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
Kentucky Derby the track ran into financial difficulties and in 1894 the New Louisville Jockey Club was incorporated with new capitalization and improved facilities. Despite this, the business floundered until 1902 when Col. Matt Winn of Louisville put together a syndicate of businessmen to acquire the facility. Under Winn, Churchill Downs prospered and the Kentucky Derby then became the preeminent stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses in North America. Thoroughbred owners began sending their successful Derby horses to compete later in the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. The