Belmont Park - Physical Attributes

Physical Attributes

The 430-acre (170 ha) racing, training and barn complex is located on the western edge of the Nassau County region known as the Hempstead Plains. Just a few miles (kilometers) east on the same plains, the first racing meet in North America was held in 1665, supervised by colonial governor Richard Nicolls.

The dirt racecourse — known officially as the Main Track and nicknamed "Big Sandy" by racing followers — has a circumference of 1+1⁄₂ miles (2.4 km), the longest dirt thoroughbred racetrack in North America. Immediately inside of this is the Widener Turf Course (named after the Widener family that has a long and prestigious history in American horse racing) spanning 1+5⁄₁₆ miles (2.1 km) plus 27 feet (8.2 m), which in turn encircles an Inner Turf Course with a circumference of 1+3⁄₁₆ miles (1.9 km) plus 103 feet (31 m). On the Main Track, it is 1,097 feet (334 m) from the top of the stretch to the finish line, and the segment between the wire and the start of the first (clubhouse) turn covers 843 feet (257 m); this latter segment is shorter by approximately 165 feet (50 m) on both of the turf courses, in order to accommodate the two chutes that exist on the Widener Turf Course, from which turf races of 1 mile (1.6 km) and 1+1⁄₁₆ miles (1.7 km) are started; an additional chute exists for races of 1+1⁄₁₆ miles (1.7 km) on the Inner Turf Course.

A straightaway chute leads on to the backstretch of the Main Track and permits races on the dirt up to 1+1⁄₈ miles (1.8 km) miles long to be run with one turn. The chute used to extend further back across the training track but was shortened because a crossover is now infeasible given the clay base of the Main Track and stone-dust base of the training track. Before the 1990 Breeders' Cup, the outer rail of the Main Track was moved back to widen the middle of the clubhouse turn and soften the angle of the start of the 1+1⁄₄ miles (2.0 km) Classic. The training track is 1 mile (1.6 km) in circumference and abuts the east end of the main track. In March 2009, lights were added to the training track as a safety measure to prevent early morning workouts from occurring in the dark.

By comparison, the King Abdul Aziz racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has a main track with a length of 1+1⁄₄ miles (2.0 km) (as does Colonial Downs in Virginia), while the main track at Aqueduct is 1+1⁄₈ miles (1.8 km) long. (Other grass courses in Europe have been longer, and most English racecourses are larger. Saudi Arabian racing once featured a course in old Riyadh from 9 to 12 miles (14 to 19 km) in length.) San Isidro Hippodrome in Buenos Aires, Argentina has a 1+7⁄₈ miles (3.0 km) grass track and an inner dirt track measuring around 1+5⁄₈ miles (2.6 km).