Prior to the 2016 running, bay horses had the most Belmont Stakes victories with 56. Chestnuts were close behind with 54 wins, followed by 33 dark bay or brown. Only three gray/roan horses had won the Belmont prior (Belmar in 1895, Native Dancer in 1953 and High Echelon in 1970), but in 2016 gray horses swept the top three positions (Creator, Destin and Lani.)
Currently, 58 winners have been bay and 55 have been chestnut. The dark bay/brown coloring has reached the winner’s circle 30 times. Black horses and gray horses have won three a piece and a single roan horse has worn the blanket of carnations.
Belmont Stakes Historical Winners
Fourteen Belmont Stakes winners have sired at least one Belmont winner. Man o’ War, who won in 1920, sired three winners — American Flag, Crusader and Triple Crown winner War Admiral. Four Belmont winners have sired two winners — Commando (1901) sired Peter Pan (1907) and Colin (1908), Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox (1930) sired Triple Crown winner Omaha (1935) and Granville (1936), Triple Crown winner Count Fleet (1943) sired Counterpoint (1951) and One Count (1952) and Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew (1977) sired Swale (1984) and A.P. Indy (1992). Also, A.P. Indy sired 2007 winner Rags to Riches.
Nine winners have sired one winner — Duke of Magenta (1878) sired Eric (1889), Spendthrift (1879) sired Hastings (1896), Hastings (1896) sired Masterman (1902), The Finn (1915) sired Zev (1923), Sword Dancer (1959) sired Damascus (1967), Secretariat (1973) sired Risen Star (1988), Thunder Gulch (1995) sired Point Given (2001), A.P. Indy (1992) sired Rags to Riches (2007) and Birdstone (2004) sired Summer Bird (2009).
Nine horses bred outside the United States have won the Belmont Stakes – 1874, Saxon (England); 1898, Bowling Brook (England); 1917, Hourless (England); 1918, Johren (England); 1957, Gallant Man (England); 1958, Cavan (Ireland); 1960, Celtic Ash (England); 1990, Go and Go (Ireland); 1998, Victory Gallop (Canada).
Kentucky has produced the most Belmont winners by far at 102, followed by Virginia with 11, New Jersey with seven, England with six, Florida with six, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee with three, California, Maryland, Texas and Ireland with two each, and Montana and Canada with one a piece.
Second Places at Belmont Stakes
Overall, 23 horses missed a chance at a Triple Crown glory by not winning the Belmont, eight of which finished second — Pensive (1944), Tim Tam (1958), Forward Pass (1968), Majestic Prince (1969), Sunday Silence (1989), Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998) and Smarty Jones (2004). Five finished third — Northern Dancer (1964), Spectacular Bid (1979), Pleasant Colony (1981), Charismatic (1999) and Funny Cide (2003). Four finished fourth — Kauai King (1966), Canonero II (1971), Alysheba (1987) and California Chrome (2014). Carry Back (1961) finished seventh, War Emblem (2002) finished eighth and Big Brown (2008) did not finish.
Three Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners did not race in the Belmont — Burgoo King (1932), Bold Venture (1933) and I’ll Have Another (2012), though I’ll Have Another was injured and was scratched the day before his Belmont Stakes in 2012.
So far, 2046 horses have started in the Belmont Stakes.
Miriam Lee has always been a horse racing fan thanks to trips to the tracks in her home state of Maryland with her father as kid. She owns an OTTB and is an advocate for promoting the sport among her peers. Miriam studies communication arts at Hood College and will receive her master’s degree in 2021, which she plans to use for a career in screenwriting.
