The Belmont Gold Cup/Belmont Stakes double is a tough wager to have much confidence in since we’re dealing with a 16-furlong turf race and a 12-furlong dirt race. Considering that neither of these races will be contested at a distance that is common here in the United States, a great deal of projecting needs to be done when trying to smoke out horses who are best suited to stay these marathon distances. Below I’ve laid out the horses I’m most interested in, along with the odds I believe would represent fair value on each runner.

BELMONT GOLD CUP

Belmont Park

Weather: Clear

Track: Fast

Temp.: 56

ELMONT, N.Y. – The weather was unseasonably cool, with the temperature in the mid-50s, when the racetrack opened for training at Belmont Park on Thursday, with the 13 prospective Belmont Stakes starters pretty much in maintenance mode just over 48 hours in advance of the race.

Reviewing replays and trips can be a time-consuming, though often rewarding, experience – particularly in cases where the trouble goes unnoted in the charts. In preparation for the Belmont, I went through and examined the last-race trips of all the competitors. They follow below in post position order.

It is no big deal that the Derby winner won’t be showing up for the 148th Belmont Stakes on Saturday in New York. It happens all the time, most recently in 2012, when I’ll Have Another nursed his bum ankle back at the barn while Union Rags and Paynter put on a show.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Keith Desormeaux stood alone in the box seats on the second floor at Belmont Park on Thursday morning, watching a pair of unraced 2-year-olds whom he trains work from the gate.

“Future stars,” he said.

And so it is with racing, always looking forward.

Large multirace exotic wagering begins early at Belmont Park on Saturday, along with the stakes action, with a pick five being offered starting with the day’s first race, the Easy Goer Stakes. So, here is a look at the five-race sequence and my strategy for hitting it.

A classic race for males was started in England in 1780 to help breeders develop the emerging Thoroughbred, a cross of several breeds including Arabians, by testing the best 3-year-old colts at 1 1/2 miles in the Epsom Derby. The goal was to help find progenitors who could pass along the traits of speed and stamina necessary to improve the breed. That’s why the Epsom Derby to this day is restricted to entire colts and fillies. Geldings need not apply.

The 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes will be the longest any of the 13 entries in the field will have ever raced in competition, and few, if any, will run at the distance again once they cross the finish on Saturday.

As previous renewals have shown, the quarter-mile difference between the Belmont and the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby can lead to a different horse entering the winner’s circle.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Julie Clark remembers being horse crazy as early as age 4 and being captivated by the first running of the Breeders’ Cup back in 1984. But until recent years, she had largely spent her life with polo horses and thought the closest she’d get to participating with racehorses in the Triple Crown or the Breeders’ Cup was with the parties she’d throw on those days.

Yours truly has been tasked with writing about Saturday’s all-stakes pick four at Belmont Park, the one that ends with the Belmont Stakes. And that’s great. If I’m still breathing, I will play this sequence. Happily. With gusto.