Belmont Stakes 2015: Post Time, TV Schedule, Post Positions Info

The Belmont Stakes has proved an elusive final leg for Triple Crown contenders.

No horse has swept all three races since Affirmed in 1978, but 14 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes during those 37 years. The 14th name on that list, American Pharoah, enters Saturday's event at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, with a chance to buck the trend.

Nine horses are expected to challenge American Pharoah's quest for perfection, with the entrants locked up and allotted post positions on Wednesday. Let's take a look at all of the pertinent Belmont info leading up to the highly anticipated race. 

Belmont Stakes

Date: Saturday, June 6

Post Time: 6:50 p.m. ET

TV: NBC

Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra

Post Position Draw: Wednesday, June 3, at 11:15 a.m. ET (per BelmontStakes.com)

Belmont Preview

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

No matter how often Belmont derails a dominant Triple Crown hopeful, the next candidate always carries a promising clean slate to become the exception. American Pharoah has won his last six starts, edging out a tough Kentucky Derby victory before cruising to first on a sloppy Preakness track.

Is he the one to end the Triple Crown drought?

Jockey Victor Espinoza knows firsthand the difficulty of leading a horse to three victories in five weeks. Last year, he faced the same situation with California Chrome, who, with his hopes of a Triple Crown alive, finished fourth at Belmont.

Espinoza, who also won the first two legs with War Emblem in 2002, now gets a third chance at history. He marveled at the rarity of receiving another opportunity to the Lexington Herald-Leader's Alicia Wincze Hughes:

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It's just amazing to be in this position that I'm at right now. To win the Derby and the Preakness last year and to come back with another amazing horse in American Pharoah ... I've been down many times in the Belmont, but it's still one of my favorite places and I'm coming back again. That's a good feeling to have. Hopefully third time is the charm.

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With such little time off between each race, fatigue factors into the final leg. Yet American Pharoah only got faster down the final stretch of each victory, rallying from behind on Churchill Downs' 10-furlong track and leaving everyone in the mud at Pimlico Race Course.

Trainer Bob Baffert praised his horse after watching last week's practice run with Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden:

Others, including the Salt Lake Tribune's Steve Luhm, aren't so optimistic. Along with believing American Pharoah benefited from the Preakness rain, he also cited fresher opposition as a reason American Pharoah will fall short:

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If the Belmont is run on a fast track, the advantage American Pharaoh enjoyed in the Preakness disappears. Horses like Frosted, Materiality, Carpe Diem and Mubtaahji all skipped the Preakness and are waiting — fresh and ready to run — with the hope of spoiling everyone's Triple Crown dream in the Belmont.

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After skipping Pimlico, trainer Todd Pletcher will trot out three fresher horses to ruin the Triple Crown party. Carpe Diem and Materiality didn't get the job done at Churchill Downs, but the two prominent contenders now boast fresher legs than the heavy favorite.

The same goes for Frosted, who finished fourth at the Kentucky Derby. Through eight starts, he holds two victories and four runner-up finishes. Never registering below fourth, he looks to once again play a factor heading into the closing stretch.