A month ago, it hardly seemed likely that a horse with We the People's 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 a combination of several things has made him the 2-1 favorite on the line of David Aragona of Belmont Park.
A behind-the-scenes player for many noteworthy horses over the last 15 years or so, trainer Rodolphe Brisset has stepped into the spotlight with We the People, the morning-line favorite for Saturday's 154th Belmont Stakes.
In its 10 years of existence, the racehorse partnership Eclipse Thoroughbreds has had 16 different Grade 1-winning racehorses, captured two Breeders' Cup races, a Triple Crown race, the Australian Oaks, and a stakes at Royal Ascot. Pretty heady stuff. But this coming week has the potential to be one of the most significant in the organization's history.
There are a bevy of multiple-race, multiple-day wagers on Friday and Saturday at Belmont Park, including a pick-6 with a minimum 20-cent wager that will include races run over two days.
2022 Belmont Stakes clocker: Rich Strike puts in strong two-mile gallop
Be it going six furlongs or twice that far, speed, handicappers long have been told, is always dangerous. So even though the Belmont Stakes is a testing 1 1/2 miles, the likelihood that We the People will be loose on the lead Saturday, over a track at which he just scored a front-running victory in the Peter Pan, propelled We the People to the morning-line favorite over the likes of Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike and six others when the field for the 154th Belmont was drawn Tuesday here at Belmont Park.
Belmont Stakes training on the local front was limited Sunday and Monday. There were maintenance-like half-mile breezes from Golden Glider and Creative Minister and the now regular sight of Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike looking well while putting in routine gallops.
Twenty years before Rich Strike became the second-longest shot to win the Kentucky Derby at 80-1, Sarava upset the 2002 Belmont Stakes at 70-1. Ken McPeek was the trainer of Sarava, is back in the Belmont Stakes with Creative Minister, the third-place finisher in the Preakness who looms the fourth choice in an eight-horse Belmont Stakes field.
Trainer John Ortiz as a child attended Gotham Avenue School, about a half-mile south of Belmont Park, and years later graduated from Elmont High School. He returns to his childhood home this week to saddle his first runner at Belmont Park – Barber Road in the Belmont Stakes.
Tapit doesn't have a chance to extend his modern-day record in the Belmont Stakes this year. But what he does have is a chance to extend his legacy. Gainesway Farm kingpin Tapit, sire of four Belmont Stakes winners, is represented by two sons with likely starters in Saturday's edition of the oldest and longest American classic.
