Saturday in May, winning the G1 Breeders' Futurity, G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, G3 Southwest Stakes, and G2 Blue Grass. He endured a challenging trip at the start of the Kentucky Derby, rushed up into contention prior to the clubhouse turn, and ran on well to finish fourth, beaten just a length by the winner, Medina Spirit.

Final decisions have yet to be made for Cox's other two Preakness potentials, Derby runner-up Mandaloun and G1 Arkansas Derby runner-up Caddo River.

The post Cox Confirms Essential Quality Will Skip Preakness, Point To Belmont Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Medina Spirit Fine After Derby Win

Zedan Racing's Medina Spirit (Protonico) exited his win in Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby in fine shape, according to trainer Bob Baffert, who said he would wait a week before committing the colt to the May 15 GI Preakness S.

“He came out of it well,” Baffert said Sunday morning. “It takes about a week to determine, so I'm going to come back next weekend and see. But I don't see anything discouraging right now.”

Baffert continued, “Can he win the Triple Crown? I don't know. But he's the Derby winner, and that's all that matters. I was coming in here, thinking, I wasn't sure [if Medina Spirit could win the Derby], everything had to go perfect for him. We were going to go to the lead, and see what happened. What if they challenged him? He made the lead pretty easily, for him, and the other speed horse didn't break [Rock Your World]. That's what it's like in the Derby. You have to get the trip; the other speed horse didn't get the trip.”

Of his record-breaking seventh victory in the Derby, Baffert said, “I stand here in front of you guys, and you don't know how much I appreciate winning this, especially as you get older. It gets tougher as you get older…I'd love to have 10 in there if I could, but you know that won't happen. To have one who has a chance. To win it with him, it's a Cinderella story, he's just a blue-collar horse, just digging in. He reminded me of Silver Charm….It's another Kentucky Derby dream that came true.”

Baffert could also be represented in the Preakness by GII Rebel S. winner Concert Tour (Street Sense), who worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 (5/17) at Churchill Downs Sunday.

“Concert Tour worked well this morning,” Baffert said. “I'll sit down and talk to [owner] Mr. [Gary] West. He wants that horse to develop and we're not rushing things. We know he's a good horse, so we'll see next week how he is. The thing is how they're training. They both would have to be training well.”

Baffert is in line to break a tie with Robert Wyndham Walden, who saddled seven Preakness winners between 1875 and 1888. Baffert has been represented in the Preakness winner's circle by Triple Crown champions Justify (2018) and American Pharoah (2015), as well as Lookin At Lucky (2010), War Emblem (2002), Point Given (2001), Real Quiet (1998) and Silver Charm (1997).

Trainer Brad Cox was enjoying a quiet Sunday following his busy Derby day. The Louisville native saddled his first two horses in the race, with Mandaloun (Into Mischief) finishing second and race favorite Essential Quality (Tapit) running fourth.

“It was a wild experience being in the Derby for the first time,” Cox said. “In every previous Derby I've attended, I've been a fan. I've seen the media interviews, the playing of 'My Old Kentucky Home' and everything leading up to the race. Being in the race, all of those things are sort of a blur. You're so focused on the job at hand. We were so grateful that both of our horses ran as well as they did. Essential Quality got a tough trip being so wide but coming that close to a Derby win makes me want more. We'll be back.”

Cox said both of his Derby runners, plus GI Arkansas Derby runner-up Caddo River (Hard Spun)–who missed Saturday's race due to an elevated temperature–are being considered for the Preakness.

“We'll watch both colts–kind of typical trainer talk,” Cox said.. “We'll get them back to the track in three or four days and see how they're moving. No commitments at all. I mean, I love the Preakness. It's a great weekend, probably one of the best weekends of the year and we'll definitely have horses for the undercard.”

Doug O'Neill said he will skip the Preakness with Derby third-place finisher Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow).

“We're just so proud of his effort,” O'Neill said Sunday morning. “He ran a great race. He ate up last night and jogged fine this morning. It was all good.”

O'Neill added, “We'll look to run him next in the [June 5 GI] Belmont S.,” O'Neill said. “We'll get him back to California and start planning for that.”

Others listed as possible for the Preakness are: Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), who closed to finish sixth after bumping at the start of the Kentucky Derby; Crowded Trade (More Than Ready, who finished third in the GII Wood Memorial; Rombauer (Twirling Candy), who finished third in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S.; Japan-based France Go de Ina (Will Take Charge), who finished sixth in the G2 UAE Derby; GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. winner King Fury (Curlin), who was knocked out of the Derby with a fever; and Unbridled Honor (Honor Code), who finished second in the Lexington.

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