Long Island, New York became the birthplace of horse racing in North America shortly after the region turned from Dutch to English rule in 1665. Constructed from 1903-05 at a cost of $2.5 million, Belmont Park, in Elmont, N.Y. was the area's most expensive track development to date. Named after August Belmont, the late financier father of the tracks founder, Belmont Park opened for racing on May 4, 1905. After nearly 60 years of racing, Belmont closed for renovations in 1963. Five years and $30 million worth of renovations later the "new" Belmont Park opened in time to celebrate the centennial running of the Belmont Stakes.

The Belmont Stakes was first run on June 19, 1867, at the Jerome Park race course, an oddly shaped, English-style track that required its runners to negotiate three turns instead of two because of a dip in the middle of the backstretch. A filly, Ruthless, won the first Belmont's $1,850 winners purse, outlasting DeCourcey by a head. The race has been run every since, with the exception of 1911 and '12, and the Belmont has established itself as the ultimate test of championship stamina in this country. Its 1-1/2-mile distance now has become a rarity in American dirt races.

The Belmont was even longer in its early days, contested at 1-5/8 miles through 1873. But from 1890 through 1926, the race dropped down to distances varying between 1-1/8 and 1-3/8 miles. The 1926 Belmont was run at 1-1/2 miles and was won by Crusader, a son of the legendary Man o' War, in a time of 2:32-1/5. The race has been run at that distance ever since.