ELMONT, N.Y. – He didn’t run in the Kentucky Derby. He didn’t run in the Preakness. And in his first stakes try, We the People didn’t do much running, finishing seventh of nine in the Arkansas Derby. The best horses from that race and the other final round of Derby preps all went on to races like the Derby and Preakness, while We the People was rerouted to the Peter Pan. A month ago, it hardly seemed likely that a horse with his résumé would wind up being the morning-line favorite in the final leg of the Triple Crown, the 154th Belmont Stakes, to be run Saturday here at Belmont Park. Yet the combination of We the People’s runaway victory in the Peter Pan, the gaudy 103 Beyer Speed Figure he earned that day, the stunning victory by 80-1 Rich Strike in the Derby, the absence of the Preakness’s top two finishers – Early Voting and Epicenter – from the Belmont, and We the People appearing to have a decided pace advantage in this race has made him the 2-1 favorite on the line of David Aragona of Belmont Park. The Peter Pan can be viewed through two prisms. Those inclined to take a favorable view see a horse, always highly regarded, who finally turned the corner and ran to the potential his connections have long believed there. Those taking a negative view see a horse who had a race made to order, in which he got loose over a sealed, speed-favoring track that presented him in the best possible light. Both, though, could be true. :: DRF has you covered! Get everything you need to win big on Belmont Stakes Day with a Winner's Package and get 41% off the retail price. It’s entirely possible We the People has come forward from Arkansas. That’s certainly the belief of his trainer, Rodolphe Brisset, the former exercise rider who gets on We the People every day, be it for gallops or workouts. And while We the People certainly got ideal conditions in the Peter Pan, it’s not impossible the Belmont, albeit at 1 1/2 miles compared to the Peter Pan’s 1 1/8 miles, could present a similarly favorable pace scenario. “And it may rain,” Brisset said, his face lighting up. There’s a 30 percent chance of rain Saturday, according to Weather.com, and a high of 73 degrees. We the People is coming into the race sharp. Brisset has iron-clad proof, courtesy of the black-and-blue mark above his navel where We the People bit him earlier this week. He is a colt who tends to run hot, so in order to form a more perfect union with the son of Constitution, Brisset purposely kept We the People at Belmont following the Peter Pan rather than return him to his base in Kentucky, and kept him at a barn closer to the training track than the main track, requiring a longer walk to the main course for both daily training as well as on race day. “He’s out of his stall for an hour,” Brisset said. “That’s what he needs. It takes 20 minutes to get to the paddock. We want to give him that time. It’s very important to give him that extra attention.” Brisset says We the People has changed, and he can see it in his eye. “He had a worry eye. It’s tense,” Brisset said. “Now he’s more confident. Maturation. He has a better eye. It’s a confidence thing. You can see the difference.” We the People will be first on the track Saturday. He drew the rail on Tuesday when posts were assigned after the expected field of eight was entered in the Belmont. Mo Donegal, fifth in the Derby but winner of the Wood Memorial prior to that, is the second choice at 5-2, with Rich Strike the third choice at 7-2. :: Get Belmont Stakes Day Betting Strategies for exclusive wager recommendations, contender profiles, and more. Creative Minister, third in the Preakness, is next at 6-1, with the filly Nest – like Mo Donegal trained by three-time Belmont winner Todd Pletcher – at 8-1. Three horses are in double digits – Barber Road is 10-1, and both Golden Glider and Skippylongstocking are the longest prices, at 20-1. From the rail out, the Belmont field is We the People (Flavien Prat the rider), Skippylongstocking (Manny Franco), Nest (Jose Ortiz), Rich Strike (Sonny Leon), Creative Minister (Brian Hernandez Jr.), Mo Donegal (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Golden Glider (Dylan Davis), and Barber Road (Joel Rosario). Nest gets a five-pound weight break, so she carries 121 pounds. The seven males carry 126. The Belmont has a purse of $1.5 million, with $800,000 going to the winner. It is one of eight Grade 1 races on the card, which begins at 11:20 a.m. Eastern. The Belmont is race 11 of 13, with a listed post time of 6:44 p.m.