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For more than a century, Belmont Park has been where horse racing history was made.
From Secretariat’s record-shattering Triple Crown in 1973 to American Pharoah ending a 37-year drought in 2015 and Justify completing the sport’s ultimate feat in 2018, the Belmont Stakes has long been defined by one thing: serving as the final test of horse racing’s Triple Crown.
Now, just as the historic Elmont track prepares to welcome the Belmont Stakes back to Long Island in 2027 following a three-year absence during a massive $455 million renovation project, the race’s role appears to be changing — somewhat.
The New York Racing Association and Churchill Downs announced Monday the creation of the Thoroughbred Championship Series, a new six-race competition beginning in 2027 that includes the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Matt Winn Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes, Travers Stakes and a new championship race at Churchill Downs in September.
Missing however is the Preakness Stakes, the traditional second leg of the Triple Crown.
The Preakness Stakes will still be run, it just will not be part of the new championship series.
That means the Triple Crown isn’t going away. A horse that wins the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes will still achieve one of the rarest accomplishments in sports.
It just wont be the defining series in determining horse racing’s top 3-year-old.
The new concept gives owners and trainers another route to chase prestige and prize money. Instead, horses can compete across six races from May through the championship race in September.
The announcement also comes at a time when fewer Kentucky Derby winners are pursuing the Triple Crown.
In three of the last five years, the Derby winner has skipped the Preakness, including the last two, Sovereignty and Golden Tempo. Both returned to win the Belmont Stakes in its temporary home in Saratoga Springs, but neither had a chance to complete the Triple Crown after bypassing the race in Baltimore.
The horse’s owners and trainers have said that the three races bunched so close together is too much for the horses to handle.
As a result, opportunities for fans to watch a horse arrive at Belmont Park with a chance to sweep all three Triple Crown races have become increasingly rare.
For Long Island, that’s significant.
Belmont Stakes Day has always drawn large crowds, but the atmosphere reaches another level when a Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner arrives in Elmont with a chance to complete the Triple Crown.
Eleven horses have completed the Triple Crown at Belmont Park, cementing the race’s place among the most iconic sporting events on Long Island.
That tradition isn’t disappearing, but it may no longer define the Belmont Stakes the way it once did.
Top: The new Belmont Park in Elmont is undergoing a massive $455 million renovation project(Credit: GLI/Nick Esposito)
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