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Belmont Stakes to anchor two-day Pick-5 wager on races carded Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20

by Keith McCalmont

Special wager features $1 minimum and mandatory payout

A special two-day Pick 5 wager, with a $1 base minimum and culminating with the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, will be offered by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) on Friday, June 19.

The 152nd renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes will take place on Saturday, June 20, as the first leg of the Triple Crown series, a historic first for the crown jewel of thoroughbred racing. Traditionally run at 1 1/2-miles, this year's edition of the Belmont Stakes, to be conducted without spectators, will be contested at nine furlongs and broadcast live from 2:45 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern on NBC, the exclusive broadcast partner of the Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown.

First post time on the 12-race Belmont Stakes Day card is 11:45 a.m. Eastern with the featured race, the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, slated for Race 10.

The Belmont Stakes two-day Pick 5, with a low 15 percent takeout and mandatory payout, begins in Race 7 on Friday at 4:32 p.m. Eastern with a seven-furlong optional-claiming sprint on the Widener turf course for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up which drew field of 11, including one main-track only entrant.

The sequence continues in Friday's Race 9 (5:36 p.m.) with the $80,000 Sir Cat, a six-furlong turf sprint for sophomores featuring the stakes-winning duo of Jack and Noah and Old Chestnut for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse.

The Belmont Stakes two-day Pick 5 wager continues on Saturday in Race 8 at 4:15 p.m. with the Grade 1, $300,000 Longines Acorn, a one-turn mile for sophomore fillies led by Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse's Grade 1-winner Perfect Alibi and rising star Gamine, who ships in from California for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert.

The penultimate leg, the Grade 1, $250,000 Jaipur, presented by America's Best Racing, in Race 9 at 4:53 p.m. will see a field of eight 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on turf, chasing a berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint via the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The sequence concludes with the 152nd running of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes in Race 10 at 5:42 p.m. Multiple Grade 1-winning New York-bred Tiz the Law, trained by Barclay Tagg for Sackatoga Stable, headlines a talented field of 10. Tiz the Law will face steep competition from the Todd Pletcher-trained duo of Dr Post and Farmington Road as well as the late-running Sole Volante.

Full advance wagering for the 12-race Belmont Stakes Day card will be available on Friday, June 19.

NYRA Bets is the official online wagering site for the 152nd running of the Belmont Stakes, and the best way to bet the 2020 Belmont Park spring/summer meet. Available to customers across the United States, NYRA Bets allows horseplayers to watch and wager on racing from tracks around the world at any time. The NYRA Bets app is available for download for iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

For more information, please visit http://www.belmontstakes.com.

About NYRA Bets

Introduced in August 2016, NYRA Bets is a leading online wagering platform, available nationwide online, on your phone and at kiosks at NYRA tracks. As a legal, United States-based, regulated and licensed provider of horse race wagering, NYRA Bets gives fans the opportunity to wager on more than 250 race tracks worldwide from anywhere at any time. You can download the NYRA Bets app for iOS and Android.

For more information, visit www.nyrabets.com.

About the Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American tradition inaugurated in 1867 at Jerome Park Racetrack and moved in 1905 to its familiar home at beautiful Belmont Park. As the traditional third leg of racing's Triple Crown, the 1 ½-mile "Test of the Champion," as the Belmont Stakes is known, has showcased many of history's greatest thoroughbreds.

Two of those Triple Crown triumphs have come in the last five years, with American Pharoah ending a 37-year Triple Crown drought in 2015 and Justify capping a perfect 6-for-6 career with a Triple Crown-clinching effort in 2018.

The 152nd renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, to be contested at nine furlongs, will take place on Saturday, June 20 at Belmont Park as the first leg of the Triple Crown for the first time in history.

For additional information, visit www.BelmontStakes.com.