While this won’t be the first time the Belmont Stakes will somewhere other than Belmont Park, it will be the first time it has been run anywhere other than Long Island.

Belmont Park opened in 1905, but for nearly 40 years before that, the Belmont was run at two tracks in the Bronx and in Westchester County.

There are some obvious and lesser-known differences between Belmont and Saratoga. Belmont is nicknamed “The Big Sandy.” Saratoga is “The Spa.” It sounds like a vacation, but it wasn’t for Gallant Fox, Secretariat and American Pharaoh – all Triple Crown winners that lost in Saratoga. That is why it has earned the nickname the “Graveyard of Champions.”

Also, Belmont caps attendance at 90,000 people compared with 50,000 for Saratoga. Also, their track runs a mile and a half compared with a mile and a quarter for Saratoga.

See what trainer Todd Pletcher thinks will be the effect of the shorter distance on the race, by watching the video.