Belmont Stakes 2017 schedule: No Triple Crown, but still great racing

For the second year in a row thoroughbred horse racing’s attention turns to the Belmont Stakes with a rather deflated excitement. Two years ago American Pharoah won the first Triple Crown in 37 years there. Last year, like this, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes were split.

Races will be staged Thursday-Saturday, June 8-10, in New York. NBCSN will be covering the undercard beginning at 3 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon, with coverage shifting to NBC beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday. The race is set to go to the post at 6:37 p.m.

The $1.5 million, 1-1/2-mile Belmont Stakes will be a packed race, though lacking some star power. Classic Empire, Epicharis, J Boys Echo, Hollywood Handsome, Irish War Cry, Lookin At Lee, Meantime, Multiplier, Patch, Senior Investment, Tapwrit, and Twisted Tom are probable to race, and Gormley is possible. Neither Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming nor Preakness winner Cloud Computing will be in attendance.

Throughout the three-day festival there will be 15 graded stakes races, six of them at the highest level, Grade 1. The other key races for the week to pay attention to include the Grade 1, $1.2 million Mohegan Sun Metropolitan H, the Grade 1, $1 million Woodford Reserve Manhattan, the Grade 1, $750,000 Ogden Phipps, the Grade 1, $700,000 Acorn, the Grade 1, $700,000 Longines Just A Game, the Grade 2, $500,000 Woody Stephens, the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational, and the Grade 3, $300,000 Jaipur Invitational.

But before the Belmont can be run for the 149th time in history, the post positions need to be drawn. The Metropolitan Handicap and the Manhattan Stakes will be drawn at approximately noon at Rockefeller Center, with the draw for the Belmont to follow. You can follow along live at NYRA.com and on the NYRA Now app available on iOS, Android, Roku TV, and Chromecast.

Workouts will be held throughout the week.

Time: 6:47 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Streaming: NBC Sports Live