1. You pass an elegant sofa, the kind you might imagine a grand dame reclining in, sipping her mint julep.

2. At her sister‘s wedding, an employee chipped her tooth on a Mint Julep, bent over to spit it out, hit her head on a keg and was knocked unconscious. 2.

3. Toast the town with a mint julep ($8), or just sip on a smooth Woodford Reserve bourbon ($6). They have Late Night Bites and drink specials after 11 p.m. every Friday and Saturday.

4. And few people have heard of either of the drinks associated with the Belmont÷ the white carnation, a concoction calling for a splash of cream, which has an unpleasant tendency to curdle when added to the vodka, orange juice and peach schnapps; and the Belmont breeze, a fruity, sherry–laced drink invented in 1''8 by Dale DeGroff, then head bartender at the Rainbow Room. (We made these cocktails for our last trip to the track and so can say with authority that although the Belmont breeze, which tastes like a refined trashcan punch, represents a significant improvement over the nigh undrinkable white carnation, neither has much hope of achieving the status of the mint julep, their Kentucky Derby sister.) All of this to say÷ at the Belmont you can make it up as you go along.