Belmont Stakes 2011 Schedule

The 2011 Belmont Stakes will take place on Saturday, June 11th at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, with live television coverage of the race itself on ABC. The undercard will be shown on ESPN, with full analysis and pre and post race coverage on the dedicated horse racing networks TVG and HRTV. For those looking to attend the race live, gates open at 8:30 AM. In addition to the highly sought after reserved seating Belmont Park admits thousands of fans via general admission on a first come, first served basis.

The Grade 1 stakes races on the Belmont undercard are as follows:

–The Acorn Stakes: The Acorn Stakes is a Grade 1 contested over a dirt track for a distance of one mile with a purse of $250,000. The race is limited to three year old fillies with the reigning winner being Champagne D’Oro who won the race for trainer Eric Gulliot with Martin Garcia aboard.

–The ‘Just A Game’ Stakes: Named after the top filly of 1980, the Just A Game Stakes is a Grade 1 race held on the turf course over a distance of one mile with a purse of $400,000. The event is open to fillies and mares three years and older. The 2010 race was won by Proviso with jockey Mike Smith.

–The Woodford Reserve Manhattan Stakes: Sponsored by the Woodford Reserve bourbon distillery, this race is also held on Belmont’s turf course over a mile and a quarter distance for fillies and mares three years old and up. This race has a purse of $400,000 and is traditionally run immediately before the Belmont Stakes. The 2010 winner was Winchester with jockey Cornelio Velasquez up top.

The main event of the day is the Belmont Stakes itself—it is a Grade 1 race over a mile and a half distance on a dirt track for three year old fillies and mares with a purse of $1,000,000. The live coverage of the event on ABC begins at 5:00 PM though the actual post time varies. The defending Belmont Stakes champion is Drosselmeyer who won the race for trainer Bill Mott with jockey Mike Smith manning the reins. The victory was Smith’s first Belmont Stakes win.

Television coverage of the 2011 Belmont Stakes will begin at 5:00 PM Eastern on NBC TV in the United States. The NBC owned cable network Versus will provide pre-race coverage from 3:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern and a half hour post race wrap up from 7:00 to 7:30 PM. Versus will also offer a retrospective of classic Belmont moments on Friday from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM Eastern followed by an hour preview of the 2011 race live from 5:00 to 6:00 PM Eastern.

The Belmont Stakes betting day racing card is scheduled to get underway at 11:35 AM Eastern with a total of six stakes races on a 13 race card. The tentative post time for the Belmont Stakes is 6:35 PM Eastern.