the world duke it out in a Triple Crown race when the venerable track hosts the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

“I mean, this has been a rumor for a couple of years regarding the Belmont in Saratoga,” Mayor John Safford said. “The fact that it actually came about is just exciting.”

On Monday, Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey drew post position No. 1, while Kentucky Derby champion Mystik Dan drew into No. 3.

Kenny McPeek-trained Mystik Dan, who finished second in the Preakness, is the only horse in the field for all three Triple Crown races. At 5-1 and being ridden again by Brian Hernandez Jr., he is the third choice behind favorite Sierra Leone, who opened at 9-5, and Mindframe at 7-2.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas’ Seize the Grey comes in right behind Mystik Dan with 8-1 odds after a wire-to-wire win in the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Sierra Leone, who drew the No. 9 post position in the 10-horse field, was second in the Derby, losing to Mystik Dan by a nose. Trainer Chad Brown hopes to get a similar run out of the horse this time, with a jockey change to Flavien Prat.

Trainer Todd Pletcher is saddling the most horses in the race. His trio of colts is led by undefeated Mindframe, who will start from the outside No. 10 post. Pletcher also has No. 5 Antiquarian (12-1) and No. 7 Protective (20-1).

Once July rolls around, Saratoga becomes a full-force race town: parked cars align the streets, fans flood the sidewalks walking with coolers, kids yell, “Get your $1 water here!” the smell of cigarette smoke and horses fills the air and the downtown restaurants pack in guests.

Racing is the fifth season of Saratoga. A town that revolves around a 1 1/8-mile dirt track for two months of the year and has been for just under 160 years since John Morrissey wanted a place to gamble during the day in 1863.

Rumors of the race coming to Saratoga emerged when the New York Racing Association scheduled $455 million renovations for Belmont Park in 2024-25 and needed a new place to host the final leg of the Triple Crown. NYRA President David O’Rourke sent the invitation to Saratoga, one of the most historic horse racing cities in the world and home of the National Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

In October 2022, Saratoga Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus received word that if the funding for the renovations got approved, Saratoga would host the Belmont in 2024 and 2025.

“I can tell you everybody in the room wanted to hug David O’Rourke for the opportunity to host this,” Shimkus said. “We’ve been anticipating this for almost two years now and can’t wait.”

This is not the first time the race, ordinarily run at 1 1/2 miles, is taking place somewhere other than Belmont Park. Aqueduct in Queens had it from 1963-67 while Belmont underwent renovations.

National Racing Museum historian and long-time horse racing writer Mike Veitch doesn’t know why closer Aqueduct was passed over so quickly but understands why Saratoga was the pick.

“Clearly, Saratoga is popular and clearly a lot of people are going to be here, so I get that,” Veitch said. “I think that NYRA probably knows that there’ll be a big crowd here, which there will be.”

NYRA has capped the Belmont Stakes in Saratoga at 50,000 fans, which is right at capacity.