Are you ready for the 2020 Belmont Stakes on Saturday? Because I’m not. Most years, the Belmont is the culmination of the Triple Crown season. With luck and good running, the nation might be poised on a potential Triple Crown win. Emotions would be running high. This year, I don’t even know which horse are running because, honestly, horse racing has been the last thing on my mind.
This is the first time in its 152-year history that the Belmont Stakes has preceded the Kentucky Derby (which will be run on September 5th) and the Preakness Stakes (which will be held on October 5th). But there are other critical changes, the most significant is that this year the Belmont Stakes will be the shortest of the Triple Crown races, not the longest. Usually, the Belmont race is 12 furlongs (1 1/2 miles), and is a test of endurance. For 2020, the race has been shortened to 9 furlongs (1.125 miles) because the reduced racing calender this spring hasn’t enabled the 3-year olds to build enough stamina.
And then there are the spectators. Or lack of them. In March it was announced that the race would be run without spectators. Today, the New York Racing Association announced today that even the owners will not be allowed inside Belmont Park for Saturday’s $1 million race.
While the Kentucky Derby typically draws a huge field, which thins as the Belmont approaches, the field for Saturday’s race is slim. In fact, despite the light racing season so far, several of the most promising 3-year olds are sidelined with injuries. To run in the Kentucky Derby, horses need to earn points. So far, of the 18 horses that have earned the most points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby standings, only two seem likely to run in Saturday’s Belmont (the final field will be released Wednesday).
Five of the top 12 horses in the Kentucky Derby standings are injured, the most significant being Nadal, Charlatan, and Maxfield. The current odds for the Belmont are:
- Tiz the Law (3-2)
- Dr Post (9-1)
- Tap It to Win (12-1)
- Sole Volante (14-1)
- Max Player (18-1)
- Modernist (20-1)
- Farmington Road (22-1)
- Basin (25-1)
Let’s look at some of the contenders.
Who are you favoring for the Belmont?
NO, assumed it was being run in the fall following the other two legs of the TC, and they won’t even let the horses owners in. I could say more but won’t.
I, too, am surprised that they didn’t keep the races in order and move them all. A shorter Belmont run in stealth mode, is not very exciting.
I will be happy to watch. I’ve always found it odd that the Preakness comes second and at 1 3/16ths is the shortest race of the three.
I saw (online, of course) a race just the other day, with Tiz the Law. He’s a versatile horse. He was boxed in, on the rail, and apparently, he likes to be on the outside…WAY on the outside, as one person said. The jock literally pulled him up, manuevered him to the outside and then let him go…and he ran away from the pack.
I’m not saying I’m favoring him. I have to look at the horse’s faces as they’re on the post parade, to see what they’re thinking, which doesn’t lend one much time to place a bet. Oh, yes, of course, there are times when I want a certain horse to win, just on account of becaues..for instance, I’m always hoping for a Calumet horse to win, just for history’s sake, and sad to say, they don’t win very often these days….but they’re still on the track, despite not wearing the ”’famed” devil’s red and blue” colors. At least they’re still breeding and racing.
So at this moment, I’ve not a favorite. I will watch the race, though. It will be interesting. And as for the lack of spectators…while that hurts the living daylights out of the track’s ‘handle’, still…maybe this time NBC will have their cameras on the HORSES rather than the people. If I see Bob Baffert with his kid one more time I’ll…well, I won’t shut off the race, but Baffert used to be a real asshole and I don’t know if he’s changed or what, but he’s always played for the camera and NBC has never failed to make him the center of attention. I’m about tired of the races being Baffert and Family and oh, a couple other people with horses.
No. For the first time in 35+ years I will not be watching. The traditional Belmont Stakes is my favorite race, a 1.5 mile grueling test after a season of races. This is an asterisk in history, not for me.