Posted on 06/10/2006 7:03:05 AM PDT by gate2wire
Belmont morning saw the sun peeking its way between some heavy-looking clouds. There is plenty of standing water on the roads.
The forecast for the day is not too bad: windy and cool with some sun to break through the clouds throughout the day. It's supposed to dry out. The temperature at post time should be 71 degrees.
Bring a jacket.
The two stakes on the turf course today should be interesting. In yesterday's Hill Prince Stakes (gr. IIIT), run over a soft Widener course, 3-year-olds pretty much clicked off :24 quarters in the mile race in :24.03, :48.07, 1:12.44, and 1:36.74. That was before last night's cloudburst.
(Excerpt) Read more at tcm.bloodhorse.com ...
Belmont Stakes Post Positions (with Morning Line Odds)
Post Horse Sire Trainer Jockey ML*
1 Platinum Couple Tale of the Cat Joe Lostritto Jose Espinoza 30-1
2 Sunriver Saint Ballado Todd Pletcher Rafael Bejarano 4-1
3 Hemingway's Key Notebook Nick Zito Jeremy Rose 15-1
4 Bob and John Seeking the Gold Bob Baffert Garrett Gomez 5-1
5 High Finance Talk Is Money Rick Violette Eibar Coa 12-1
6 Oh So Awesome Awesome Again Jimmy Jerkens Mike Smith 20-1
7 Deputy Glitters Deputy Commander Tom Albertrani Edgar Prado 15-1
8 Jazil Seeking the Gold Kiaran McLaughlin Fernando Jara 10-1
9 Bluegrass Cat Storm Cat Todd Pletcher John Velazquez 3-1
10 Double Galore Grand Slam Myung Kwon Cho Mike Luzzi 30-1
11 Steppenwolfer Aptitude Dan Peitz Robby Albarado 9-2
12 Sacred Light Holy Bull Dave Hofmans Victor Espinoza 15-1
*Morning Line Odds
Great day of racing.
Who do you like?
OTB, here I come!
Leaning towards Steppenwolfer and High Finance, but think it's wide open. Will spread it around.
I have no doubt.
Do you have any idea why it's three weeks between Preakness and Belmont instead of two?
Not really.
Best bet- 8th Belmont- #5 Keyed Entry.
For amusement only. ;-)
Good morning. :~D Belmont today eh?
This one kindof snuck up on me.
Too many good choices here, I'm only finding 4 to drop.
Morning. Yes, Belmont Day. Great races today.
3 Grade 2's, 3 Grade 1's.
Well, you're doing better than I. I have only dropped one-Platinum Couple.
Gorella in the 7th according to the DRF Selections. 6-5.
But again they all look pretty strong aside from Mirabilis.
This could be a fun exacta play.
I always like Baffert, he's such a cool customer... But there's not much talk about "Bob and John"
I'm wondering whether there's interest in a live thread today? Should I post one?
Yeah, Platinum Couple. Then OSA, Jazil, and Double Galore.
Yes, Gorella is my top pick in that race also, but at even money, I'll look elsewhere. Hit a nice race with Ozone Bere on Preakness Day, so I'll use her somehow.
I'll be going to the track today, so can't contribute to the live thread until around 7 P.M. Hope there is some interest though.
For the Stakes, I dropped Jazil because Jara doesn't seem to get much out of him. OSA out, again because of the jock (even though as you pointed out before Jerkens is an impressive trainer). Double Galore because Luzzi is so-so and trainer Cho not enough experience.
Ozone Bere is definitely looking strong.
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