2014 Belmont Stakes Horse Capping Picks

Belmont Stakes is the final and longest leg of the United States Triple Crown. It is a Grade 1 stakes Throughbed horse race that inaugurated in 1867.   The event is held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

Belmont Stakes is also nicknamed the Test Of The Champion and it is ran over a dirt track covering a distance of 12 furlongs (1 ½ miles) marking it the third final leg of the Triple Crown after the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. 

2014 marks the 146^th running of the Belmont Stakes and will be held on the 7^th of June. Firstly, the event was held at Jerome Park Racetrack in The Bronx, and later moved to Morris Park Racecourse until 1905 and finally moved to Belmont Park and has remained there till to date.

The Beginning of Triple Crown Series

The Belmont Stakes is held on the first Saturday in June whilst the Kentucky Derby is always held on the first Saturday in May and the Preakness Stakes follows two weeks later after the Kentucky Derby. Previously, the Preakness Stakes was always held before the Derby and in 1922, both the Preakness and Derby were held on the same day. The Belmont Stakes was held before the Preakness Stakes on eleven occasions.

In 1919, Sir Barton was the first winner of the Triple Crown Series and in 1973, Secretariat made a record of the fastest speed for Belmont Stakes with a record time of 2:24 and won the U.S Triple Crown Champion that year. Secretariat’s record still stands undefeated till to date.

There has been a great change in the distance of Belmont Stakes. In 1867 to 1873, it started off with a run of a mile and five furlongs, in 1890 to 1905 it changed to a mile and a furlong, in 1893 to 1894 it was a mile and three furlongs and the current distance of mile and half was established in 1926.

In 1960 to 1985, CBS was the first to broadcast the event and ABC Sports took over from 1986 to 2000. NBC Sports broadcasted the event from 2001 to 2005 and ESPN on ABC took over from 2006 to 2010 at which NBC Sports attained broadcasting rights to broadcast the event again from 2011 to 2015.

The 2014, Saturday, June 7 Belmont Stakes will have a purse of $1,000,000 with the winner taking 62% of the purse and the second runner taking 20% of the purse.

Winner                                                 $620,000 (62%) 

Second                                                 $200,000 (20%) 

Third                                      $100,000 (10%) 

Forth                                     $50,000 (5%) 

Fifth                                       $30,000 (3%)

The TV schedule of the Belmont Stakes will kick-off from 5.00pm to 7.00pm (ET) on NBC. 

The next biggest event from the Belmont Stakes is the 2014 World Cup so make sure to sign up for winning handicapping picks for the soccer games as well.