Belmont Stakes Trophy Honors August Belmont I
Ruthless Won First Race – Fenian, Secretariat Took Silver
May 25, 2009
The filly Ruthless was the first female dancing darling of the third race of the Triple Crown series, the Belmont Stakes. Giving the race's first ever post in 1867 a ruthless beginning, the filly showed sensational heart to the wire, prevailing in a win a head longer than the colt De Coursey.
The modern Belmont Stakes, named for the Thoroughbred owner and banker/investor August Belmont I, offers a purse of almost a million dollars more than the $2,500 won by Ruthless.
Man o' War, Count Fleet, Secretariat Distanced Themselves
No other Thoroughbreds have run the third jewel of the Triple Crown as did Man o' War (1920), or Count Fleet in 1943, or Secretariat thirty years later. These three giants of flat racing cruised the course to win with a combined seventy-six lengths to spare.
Four triplers would decorate the 1940s. Three racers had won the crown series in the 1930s. Sir Barton had done it in 1919.
But no extra hardware had been awarded to these eight champions.
Secretariat Got First Triple Crown Trophy
It was not until 1950 that the Thoroughbred Racing Association recognized the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes as a total accomplishment that should be awarded with a separate crown, so to speak. The association commissioned the making of a trophy to be presented to a winner of all three (Triple Crown) races. The triple achievement seemed to call for the casting of a three-sided trophy, each side intended to represent one of the three races.
However, twenty-three years passed before the trophy could be brought out of moth balls and presented to the connections of the next Triple Crown champion, 1973's Secretariat.
The Belmont Stakes Locations
- 1867-1889 --- Jerome Park, the Bronx, New York
- 1890-1904 --- Morris Park, the Bronx
- 1911-1912 --- not held
- 1905-present --- Belmont Park, Elmont, New York; except for 1963-1967, Aqueduct, New York
The Belmont Stakes Distances
- 1867-1873 --- 1-5/8 miles
- 1874-1889 --- 1-1/2 miles
- 1890-1892 --- 1-1/4 miles
- 1893-1894 --- 1-1/8 miles
- 1895 --- 1-1/4 miles
- 1896-1903 --- 1-3/8 miles
- 1904-1905 --- 1-1/4 miles
- 1906-1925 --- 1-3/8 miles
- 1926-present --- 1-1/2 miles
Belmont Stakes Presentation Trophies
The Belmont Stakes trophy, a bowl of solid silver, was first presented in 1869. Fenian, owned by August Belmont I, won the race. In 1926, the Belmont family offered the silver bowl as a perpetual trophy, beginning a tradition of allowing winning connections to choose to keep the trophy until the next year's running of the race.
Fenian still reigns on top of the bowl's cover. Attached underneath the bowl are a trio of equine figures that represent Eclipse, Herod, and Matchem, three of the most influential sires of American Thoroughbred racing in the sport's beginning.
The permanent trophy given to winning connections is a grand silver tray into which is etched the names of all Belmont Stakes victors. The trainer, jockey, exercise rider, and groom of the winning Thoroughbred receive replica trophy trays.
The roving trophy assures August Belmont I's continuous touch on the Belmont Stakes, but it was the Ruthless charge that got the event off to a gangbusting start.
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