For those of you that watched the Preakness, you probably weren’t unsatisfied after watching that one. The race was close the whole way through keeping most people at the edge of their seats. Then at the last turn Afleet Alex, who was making his move, stumbled and gave a lot of bet holders a scare. Miraculously, Afleet Alex recovered himself and went past Scrappy T to win the Preakness. The Belmont Stakes may not have as many contenders, but is still shaping up to be a great race.The Belmont Stakes is a different type of race. It is probably the most grueling race in the trio. The Belmont is 1 1/2 miles that separates the foals from the colts. They call the Belmont “test of champions” and rightfully so. This takes a quite a horse to finish and where most dreams of a Triple Crown are diminished.
The past 3 years we have had War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones all go into Belmont chasing the Triple Crown. As most of us know, they all came out of it empty handed. It turned out that Funny Cide and Smarty Jones didn’t have enough left towards the end and War Emblem tripped going out of the gate.
This year we don’t have anyone chasing for the Triple Crown but that doesn’t mean this won’t be a good race. There are two horses in this that I think are able contenders to win this thing. The Belmont Stakes is one of the hardest races and it takes a special horse to go the distance.
The two horses that are my contenders are Afleet Alex and Giacomo. The other horses I feel aren’t up to this 1 1/2 mile long race. These two horses are quality colts that I think are the real deal and ready to run.
Afleet Alex is the solid favorite for this one having 6-5 odds. And why shouldn’t he be? He made that crazy recovery at Pimilico and ended up winning it by over 2 lengths. He is a big, strong horse that is able to run the long race well. When he has space, he can separate himself from the pack but it also goes the other way, where if he gets jammed up, he may not be able to break away. Afleet Alex has shown his stuff and has a good chance of winning it at Belmont.
Then there is Giacomo, the flabbergasting, Kentucky Derby winner. Not many expected it but Giacomo won at Churchill Downs. He is an eyebrow raising horse that is quite a competitor. He showed his spirit winning the neck and neck Kentucky Derby. He’s not a giant horse but it works to his advantage because he can get through the smaller openings. He’s a horse that can spurt towards the end and is a definite contender to win the Belmont Stakes.
The ten horses lined up at the gates are going to have to run their hearts out in this one. The Belmont Stakes is no kiddie track and on June 21 we will be able to see which colts can pass the “test of champions.”