First post times are set for 3-day 'Belmont Stakes Racing Festival'
The New York Racing Association announced the post times for the three-day 2022 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which is highlighted by the 154th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 11.
The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival kicks off on Thursday, June 9, and will include 17 stakes races in total, with eight Grade 1 races to be contested on Belmont Stakes Day.
Day 1 of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival on June 9 is a twilight racing program featuring nine races with a first post of 3:05 p.m. EDT. First post on the 11-race June 10 card is 12:50 p.m. First post on Belmont Stakes Day, which will feature 13 races, is 11:20 a.m.
In addition to the 154th running of the Belmont Stakes, that day’s card will include three Breeders' Cup "win and you're in" qualifiers: the one-mile $1 million Metropolitan Handicap (G1) for 3-year-olds and up (Dirt Mile); the $500,000 Ogden Phipps (G1) for older fillies and mares 4-years-old and up going 1 1/16 miles on the main track (Distaff); and the $400,000 Jaipur (G1) for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on turf (Turf Sprint).
The Belmont Stakes Day card will also feature the $750,000 Manhattan (G1) for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/4 miles on turf; the $500,000 Acorn (G1) for 3-year-old fillies going one mile; the $500,000 Just a Game (G1) for fillies and mares 4 years old and up at one mile on the turf; the $400,000 Woody Stephens (G1) in a seven-furlong sprint over Big Sandy for 3-year-olds; and the $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational (G2), a 1 1/2-mile test for 4-year-olds and up.
The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival opens with three stakes races on June 9, including the Grade 2, $200,000 Wonder Again (G2), a nine-furlong turf test for 3-year-old fillies offering an automatic invite to the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational to the top-three finishers.
Rounding out the June 9 card are a pair of $150,000 sprints for 2-year-olds at 5 1/2-furlongs on the main track led by the Astoria for fillies and the Tremont.
On June 10, the $750,000 New York (G1), a 10-furlong turf test for older fillies and mares will headline a day featuring five graded stakes. Also featured on the June 10 card are the $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup (G2), the $300,000 True North (G2); the $300,000 Bed o' Roses (G2); and the $200,000 Intercontinental (G3).