/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33838227/494615351.0.jpg)
UPDATE: I've updated the tables below with the now official race order and conditions.
Saturday's Grade 1 Belmont Stakes is scheduled to go to post at 6:52 p.m. Eastern time (the 11th race on a 13-race card), at which point California Chrome will either take his place alongside some of the greatest names in American thoroughbred history, or become just another failure over the last 36 years of the Triple Crown. And while the Belmont Stakes will ultimately determine whether the day is remembered as historical or simply another in a long line of disappointments, it is not the only top-level horse racing taking place at Big Sandy on Saturday afternoon.
After adjusting this year's stakes schedule, NYRA has put together a Belmont Stakes under card featuring eight graded races, including five Grade 1s (Acorn, Ogden Phipps, Just A Game, Met Mile, and Manhattan). The stakes portion of Saturday's card is tentatively scheduled to begin with the G3-Jaipur Invitational in race 3. The final stakes race of the day is the ungraded Easy Goer Stakes, which will run after the Belmont as race 12.
NBC Sports will once again provide coverage from Belmont with under card races beginning at 2:30 p.m Eastern on NBCSN. As you will see in the chart below, NBC is scheduled to begin their main coverage at 4:30 p.m., which is right before the G1-Met Mile, and and hour prior to the G1-Manhattan. Whether or not we actually get to watch either of these races on NBC remains to be seen because, well, you know. Anyway, just be prepared to have a pair of Grade 1s relegated to video streaming through your wagering provider.
In addition to their coverage on Belmont Stakes day, NBC SportsNetwork will air a 30-minute program entitled "California Chrome: The Unlikely Champion" beginning on Wednesday, June 4th at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. Encore broadcasts of the program will air at 10:30 p.m. that same Wednesday, on Thursday, June 5th at 7:30 p.m., Friday, June 6th at 3:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, June 7 at midnight.
Below is the tentative race schedule from the NYRA condition book, TV coverage and wagering menu* for Saturday's Belmont Stakes card
Race | PT | TV | Condition | Dist/Surf | Age/Sex |
1 | 11:35am | HRTV/TVG | Allowance N2X | 8.5 | 3up |
2 | 12:07pm | HRTV/TVG | Easy Goer | 8.5 | 3yo |
3 | 12:40pm | HRTV/TVG | G2-Brooklyn | 12.0 | 4up |
4 | 1:16pm | HRTV/TVG | G3-Jaipur Invitational | 6.0 (IT) | 4up |
5 | 1:54pm | HRTV/TVG | G2-Woody Stephens | 7.0 | 3yo |
6 | 2:32pm | NBCSN | G1-Acorn | 8.0 | 3yo, f |
7 | 3:14pm | NBCSN | G1-Ogden Phipps | 8.5 | 4up, f&m |
8 | 4:00pm | NBCSN | G1-Just A Game | 8.0 (WT) | 4up, f&m |
9 | 4:48pm | NBC | G1-Met Mile | 8.0 | 3up |
10 | 5:42pm | NBC | G1-Manhattan | 10.0 (IT) | 4up |
11 | 6:52pm | NBC | G1-Belmont Stakes | 12.0 | 3yo |
12 | 8:12pm | HRTV/TVG | OC/Allowance | 9.0 (IT) | 3up |
13 | 12:07pm | HRTV/TVG | OC/Allowance | 7.0 | 3up |
Race | Condition | Wagers |
1 | Allowance N2X | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3, P5 |
2 | Easy Goer | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3, P4 |
3 | G2-Brooklyn | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3 |
4 | G3-Jaipur Invitational | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3 |
5 | G2-Woody Stephens | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3 |
6 | G1-Acorn | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3, P6, GS |
7 | G1-Ogden Phipps | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3, GS |
8 | G1-Just A Game | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3, P4 |
9 | G1-Met Mile | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD*, P3 |
10 | G1-Manhattan | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD, P3, P4 |
11 | G1-Belmont Stakes | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD* |
12 | OC/Allowance | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD |
13 | OC/Allowance | WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER |
Belmont will off two, two-day Daily Double bets on Friday: A True North-Met Mile double, and a Belmont Gold Cup-Belmont Stakes double.