The Derby and Preakness runners-up meet in the Belmont Stakes. If the return of Ice Box and First Dude isn't enough star power to attract public interest, at least the handicappers have a lot to be interested in. The million dollar, all stakes Pick Six and Pick Four at Belmont Park are a welcome challenge for any horseplayer.
Five weeks ago in a Kentucky Derby that already seems like ancient history. my horse Ice Box got squished trying to find room at the top of the stretch, but thanks to some carefully (or luckily) chosen exactas, my "saver" handed me $426. If my horse won I would have made about $640, so I certainly can't complain! The horses that ran 3rd, 4th and 5th were nowhere on my tickets. So Ice Box owes me nothing, but as the most talented horse still competing in the series, he deserves a win tomorrow and will get my support.
My Triple Crown handicapping all depends on a simple premise: Trainers that can manage a decent juvenile phenom that is bred to run long with a long-range objective in mind do well in the Triple Crown. They have to plan out a 6-9 month strategy to get a horse all the way to a peak on Derby Day. Horses like this prevail year after year, even though they lose many of their prep races. These types tend to do much better than horses that run big in March and April. A recent flurry of late bloomers have won a lot of recent Triple Crown races. But history through the 1980's and 1990's were dominated by talented juveniles that were bred for long distance, but were fast enough to win 2-year-old races. That balance of precocity and stamina has been the formula for success. Interactif and Make Music For Me fit this formula the best, and deserve exotic play accordingly. Neither, however, has shown they are a match to Florida Derby winner Ice Box.
The list of Belmont contenders includes Derby runner-up Ice Box, Dwyer winner and fellow Zito trainee Fly Down, Preakness runner-up First Dude, Dwyer runner-up Drosselmeyer, and Lone Star Derby winner Game On Dude. A relatively talented field, but one that lacks the star power of having Super Saver and Lookin At Lucky attend. And far less press will take notice without the spectacle of a horse going for the Triple Crown. Still, for the handicappers among the crowd, the Belmont promises to be a large, contentious field of evenly matched runners, and that always brings excitement.
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