The defending race winner almost certainly isn’t running in Thursday’s renewal of the Belmont Gold Cup. Parchment Party won the 2025 Gold Cup by 8 1/2 lengths but did so after heavy rain forced the race from turf onto dirt. His trainer, Bill Mott, laughed and shook his head when recently asked if he’d ever try the horse on grass again. Mott entered Parchment Party for the main track only, which, if the weather forecast holds, leaves eight grass horses to run two miles in the Grade 2, $250,000 Gold Cup. This race once offered a much larger purse and drew solid European entrants, but the only thing close to a Euro invader this year is Irish expatriate Fleetfoot – though, at 12-1 on the morning line, he could offer decent value. While the hope with most of these horses is that they manage to see out a marathon distance rarely run in North America, Fleetfoot specializes in two-mile flat races. He showed no affinity for jump-racing during his 18-race Ireland career but did see out some stout 1 1/2-mile contests there. And in October, making his first American start and first for Irish expat trainer Barry Foley, Fleetfoot won the $150,000 John Forbes Memorial, beating a couple solid rivals going two miles at the Far Hills course. “That seems to be his trip,” Foley said. “Though the one thing I would say is the ground probably suited him in that race, as it had a little bit of cut in it.” Foley ran Fleetfoot back on a more conventional racecourse in the Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct. At 1 1/2 miles, the race, believe it or not, was too short for the horse. Fast ground and winter-break rust contributed to a poor showing at Keeneland in April, but Fleetfoot got closer to his best prepping for Thursday’s contest on May 25 at Fair Hill. :: Bet the Belmont Stakes with confidence! Betting Strategies by Mike Beer and David Aragona feature exclusive wager recommendations! “I’m pretty happy with him,” Foley said. “Still not 100 percent sure he handles the bends too well. I’m hoping two miles makes that easier on him.” Tawny Port, second choice on the line at 3-1, also ran in the Elkorn at Keeneland, fading to fourth in a race he needed following a layoff, trainer Miguel Clement said. “That’s just who he is – he needed the race. I still thought he ran gallantly; just got a little tired,” Clement said. Tawny Port, in his lone turf start at a comparable distance, stayed on solidly to finish second in the 2 1/16-mile Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs late last summer, swamped by the super-impressive German raider Flatten the Curve. “He stays this trip for sure. We saw that at Kentucky Downs,” Clement said. Corruption, the 7-5 favorite on the line off a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill, has a win and two close seconds in three 1 1/2-mile races, the farthest he’s run. His trainer, Mark Casse, has no reservations regarding two miles. “I’m not worried. As long as they’ll shut off, a mile-and-a-half horse will go two miles,” he said. Corruption looked on paper like a pace player in the 1 1/8-mile Turf Classic. Instead, things went awry in the early stages and Corruption, John Velazquez riding, found himself near the back of the field, out of his comfort zone, and checked in traffic at the five-sixteenths pole as Rhetorical raced wire to wire. “Johnny was pretty frustrated after the race. He felt like we could have been closer if things had worked out better,” Casse said. Navy Seal stretched out to 1 1/2 miles at the last Kentucky Downs meet and won a second-level allowance. In the Elkhorn, his first race after a winter break, he contested the pace and wound up a distant third as Burnham Square dashed to a blowout victory. “He’s always trained like a horse that wants to run forever,” Ward said. And Thursday, by American flat-racing standards, he gets that chance. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.