What time does the 2022 Belmont Stakes start? What TV channel is it on?

Start spreading the news … the Belmont Stakes starts the earliest of any of the Triple Crown races.

OK, not by much. But, at 1½ miles, it is the longest and will take the most amount of time to be run.

If you are in Elmont, N.Y. on Saturday, or anywhere on the East Coast, you can watch the Belmont Stakes at 6:44 p.m. ET.

In the Midwest, back it up an hour to 5:44 p.m.

In the Rocky Mountain time zone, it’s at 4:44 p.m.

And, if you are in the favorite time zone of readers of the Los Angeles Times, don’t tune in any later than 3:44 p.m.

Now, it is rare for the race to go right at post, but it won’t be more than a couple of minutes late.

So, what can you expect on Belmont Stakes day? It’s actually a pretty good day of racing and those of you who make fun of the short fields in Southern California can point to four stakes races at Belmont Park that have only five horses. If you want to see the best horse in the country on Saturday, check in about 4:43 p.m. ET (that’s 1:43 p.m. in L.A.) for the Metropolitan Handicap, known more affectionately as the Met Mile.

The star of that race, and arguably the best horse in the U.S., is Santa Anita-based Flightline for trainer John Sadler. He’s the real deal, thus the 3-5 morning-line favorite. New Yorkers are going to be talking about Speaker’s Corner, at 8-5, but caveat emptor.

So, where do you watch, as usual, that’s not so easy.

For simplicity, we’re going to use Elmont, or Eastern time, in explaining the TV coverage. (Yes, the town is Elmont and the track is Belmont. You would think Pat Sajak could sell the town a consonant just to make it easier on everyone.)

Racing starts at Belmont Park at 11:20 a.m. ET, so if you tune in to FS2 at 11 a.m. you can watch the card until 2:30 p.m. Those of you wondering what is FS2, well, look at it this way. If you order a Mexican meal it always comes with rice and beans. Now, does anyone actually look forward to eating those staples or is it just to fill out the meal from the stuff you really want to eat? FS2 is the rice and beans. Third string on the menu.

Then there is a half-hour break with no races scheduled until CNBC picks up the coverage from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Just to be fair, this may be ever lower on the menu in NBC’s collection of offerings.) Then at 5 p.m., and remember we are talking in Eastern time, the big boys at NBC take over. If you are in Los Angeles or New York, it’s Channel 4. In Chicago, it’s Channel 5.

Now, this will be the last time NBC will carry the Belmont Stakes for a while. NYRA, which runs race tracks in New York, is leaving its deal with NBC and going to Fox. Why you ask? Fox owns about a quarter share in NYRA Bets. ‘Nuff said.

As for what you may see in the coverage, part of the cast from "Aladdin" will perform before the race and Sal “The Voice” Valentinetti will perform the iconic “New York, New York.” Tough call. Would you rather hear a live Sal or a taped Frank? Easy answer.

And remember if you want to be a part of it, wake up in a city that never sleeps, be king of the hill, top of the heap, the start time is 6:44/5:44/4:44/3:44. You can figure out the right number.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.