The Triple Crown’s premier race takes place at Belmont Park on Saturday. Not surprisingly, it’s called the Belmont Stakes.
And you’ll want to know what time the races are held. Times usually remain the same except for a difference of 1-2 minutes from year to year. So, unless you have goldfish memories (I miss Ted Lasso), you kind of know it. But not his age.
On the east coast, it will start around 7:02 pm, about 15 minutes later than usual.
OK, let’s hunt them down.
For those living in the Chicago or Central time zones, that means 6:02 PM.
For those of you in the Denver area or mountain time zones, that means 5:02 PM.
And it’s 4:02 p.m. for those of us who are most grateful to you here in Los Angeles.
But that’s not the most important thing to remember. This year marks the first year the race has moved from NBC to Fox. Again, look for races on Fox. Of course, it doesn’t make sense for him to run his first two legs of the Triple Crown on one network and then move to another for the final leg.
However, there is a reason for this. Fox owns about a quarter of NYRA Bets, the ADW division of the New York Racing Association. One might expect Fox to make a strong play for them when NBC’s contracts with the other races expire.
And there is another big wrinkle.
Tom Durkin, who has retired from the announcer booth since 2014, will host the race, which airs on FOX at 4 p.m. ET. You can also do calculations for the rest of the timezones. Durkin called about 80,000 races in his career.
“The Belmont Stakes has been an iconic part of sports culture for over 150 years,” Durkin said. “There’s nothing quite like the energy and frenzy around Belmont Park for the Triple Crown. It’s the apotheosis of excitement.”
Deification?
Oxford Languages says: peak or climax. “
OK, just in case, all the times below are local time, that is, New York time. The race at Belmont starts around 11:20 am. Coverage begins at 11am and FS1 continues until 4pm. Switch to Fox at 4pm and continue until 7:30pm. Then, from 7:30pm to 8:00pm, you can enjoy live coverage of the race on FS2.
Once again, it will air on Fox. Channel 11 in Los Angeles. New York, Channel 5. Chicago, Channel 32 and Denver, Channel 31.
