RACING TO HISTORY
June 7, 1930: Gallant Fox became the second winner of the Triple Crown after
he won the Belmont Stakes under Earl Sande. Gallant Fox subsequently sired
another Triple Crown winner, Omaha.
June 7, 1941: Whirlaway won the 73rd running of the Belmont Stakes and
became the fifth horse to win the Triple Crown.
June 7, 1947: Owner William Helis had three stakes wins in three different
states. Rippey won the Carter Handicap at New York's Aqueduct; Jobstown won
the Absecon Handicap at New Jersey's Atlantic City and Elpis won the New
Castle Handicap at Delaware Park.
June 7, 1980: Genuine Risk became the first filly to compete in all three
Triple Crown races. She won the Kentucky Derby and finished second in both
the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
June 7, 1986: Trainer Woody Stephens saddled Danzig Connection to win his
fifth consecutive Belmont Stakes. Stephens won the previous races with
Conquistador Cielo (1982), Caveat (1983), Swale (1984) and Creme Fraiche
(1985).
June 7, 1997: In his bid to become the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown,
Silver Charm was outdueled during the stretch run of the Belmont Stakes by
Touch Gold. Silver Charm held on for second and became the 13th horse to
have lost the Triple Crown after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness
Stakes. On-track attendance at Belmont was 70,682--third-highest in the
track's history.
June 8, 1935: Omaha, son of Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox, became the
third winner of the Triple Crown with a win in the Belmont Stakes.
June 8, 1985: Brushwood Stable's Creme Fraiche became the first gelding to
win the Belmont Stakes.
June 8, 1991: Julie Krone became the first female rider to compete in the
Belmont Stakes. Her mount, Subordinated Debt, finished ninth as the
third-longest shot in the field. Also on that date, Mane Minister became the
only horse to finish third in all three Triple Crown events.
June 9, 1888: James McLaughlin set the record for most number of wins by a
jockey in the Belmont Stakes, six, when he rode Sir Dixon to a 12-length
victory. McLaughlin's record was matched by Eddie Arcaro in 1955.
June 9, 1887: Only two horses competed in the Belmont Stakes. It was the
smallest field in the race's history, which again had only two starters in
1888, 1892, 1910, and 1920, the year Man o' War won the Belmont by 20
lengths.
June 9, 1945: Hoop Jr. won the Kentucky Derby, which was run one month after
a national wartime government ban on racing was lifted.
June 9, 1973: Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths-the longest
winning margin in the race's history-while setting a track record of 2:24,
which has not been surpassed. The time was 2 3/5 seconds faster than the
mark set by Gallant Man in 1957. Secretariat's victory made him the ninth
Triple Crown winner and first since Citation had swept the Derby, Preakness
and Belmont in 1948.
June 9, 1979: Spectacular Bid lost his chance for the Triple Crown in the
Belmont Stakes, finishing third to winner Coastal. Trainer Bud Delp alleged
that the colt had sustained a foot injury after stepping on a safety pin the
morning of the race.
June 9, 1984: Riding Swale in a wire-to-wire victory, Laffit Pincay Jr. won
his third consecutive Belmont Stakes, becoming the only rider in this
century to accomplish that feat. Pincay rode Caveat to victory in 1983 and
Conquistador Cielo in 1982; all three of his mounts were trained by Woody
Stephens. Jockey James McLaughlin also rode three consecutive Belmont
winners, once from 1882-84, and again from 1886-88. Swale's Belmont was also
the first in which a female trainer saddled a horse for the race. Sarah
Lundy sent Minstrel Star to a last-place finish.
June 10, 1890: The Preakness Stakes was run outside Baltimore, at Morris
Park in New York, under the auspices of the New York Jockey Club. Suspended
for three years, the race was next run at the Brooklyn Jockey Club's
Gravesend Course, 1894-1908.
June 10, 1938: Hollywood Park opened in Inglewood, Calif. In its inaugural
year, Hollywood Park attracted such racing stars as Lawrin, who had given
jockey Eddie Arcaro his first Kentucky Derby victory, as well as Ligaroti
and Seabiscuit, whose rivalry later reached its pitch in a match race
contested at Del Mar on Aug. 12, 1938.
June 10, 1944: The only triple dead heat for first in a stakes race occurred
at Aqueduct Racetrack in the Carter Handicap. The three winners were
Brownie, Bossuet and Wait a Bit.
June 10, 1953: Trainer Charlie Whittingham, at age 40, saddled his first
stakes winner when Porterhouse, ridden by Bill Boland, won the National
Stallion Stakes at Belmont Park. Porterhouse was later named champion
two-year-old of 1953.
June 10, 1972: Laffit Pincay Jr. won his 2,000th victory while riding at
Hollywood Park.
June 10, 1978: Steve Cauthen, at age 18, became the youngest jockey ever to
win the Triple Crown when his mount, Affirmed, won the Belmont Stakes. Also
on that day, Alydar became the only horse to finish second in all three
Triple Crown races. Affirmed was the 11th winner of the Triple Crown.
June 10, 2000: The 132nd Belmont Stakes drew a crowd of 67,810, making it
the fourth largest in the racetrack's history and the largest Belmont Stakes
crowd ever when a Triple Crown was not at stake. The race was won by
longshot Commendable, giving trainer D. Wayne Lukas his record 13th win in a
Triple Crown race.
June 11, 1898: Willie Simms became the only African American jockey to win
the Preakness Stakes when he rode Sly Fox to victory. With this win, Simms
became the only African American jockey to have won all three Triple Crown
races. His other Triple Crown wins took place in the Kentucky Derby (1896,
1898) and Belmont Stakes (1893, 1894).
June 11, 1919: The first Triple Crown was won by Sir Barton after he
completed the Belmont Stakes, then run at 1 3/8 miles rather than the
traditional 1 1/2 miles. Prior to his Triple Crown sweep, Sir Barton had
been winless in six tries at racing.
June 11, 1921: Grey Lag, under Earl Sande, won the first Belmont Stakes ever
to be run counter-clockwise. Previous Belmonts had been run clockwise over a
fish-hook course that included part of the training track and the main dirt
oval.
June 11, 1955: Jockey Eddie Arcaro tied James McLaughlin's record of six
Belmont Stakes wins when he rode Nashua to victory.
June 11, 1966: Jockey Angel Cordero Jr. recorded his first American stakes
victory, taking the Christiana Stakes aboard two-year-old Hermogenes at
Delaware Park.
June 11, 1973: Triple Crown winner Secretariat simultaneously made the
covers of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated.
June 11, 1977: Upon winning the Belmont Stakes, Seattle Slew became the
tenth Triple Crown winner and the first Triple Crown winner to remain
undefeated, with a career record of nine-for-nine.
June 12, 1920: Man o' War won the Belmont Stakes, which was then run at a
distance of 1 3/8-miles, in 2:14 1/5. He shattered the existing world record
by 3 1/5 seconds and also set the American dirt-course record for that
distance.
June 12, 1926: The August Belmont family first presented their permanent
commemorative Tiffany trophy to the winner of the Belmont Stakes. The silver
trophy was created in 1869 in recognition of Fenian's win in the Belmont.
June 12, 1948: After riding Citation to victory in the Belmont, jockey Eddie
Arcaro became the only rider in history to have won two Triple Crowns. His
previous Triple Crown was with Whirlaway, in 1941. In wining the Belmont,
Citation became the eighth Triple Crown winner.
June 12, 1960: Jockey Angel Cordero Jr. rode his first race at El Comandante
in Puerto Rico.
June 12, 1982: Jockey Mike Smith rode his first winner, Future Man, in a
$2,000 claiming race at Santa Fe.
June 13, 1874: English-bred Saxon became the first foreign-bred horse to win
the Belmont Stakes.
June 12, 1998: The Louisiana State Racing commission re-instated jockey
Sylvester Carmouche, who had served more than eight years of a ten-year
suspension. Carmouche was suspended in April 1990 for not riding the proper
course in a race run under heavy fog in January 1990 at Delta Downs. He
later admitted that he had pulled his horse up after the start of the race,
waited on the far turn, then rode to the wire after hearing the other horses
approaching.
June 13, 1913: James Rowe, who had won back-to-back Belmonts in 1872-3 as a
jockey, set the record for most number of Belmont Stakes wins by a trainer,
eight, when he sent Prince Eugene to victory.
June 13, 1961: Ben A. Jones, who trained a record six Kentucky Derby
winners, died.
June 13, 1992: Angel Cordero Jr. won his first race in two tries as a
trainer, with Puchinito, in the fourth race at Belmont Park.
June 13, 1999: Silver Charm, winner of the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness
Stakes and the 1998 Dubai World Cup, retired after finishing fourth in the
Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Silver Charm retired with
earnings of $6,944,369 (third-highest of all time) and won 12 of 24 starts.
June 14, 1880: The first post parade of horses in any American race took
place prior to the running of the Belmont Stakes. Horses had previously gone
directly from paddock to post.
June 14, 1967: Jockey Craig Perret, age 16, won his first career race at
Arlington Park. Despite starting well into the season, Perret finished the
year third among the nation's apprentice riders in races won (with 114) and
led all apprentices in the earnings category, with $610,003.
June 15, 1963: Five weeks prior to his 90th birthday, Hall of Fame trainer
'Sunny Jim' Fitzsimmons retired. "Mr. Fitz," as he was also known, trained
such outstanding runners as Nashua, Bold Ruler, Johnstown and Triple Crown
winners Gallant Fox and his son Omaha.
June 15, 1972: In preparation for his July 4 debut, Secretariat worked five
furlongs from the starting gate in 1:00 1/5.
June 15, 1977: Future rivals Affirmed and Alydar met for the first time, in
the Youthful Stakes at Belmont Park. Affirmed triumphed over Alydar, who
finished fifth, and went on to win four of their six races together in 1977.
June 16, 1943: With a shortage of male workers due to the war, Garden State
Park announced it would employ female mutuels clerks.
June 17, 1912: A record parimutuel payoff on a straight $2 wager was set
when Wishing Ring, sent off at odds of 941-1, paid $1,885.50 to win at
Latonia. The mark was only surpassed in 1989, when Power to Geaux paid
$2,922 for a $2 wager made at Ak-sar-ben on a race that was simulcast from
Fair Grounds.
June 17, 1967: Buckpasser's 15-race winning streak ended when he finished
third to stablemate Poker in the Bowling Green Handicap at Aqueduct, his
only attempt at turf racing. Buckpasser carried 135 pounds while Poker was
assigned 112.
June 18, 1936: Omaha, the 1935 Triple Crown winner owned by New York banker
William Woodward, lost the 2 1/2-mile Ascot Gold Cup by a head to filly
Quashed at Ascot, England. A crowd of 200,000 was said to be present for the
race, for which Omaha was the 11-8 favorite. Omaha had shipped to England
aboard the Aquitania on Jan. 8, 1936 and won the May 30 Queens Plate at
Kempton Park, England.
June 19, 1867: The inaugural Belmont Stakes was run at Jerome Park in the
Bronx and was won by a filly, Ruthless, who defeated colts to earn $1,850
for her victory. Ruthless was one of a group of fillies known as the
"Barbarous Battalion," daughters of the mare Barbarity, owned by Francis
Morris of New York. The other "battalion" members-all full sisters-were
Remorseless, Relentless, Regardless and Merciless.
June 19, 1880: Sheepshead Bay racecourse opened for a six-day meet. The
track was the original site of the Suburban, Futurity and Realization
Stakes, which eventually were transferred to Belmont Park.
June 19, 1942: Count Fleet won his first race, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
June 19, 1973: Officials of Arlington Park invited Secretariat to compete in
a specially created race, the $125,000 Arlington Invitational Stakes.
June 19, 1992: Charlie Whittingham became the second trainer in history,
behind D. Wayne Lukas, to top $100 million in purse earnings when he sent
Little by Little to a second-place finish in the sixth race at Hollywood
Park.
June 19, 1998: The NTRA All-Star Jockey Championship from Lone Star Park in
Grand Prairie, Tex., was nationally televised for the first time on ESPN2.
Shane Sellers won the 12-jockey competition.
June 20, 1908: With his final victory in the Tidal Stakes at Sheepshead Bay,
Colin retired undefeated after 15 starts. No major American racehorse
approached this record until 1988, when Personal Ensign retired with a
perfect 13-for-13 career.
WEEKEND STAKES RACES (unrestricted stakes worth $75,000 and up)
FRIDAY, JUNE 8
Acorn Stakes, 3yo fillies, $200,000, Grade I, 1 M, Belmont Park
Flash Stakes, 2yo, $75,000, 5F, Belmont Park
SATURDAY, JUNE 9
Belmont Stakes, 3yo, $1,000,000, Grade I, 1½ M, Belmont Park
Manhattan Handicap, 3&up, $400,000, Grade I, 1¼ M (T), Belmont Park
Jefferson Cup Stakes, 3yo, $250,000, Grade III, 1 1/8 M (T), Churchill Downs
Just a Game Breeders' Cup Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $175,000, Grade III, 1 M (T), Belmont Park
True North Handicap, 3&up, $150,000, Grade II, 6F, Belmont Park
Riva Ridge Stakes, 3yo, $150,000, Grade II, 7F, Belmont Park
Victoria Park Stakes, 3yo, $100,000, 1 1/8 M, Woodbine
Mesquite Breeders' Cup Mile Stakes, 3yo fillies, $100,000, 1 M, Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie
Cinderella Stakes, 2yo fillies, $75,000, 5½ F, Hollywood Park
Skipat Stakes, 3&up (f&m), $75,000, 6F, Pimlico
Susan's Girl Stakes, 3yo fillies, $75,000, 1 1/16 M, Delaware Park
SUNDAY, JUNE 10
The Californian, 3&up, $500,000, Grade II, 1 1/8 M, Hollywood Park
Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap, 3&up, $350,000, Grade I, 1¼ M (T), Hollywood Park
King Edward Breeders' Cup Handicap, 3&up, $300,000, Grade II, 1 1/8 M (T), Woodbine
Brooklyn Handicap, 3&up, $250,000, Grade II, 1 1/8 M, Belmont Park
Ascot Handicap, 3yo, $100,000, Grade III, 1 1/16 M(T), Bay Meadows
Great Lady M. Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $75,000, 5½ F (T), Hollywood Park
Battlefield Stakes, 3&up, $75,000, 1 1/8 M (T), Monmouth Park
MONDAY, JUNE 11
Nick Shuk Memorial Stakes, 3yo, $75,000, 1 1/16 M (T), Delaware Park
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