Posted on 06/09/2018 11:15:16 AM PDT by TaxPayer2000
Can Justify win the Triple Crown after taking the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness?
The 150th running of the Belmont Stakes is set for Saturday, and a Triple Crown is on the line with Justify coming off wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The race is set to get underway with a post time of 6:37 p.m. ET.
Television coverage of the race will be carried by NBC, which begins pre-race coverage at 5 p.m. Further pre-race coverage can be found at NBC Sports from 3 p.m. Online streaming of the race will be handled by NBC Sports or a streaming service that carries NBC, such as fuboTV.
The Grade I stakes race with a purse of $1.5 million obviously has a lot on the line, including nine other horses that want nothing more than to ruin Justify’s chance at the Triple Crown. The last Triple Crown winner was American Pharoah in 2015, and before that a total of 37 years went by without a horse winning the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont in a row.
Justify will start from the first post, which isn’t necessarily an advantage, but there have been 23 winners from said post in the past. Bravazo and Hofburg, widely considered the top competition for Justify, will start third and fourth, respectively.
Bob Baffert is Justify’s trainer, while Mike Smith is the jockey. Baffert also trained American Pharoah in 2015.
Below, you can see the full post position lineup for the 10-horse field.
2018 Belmont Stakes post positions
1. Justify 2. Free Drop Billy 3. Bravazo 4. Hofburg 5. Restoring Hope 6. Gronkowski 7. Tenfold 8. Vino Rosso 9. Noble Indy 10. Blended Citizen
And below is all you need to know to watch the action.
Date: Saturday, June 9
Location: Belmont Park, Elmont, New York
Post time: 6:37 p.m. (approx)
TV: NBC (from 5 p.m., more pre-race coverage on NBCSN from 3 p.m.)
Online Streaming: NBC Sports, fuboTV
Justify going at 4 to 5 last I saw. Not worth the risk.
Justify with the 5 outside runners underneath.
I wont be placing any bets. I just want to see if Justify can win the Triple Crown.
Hours of pre-race hype for a two minute horse race?
Just an observation of how much airtime is devoted to yakking about it, compared to how long the actual event takes.
We could make a similar observation about the Super Bowl.
When I heard George Soros is a part owner of Justify, this race posts it luster for me, just like the NFL. Go other horses!
Make that “lost its luster.”
Off topic , but why do so many horses retire after the triple crown series of races? I don’t follow racing, but I hear they are at their peak as three year olds, run for the triple crown, then retire.
One of his companies owns 15% of the breeding rights.
They invest in many horses.
Breeding ...
Because winning horses command the highest stud fee’s. Make more studding them out then racing them and racing them risks injury or worse. (Horse breaks a leg, it’s typically put down for example.)
That's fair, but this was a really good undercard: last year's Ky Oaks just completed a double with this year's Ky Oaks winner. They moved the Met Mile to Belmont day. But too much yakking without really saying anything, yep, that's been a problem forever.
I will be tuning in around 3:20pm PST. I figure 15-20 minutes of hype is enough.
You would be amazed how much time a player will spend handicapping the race. I will spend literally days on the Kentucky Derby. I know Hofburg is the “wise guy” horse but I’ve liked him to win the Belmont since the derby.
During the trial there's been testimony by one of the prosecution's chief witnesses,Steve Flemmi,that he and Whitey routinely fixed races at Suffolk Downs (a Boston race track) as well as at other tracks.
It kinda makes one wonder if any horse race in this country is *really* on the level.
They retire horses after the triple crown, if they do well, to send them off to stud. A horse can make much more money in stud fees. Curlin, one of the current sire favorites, gets $150,000 per mare.
Justify is a beautiful horse. I read recently Soros is part owner. I’m hoping this is not true because I’m pulling for him.
Suffolk is actually racing this weekend! Food trucks, craft beers, a little festival. Maybe get down there and get the scoop...
That article was so poorly written...
"A third group, a secretive entity that holds the remaining 15 percent, will remain out of the spotlight because it vigorously avoids any public attention. It is a company controlled by top employees of the billionaire investor George Soros...That is how the group partly acquired Justify and the third-place Kentucky Derby finisher Audible, but it quickly sold its racing rights in those horses to Head of Plains Partners and Starlight Racing."That suggests they got in briefly for the flip, but then the article just slogs on and on. Then the bylines suggest nobody wanted this piece because it was beyond their understanding:
"Melissa Hoppert and Matthew Goldstein reporting ... Alexandra Stevenson and Kate Kelly contributed reporting, and Susan Campbell Beachy contributed research."
I was reading about Justify’s sire, Scat Daddy, who died suddenly in 2015 at age 11. His crops were doing well and he would have received $100,000 per mare in 2016.
Knowing that Justify is in his last crop I think I’ll have to pull for him.
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