Race 8: The $1.5 million-guaranteed all-Grade 1 pick four kicks off with the Just a Game.  Chad Brown sends out to the two favorites in this race in A Raving Beauty and Off Limits.  I strongly prefer Off Limits and will make her the focus of this pick four sequence.  

Proctor's Ledge and Lull join A Raving Beauty on the backup tickets.

Main: 3

Backup: 4, 5, 7  

ELMONT, N.Y. – He's going for the Triple Crown on Saturday, and is making the sixth start in an ambitious, accelerated campaign that began less than four months ago, but it would be hard to fault the way Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Justify appears to be coming into the Belmont Stakes.

BELMONT PARK
Thursday, June 7
Weather: Cloudy  
Temperature: 61  
Track: Fast

ELMONT, N.Y. – All 10 members of this year’s Belmont Stakes field went to the track to train at Belmont Park on Thursday, but naturally it was the undefeated Justify who commanded everyone’s attention when making his first local appearance shortly after the track re-opened at 8:45 a.m. following the renovation break.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The list is short, a mere 12, reflecting the difficult achievement of winning three races in five weeks at three different tracks in three different states at three different distances, the requirements of sweeping the Triple Crown.

Shorter still is the list of those who have done it while still unbeaten. It starts and ends with Seattle Slew.

And so another colorful Triple Crown mystery presents itself, served up fresh on a platter and begging for insight. Will he or won’t he? Is Justify the real deal, a champion to follow in the footsteps of fellow redheads Sir Barton, Omaha, Whirlaway, Secretariat, and Affirmed? Or will he be another chestnut disappointment, close but no tiara, joining sad old reds like Charismatic, Smarty Jones, and California Chrome.

A mile and a half around the biggest dirt track in America, with the whole world watching, carrying the weight of a century and a half of history.

“The supreme test is the Belmont Stakes, run over ‘Big Sandy,’ Belmont Park,” said Michael Hernon, director of sales for Gainesway Farm. “There’s nowhere to hide out there. The best horse, I think, consistently wins.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Ricardo Santana Jr. watched from the jockeys’ room at Churchill Downs as Creator outfinished Destin to win the 2016 Belmont Stakes by a nose.

“I was a little upset,” said Santana, who had ridden Creator in his four previous starts, including a victory in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and an eighth in the Kentucky Derby. “I was on that horse.”

Santana had been removed in favor of another 23-year-old jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr., who was a regular at Belmont Park, which has a unique 1 1/2-mile oval.

In the 25 years since Julie Krone won the 1993 Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair, there have been 74 runnings of the Triple Crown classics, with a 75th coming up Saturday when the Belmont Stakes is run for the 150th time.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Justify, who will make a Triple Crown bid in Saturday’s 150th Belmont Stakes, arrived at Belmont Park on Wednesday at approximately 2:15 p.m. Eastern after a flight from Kentucky, where he had been based since his victory in the Preakness Stakes.

:: Get Clocker Reports, PPs, news, analysis, and more for the 2018 Belmont Stakes

Grade 1 Belmont Stakes | 1 1/2M, Dirt, 3-year-olds | Belmont, Race 11, 6:46 p.m. (ET) | TimeformUS PPs

Most Likely Winner: Justify (#1)