Belmont Stakes: 2021 Meet the Contenders

The 2021 Belmont Stakes will be the 153rd running and the 110th time the event takes place at Belmont Park this Saturday, June 5th. The 1.5 mile race, known as the "test of the champion", is the final leg in the American Triple Crown, open to three-year-old Thoroughbreds.

The race is scheduled for June 5, 2021, in Elmont, New York, with a 6:47 p.m. EDT post time and television coverage by NBC. It will be a Grade I stakes race with a purse of $1.5 million. There will be no Triple Crown winner, as the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes were won by different horses.

Due to effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 edition was contested as the first leg of the Triple Crown, on June 20 without spectators. The 2021 Triple Crown races returned to their traditional sequence and schedule, with Medina Spirit winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby on May 1, and Rombauer winning the 2021 Preakness Stakes on May 15.

Attendance for the Belmont is limited to 11,000 spectators, with attendees required to provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. Additional spectators could be allowed if capacity limits in the state of New York are increased prior to race day.

A week after the Kentucky Derby, it was announced that Medina Spirit had tested positive for betamethasone, a corticosteroid, and stands to be disqualified if the split sample confirms the positive; with that result still pending, Medina Spirit submitted to additional testing and was allowed to run in the Preakness.

Medina Spirit isn’t at Belmont Park for Saturday’s race, but Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer is, and the colt faces a stronger field than he beat in the Preakness even without the Kentucky Derby winner in the race.

On May 17, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) banned trainer Bob Baffert from entering any horses in races in the state of New York, which (if not lifted before June 5) would prevent Medina Spirit or Concert Tour from running in the Belmont. The same day, Preakness winner Rombauer and seventh-place finisher France Go de Ina arrived at Belmont Park.