Belmont Day Entertainment Has New York Theme
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A New York-themed group of entertainers are scheduled to perform on Belmont Stakes Day, June 7, at Belmont Park, the New York Racing Association announced.
LL CooL J, Frank Sinatra Jr., musicians from the United States Military Academy at West Point, former New York Yankees great Bernie Williams, and a performance from the Tony award-winning Broadway musical "Wicked" are on the slate to entertain fans at the Elmont, N.Y. track.
A New York native, LL Cool J will perform two songs between the Manhattan (gr. IT) and the 146th running of the Belmont Stakes (gr. I). A two-time Grammy Award winner, he currently stars in the CBS prime time drama series, "NCIS: Los Angeles."
As the horses go to the post for the Belmont, Frank Sinatra Jr. will deliver a live rendition of "New York, New York", the song popularized by his legendary father and sung nearly every year at Belmont Park since 1997.
The acclaimed West Point musicians will perform the National Anthem to start the day's entertainment and will continue to regale guests with patriotic numbers throughout the day. Also during the afternoon, guests will be treated to a trackside performance from "Wicked", which premiered at the Gershwin Theatre in Manhattan in 2003.
One of the most beloved New York athletes of the last 25 years, former Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams, will entertain guests in the first-floor Champagne Room with acoustic and electric guitar music—a lifelong passion that led him to be nominated for a Latin Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Album in 2009.
"Belmont Stakes Day will provide an unparalleled guest experience, an event where everything will be bigger and better—just like New York itself," said NYRA president Chris Kay. "From the outstanding array of rich stakes races to the assortment of popular entertainers with strong ties to New York, the day celebrates everything that is great about our city and state."