DRF sales editor Joe Nevills analyzes the Belmont Stakes field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku, a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.
Paul Reddam will not be at Belmont Park on Saturday with his Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, who was knocked out of the final leg of the Triple Crown after running a minor temperature following his runner-up effort in the Preakness Stakes. But the prominent owner’s purple and white silks are still vying to appear in the Belmont winner’s circle, as he will send out homebred Mrazek in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters on the undercard.
In 2014 and 2015, a newly constructed Belmont Stakes Day was dominated by the suspense of whether a Derby and Preakness winner could complete the first Triple Crown since 1978. This year, with no crown on the line, it may be easier to appreciate the enormity of a card that has turned into the second-richest day on the American racing calendar.
Byron King's analysis for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
Mike Watchmaker's Belmont Stakes analysis
Mike Welsch's analysis for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
Mike Beer's analysis for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
Thirteen proved to be a lucky number for the New York Racing Association when it came to this year's Belmont Stakes undercard. Not only did 13 enter the Belmont Stakes, but there were 13 entrants in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, Grade 1 Just a Game, and Grade 2 Woody Stephens, three of the nine other stakes on Saturday's 13-race program at Belmont Park. The Grade 3 Jaipur Invitational drew 14.
The length and a quarter by which Exaggerator finished second to Nyquist in the Kentucky Derby is also the difference between Keith Desormeaux being elevated as the overnight sensation of Belmont Stakes week and just the latest trainer trying to see if his colt can be the most admirable survivor of another grueling classic season.
