How to watch the Belmont Stakes and stream online for free Saturday (6-8-24)

The 156th running of the Belmont Stakes will be held Saturday (June 8, 2024) at Saratoga Race Course. It’s the first time the race is being held upstate because Belmont Park is getting a huge makeover.

Coverage of the third leg of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown will begin at 6 p.m. ET on Fox. For those of you who don’t have cable you can watch the big race on fuboTV, a live-streaming service that caters to sports nuts.

HOW TO STREAM THE BELMONT STAKES ONLINE FOR FREE

If you’re a cord-cutter or don’t have cable, you can watch the Belmont Stakes online on any one of the following streaming platforms, and get it for free via a trial offer:

• Fubo TV — seven-day free trial. This service also appeals to the sports fan.
• Direct TV Stream — five-day free trial. This service is also currently offering $120 off the first year of service.

WHAT CHANNEL IS THE BELMONT STAKES ON?

If you are watching on cable, catch the Belmont Stakes on Fox.

You can find which channel [NETWORK] is on by using the channel finders here: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV and Dish.

AP STORY

Horse racing history of all kinds is being made Saturday in the final Triple Crown race of the year.

The Belmont Stakes is taking place at venerable Saratoga Race Course for the first time in the venue’s vaunted 161-year history. And while there is no chance at a 14th Triple Crown champion, the third leg features the winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes for the first time since 2013.

Five weeks since Mystik Dan finished a nose ahead of Sierra Leone in the Derby and three weeks since he was second to Seize the Grey in the Preakness, all three are in the 10-horse field in the Belmont for a rematch showdown in front of a sellout crowd of 50,000.

“The fans can relate to Mystik Dan, they can take a look at Seize the Grey and we get a chance to see them both and determine probably which is the better of the two,” said D. Wayne Lukas, the 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer of Seize the Grey. “I think that the Belmont this year could easily be — you could make an argument for it being — the best of the three: the Derby, the Preakness or the Belmont. I think that they have probably put together the best of the three.”

One reason for that is the shape of the Saratoga track necessitating shortening the race to 1 1/4 miles from the traditional 1 1/2-mile “test of the champion” distance, which typically is a significant deterrent because most 3-year-olds tend not to run that long.

Mystik Dan is a rarity as a horse not going for the Triple Crown after running the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, the first to do that since War of Will in 2019. And trainer Kenny McPeek almost certainly would not have wheeled him back for this race at 1 1/2 miles.

“That would’ve been difficult for my colt: He’s not a really big horse, he’s a modest-sized horse,” McPeek said. “This race run a mile and a quarter should suit him.”

Suit but not favor because this race is extremely competitive. Sierra Leone, with a jockey change and an equipment adjustment, opened as the 9-5 favorite with undefeated, lightly raced Todd Pletcher-trained Mindframe the second choice at 7-2.

Sierra Leone might have won the Derby had he not veered in and repeatedly bumped another horse down the stretch, and trainer Chad Brown is counting on rider Flavien Prat to guide the colt in a clear lane as much as possible.

“As long as you are prepared for him and he runs straight, he should run big,” Brown said. “Just hoping for a good trip. Obviously, we have half as many horses to run down, so that should hopefully be a little easier on him. I just hope he runs the same race as in the Derby.”

McPeek would also take that from Mystik Dan, especially considering the route he got at Churchill Downs from jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. Also back from that race are sixth-place finisher Resilience (10-1), eighth-place Honor Marie (12-1) and 10th-place Dornoch (15-1), who is owned in part by World Series winner Jayson Werth.

Making the Belmont so attractive for owners and trainers is the setting at Saratoga. It’s being run upstate for the next two years while Belmont Park in New York is undergoing a massive, $455 million reconstruction.

“Everyone’s really anticipating this being really a historic and exciting weekend,” said Brown, who grew up in nearby Mechanicsville and got into racing going to the track in Saratoga Springs with his family. “For me, personally, the idea of possibly winning the first Belmont Stakes ever run at Saratoga would just be an incredible moment.”