SARATOGA, N.Y. — There is really nothing whimsical about thoroughbred racing’s Belmont Stakes.

Usually held at Belmont Park amid the hustle, bustle and frowned faces of those fans losing their money on earlier races on the long racing card, this year’s Belmont Stakes has been moved northward from New York City to the more genteel Saratoga, N.Y. a tree-shaded refuge opened in 1863.

Belmont Park is being renovated to the tune of $455 million and the New York Racing Authority has moved the third leg of the yearly Triple Crown series for three-year-olds to the ageless expanse that is the Saratoga Race Course on Union Avenue in this still cosmopolitan village of 28,000.

The race will be contested at 1.25 miles instead of the 1.5 miles event Secretariat used for his breathtaking world record run in 1973.

Saratoga has its tree-shrouded paddock, where fans can mingle with the tiers of owners, trainers and monied folks from the equestrian set.

Saturday’s crush of fans will only be compared with the short-sleeved crowd that comes on Travers Day in late August.

Saratoga is usually open only from mid-July to Labor Day. But it will break that tradition to host the 2024 Belmont Stakes in a stubby four-day racing period in June. Saratoga’s usual run of races will still come later in the summer.

There will be no Triple Crown celebrated this year. Mystik Dan won the Kentucky Derby and Seize the Gray was a front-running winner in the mud in the Preakness Stakes.

Both of those stakes winners will be in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.

Mystik Dan was second in the Preakness. He’s an unpretentious sort, full of effort and kind to his handlers and jockey. Seize the Gray needs the lead and another in-hand ride to get his second jewel of the Triple Crown series. His entourage would love another off-track for him and his racing style.

The well-muscled Sierra Leone returns from his runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby. He has movie star looks and has five weeks between races to make him a fan favorite at the parimutuel windows.

Antiquarian is a sleek, bronze-coated hero of the Peter Pan Stakes, where he outlasted both The Wine Steward and Protective — other probable starters in tomorrow’s Belmont.

The lightly raced Mindframe has never won a graded stakes race. His pedigree includes forefathers Pulpit, Tapit and Constitution.

Three horses from the Kentucky Derby are here — Resilience, Honor Marie and Dornoch. All will have bettors in their longshot corners.

Saratoga will offer manners, shady expanses and reams of history to this year’s attendees.

Most of those people won’t care much about any of those incidentals. They will want to know more about the stately thoroughbreds themselves and a little about the jockeys, trainers and owners so that their wagers made in the shaded comfort of the age-old grandstand and restaurants will be rewarded.