Belmont favorites Tacitus, War of Will to start side by side from outside posts

ELMONT, N.Y. – There are 10 horses entered in the final leg of the Triple Crown, the 151st Belmont Stakes on Saturday, but, on paper, as well as the early lines, it’s a two-horse race, with those two lined up right alongside each other at the start.

Tacitus, who landed the far outside post at the draw on Tuesday at Citi Field, is slightly favored over Preakness winner War of Will, who drew post 9, on the lines of both Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper, and David Aragona, who makes the morning line at Belmont Park.

Watchmaker has Tacitus at 8-5, with War of Will right behind at 9-5. Aragona, similarly, has Tacitus at 9-5 and War of Will 2-1. Watchmaker has Everfast the third choice at 10-1. Aragona’s third choice is Master Fencer, whom he pegged at 8-1.

Tacitus comes into the 1 1/2-mile Belmont fresh, having not raced since finishing fourth, then moved up to third, in the Kentucky Derby following the disqualification of Maximum Security. War of Will will be the only horse in the Belmont to have competed in all three legs of the Triple Crown. He was eighth in the Derby, then moved to seventh after the disqualification, while finishing 1 1/4 lengths behind Tacitus.

The field, from the rail out, is Joevia, Everfast, Master Fencer, Tax, Bourbon War, Spinoff, Sir Winston, Intrepid Heart, War of Will, and Tacitus.

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Bourbon War is taking blinkers off, and Intrepid Heart is adding blinkers.

Tacitus has been based at Belmont Park since soon after the Derby. War of Will arrived on Monday from Kentucky and went to the track for the first time Tuesday. There was so much excitement over War of Will getting on the track that sirens went off.

The sirens, actually, were to warn riders that there were two loose horses, both of whom dislodged their riders not long after War of Will stepped on the track for his morning training. One was caught by an outrider, the other left the gap by the 1 1/4-mile pole, with War of Will biding his time near the outside fence until it was safe to proceed.

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“Nothing like a little action right at the beginning,” said his trainer, Mark Casse, who said that while War of Will remained calm, “My heart rate went up.”

Casse originally had scheduled War of Will for a day of jogging after his arrival on Monday, but War of Will was feeling so frisky on Tuesday that Casse called an audible.

“I was going to jog him, but he tried to jump on three of us,” Casse said at his barn. “Fired up. So much energy.

“He’s gotten to be a bit of a handful,” Casse said. “I keep expecting him to come with a tattoo. He’s a stud horse and he knows it.”

War of Will glided over the track, looking as if he’d been here his whole career instead of a little more than 24 hours. He appears lighter than at the Kentucky Derby, when he was racing for the first time in six weeks, but Casse said “since the Preakness, he has put on 40 or 50 pounds.”

2019 Belmont Stakes Field
Post	Horse	M/L Odds	Trainer	Jockey	Last Race
1	Joevia	30-1	Gregg Sacco	Jose Lezcano	Long Branch, 1st
2	Everfast	12-1	Dale Romans	Luis Saez	Preakness, 2nd
3	Master Fencer (JPN)	8-1	Koichi Tsunoda	Julien Leparoux	Ky Derby, 6th
4	Tax	15-1	Danny Gargan	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	Ky. Derby, 14th
5	Bourbon War	12-1	Mark Hennig	Mike Smith	Preakness, 8th
6	Spinoff	15-1	Todd Pletcher	Javier Castellano	Ky. Derby, 18th
7	Sir Winston	12-1	Mark Casse	Joel Rosario	Peter Pan, 2nd
8	Intrepid Heart	10-1	Todd Pletcher	John Velazquez	Peter Pan, 3rd
9	War of Will	2-1	Mark Casse	Tyler Gaffalione	Preakness, 1st
10	Tacitus	9-5	Bill Mott	Jose Ortiz	Ky. Derby, 3rd