Bernier: How I'll play Belmont's New York and Met Mile
How Daily Racing Form writer Matt Bernier will play The New York and the Met Mile at Belmont on Friday and Saturday.
Matt BernierJun 08, 2017
How Daily Racing Form writer Matt Bernier will play The New York and the Met Mile at Belmont on Friday and Saturday.
TimeformUS handicapper David Aragona highlights some contenders on Friday's card at Belmont.
TimeformUS handicapper David Aragona provides his Highlight Horse for Thursday's card at Belmont Park
TimeformUS handicapper David Aragona provides analysis for the 2017 Belmont Stakes.
The Belmont Stakes drew a hefty field of 12 but does not include the winner of either the Kentucky Derby or Preakness. Six different horses comprised the trifectas from the two races, and among those runners, only Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee and Preakness show horse Senior Investment are in the field. Neither has much early speed, but that may not be a bad thing in light of the TimeformUS Pace Projector.
The 2017 Belmont Stakes features a group of 3-year-olds that are either inconsistent, unproven at the graded stakes level, or a combination of the two. With Wednesday morning's defection of last year's juvenile champion Classic Empire, favoritism for the Belmont is unknown; Irish War Cry was made the tepid 7-2 morning-line favorite, but it wouldn't be a stunner to see other horses also vie for favoritism as post time approaches.
Considering the extremely wide-open nature of the race, with so many unknown factors coming into play not the least of which being the 1 1/2-mile distance, it almost behooves one to look for a price.
Even following the announcement Wednesday morning that juvenile champion Classic Empire would not enter the Belmont Stakes due to a foot abscess, there still remains ample speed for a race at 1 ½ miles. Five of the 12 entrants are horses that prefer to race up close -- Meantime, Irish War Cry, Epicharis, Gormley, and Twisted Tom -- likely assuring no speed horse will get away with stealing the Belmont.
TimeformUS handicapper David Aragona highlights some contenders on Thursday's card at Belmont Park.
The third leg of the Triple Crown looms as an anticlimax, with the winners of the first two legs declining to participate, the undefeated Peter Pan winner taking a pass (despite having only three career starts behind him), and the news that 2016 juvenile male champ and Preakness runner-up Classic Empire won't start because of a foot issue.