Belmont Stakes

Live 2010 Belmont Stakes Odds from Bodog Racebook

It's the final jewel in the Triple Crown and the Belmont Stakes can be the most exciting horse racing event of the year - if a horse has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

However, if there isn't a horse going for the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes can be just a ho-hum Grade I stakes race. It's still exciting, but most of the media attention is gone and many casual fans find other things to do.

Absolutely no one wants to miss out on seeing the next Triple Crown winner cross the wire. It's been decades since the last winner (Affirmed 1978) and if there's one this year, it might be decades until another one comes.

Like the other two legs in the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes is a race for 3-year-old thoroughbreds. The purse for the Belmont Stakes is $1 million. It's a trying race, because it's longer than the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. The Belmont Stakes is 1 and a half miles in length.

The Race for the Carnations (Belmont Stakes) is run the first week of June at Belmont Park Race Track, which is in Elmont, New York. The Belmont Stakes first started running at Belmont Park in 1905.

For owners, the $1 million purse pales in comparison to winning the Triple Crown. Should their horse win all three races, the money that will be made after that is monumental. Also, that horse will live on forever in the hearts of horse racing fans everywhere.

Every year a racebook somewhere offers wagering on whether or not there will be a Triple Crown winner. The odds are usually not that great if you want to be on there not being one, but it's a fun bet anyway. And of course, if this is the year, you can cash in handsomely.