New York sports betting will turn to handicapping on Saturday for the third jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown.
We The People drew the inside post in a field of eight Tuesday morning and will be the 2-1 morning line favorite for Saturday’s 154th Belmont Stakes at historic Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
Post time is scheduled for about 6:44 p.m. ET (NBC).
With jockey Flavien Prat aboard and trained by Rodolphe Brisset, We The People has had four starts with three victories, highlighted by a wire-to-wire score in the Peter Pan Stakes May 14 at Belmont. Prat finished second in last year’s Belmont Stakes with Hot Rod Charlie.
Belmont Field and Odds
Mo Donegal (5-2), with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. and trained by three-time Belmont Stakes winner Todd Pletcher, is the second choice from Post 6. Bred to excel at 1½ miles, Mo Donegal enters off a fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Pletcher also has Nest (8-1) – the only filly in the race – with Jose Ortiz, Jr. aboard from Post 3.
Pletcher’s Belmont Stakes winners are Rags to Riches (2007), Palice Malice (2013) and Tapwrit (2017). He also has had six second-place finishes and three third-place finishers from a record 33 starters in the race.
The surprise Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike, will leave from Post 4 and is the third morning line choice at 7-2 with jockey Sonny Leon aboard. Bred for 1½ miles, the 80-1 winner of the Kentucky Derby – trained by Eric Reed – missed the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel of the Triple Crown, on May 21 to get some extra rest and point to this race specifically. His closing style will fit well in this race.
The other four horses entered (with jockey) are: No. 2 Skippylongstocking (20-1, Manuel Franco); No. 5 Creative Minister (6-1, Brian Hernandez, Jr.); No. 7 Golden Glider (20-1, Dylan Davis); No. 8 Barber Road (10-1, Joel Rosario).
The Belmont will run again without any horses trained by Bob Baffert, who is under suspension.
The state has been looking out for the racing industiry in general with safeguards in the fiscal budget.
Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Starts Thursday
The three-day Belmont Stakes Race Festival begins on Thursday with nine Grade 1 races (17 stakes races in all) taking place during that span.
The Racing Festival will be aired in its entirety by FOX Sports, which has a eight-year agreement with the New York Racing Association (NYRA).
FOX Sports will broadcast the Belmont Stakes in 2023.
The first day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will be Thursday, highlighted by three stakes races.
One is the Grade 2, $200,000 Wonder Again, over nine furlongs on turf for 3-year-old fillies, which offers an automatic invite to the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational to the top-three finishers. Also included are two $150,000 sprints for 2-year-olds at 5.5 furlongs on the main track: the Astoria for fillies and the Tremont.
On Friday, the Grade 1, $750,000 New York, a 10-furlong turf test for older fillies and mares, will headline a day featuring five graded stakes.
On Belmont Stakes Day, the card also will have three Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” qualifiers: the one-mile, $1 million Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap for 3-year-olds and up (Dirt Mile); the $500,000 Ogden Phipps for older fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, going 1 1/16 miles on the main track (Distaff); and the $400,000 Jaipur for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs (Turf Sprint).
