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The Belmont Stakes takes place at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The track opened in 1867, the first year that the Belmont Stakes was held.

This year's event will occur on June 5th, 2010. It is the 142nd running of the event. The distance of the track is 1 1/2-miles or 12 furlongs. That's 1/4-mile longer than the Kentucky Derby and 5/16-mile longer than the Preakness Stakes. The added length of the track is a big reason why so many favored horses have failed to win here.

The attendance at the Belmont Stakes in 2009 was 52,861. That was a drop of 44% from 2008 (94,476) when Big Brown was going for the Triple Crown.

Belmont Park is a 430 acre race track. The official capacity is listed between 85,000 and 95,000, but it has gone over the 100,000 mark a few times before. In 2004, a crowd of 120,139, the largest in New York Racing history, attended to see the running of Smarty Jones.

The Belmont Stakes takes place on a dirt track, as do the other two legs of the Triple Crown. New York is one of the few states where dirt tracks still rule. Louisville and Florida are the other two. Many of the other race tracks, including the biggest tracks in Southern California, have switched over to synthetic surfaces.