2015 Belmont Stakes Derby and the Preakness, American Pharoah won the Belmont and became the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. As the 12th Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah ran the race in 2:26.65 which was the sixth-fastest of all time and the second-fastest (following only Secretariat in 1973) amongst Triple Crown winners. The New York Racing Association, which runs Belmont Park, located in Elmont, New York, announced that attendance for the event would be limited to 90,000. By Friday, June 5, all tickets had been sold out. To ease congestion at Belmont Station from racing fans leaving
2016 Belmont Stakes over Destin. 2016 Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator finished eleventh. The attendance for the event was 60,114. Only four horses from the 2016 Preakness Stakes came to New York to contest the Belmont: Exaggerator, the Preakness winner; Cherry Wine, the runner-up; Stradivari, who had finished fourth; and Lani, who had finished fifth. Of these, only Exaggerator and Lani had also run in the Kentucky Derby, finishing second and ninth respectively. Nyquist, winner of the 2016 Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness, missed the Belmont due to illness. The field also included five horses from the 2016 Kentucky Derby who had