To win the Triple Crown, a horse must compete in three long races, at three different tracks, in three different states in a span of five weeks. The third race of the Triple Crown is the Belmont Stakes, held 3 weeks after the Preakness, at the 1 1/2 mile Belmont Track in Elmont, New York. The 2010 Belmont will be held June 5. It's the final jewel of the series and is a full quarter-mile longer than the first two races and is known as the “Test of the Champion”. Belmont Park opened in 1905 and has undergone major rennovation. Today with almost 100,000 people attending, the horses make their way to the starting gate to the tune of "New York, New York." Only eleven horses have won the elusive Triple Crown, some of those famous names are: Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Secretariat, Citation, Assault.
The first race in the Triple Crown is the Kentucky Derby and the second race is the Preakness.