Last year, my 62 year old mother came with me on general admission. We really did have a surprisingly pleasant experience. It was my first time at the Belmont Stakes on general admission and I was really worried about how it would be for my mom. But my worries were for nothing-- we had a wonderful time. I’ve now been to all three Triple Crown races on GA and enjoyed Belmont the best by far.
We didn’t even get to the track until just before noon, so I wasn’t expecting to be able to see anything. We wandered up to the 3rd level of the grandstand and it was not crowded at all. We stood along the rail behind the last row of seats and made fast friends with a group of 20-somethings from Alabama sitting in front of us, as well as another nice gentleman standing along the rail. There were benches right behind us, so we had somewhere to sit when we wanted a break. There were no appreciable lines at the betting windows upstairs. The lines for food/drink moved quickly. The restroom lines weren’t even too bad. Since it wasn’t super crowded up there, we didn’t have to guard our spots too carefully, but that was also because all the folks in the area were looking out for each other.
Right before the Belmont Stakes, the crowd did start to push in a bit. But we were prepared for that and already had all of our bets, food, drink, used the restroom, etc. The nice guys from Alabama offered to go out and get anything for us since they could easily get back in to their seats. Even with everyone standing up and going crazy for the Belmont Stakes, we could still see the track well (and I am short!).
At one point in the day, I wandered down to the paddock to check things out. It was a bit more of a mob scene and I was sure grateful for our vantage point upstairs!
The lines to leave on the trains after the race were crazy-- that was probably the only negative on the day. But I would do it all again!
