The final leg of the Triple Crown will be on June 5^th.

But unfortunately, there will be no rematch between Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky as the connections of both have decided to pass up on the 2010 Belmont Stakes this Saturday.

While a few veterans of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness will be there, it looks like there will be lots of new shooters to fill out the field.

Here is the list of the top contenders for the 2010 Belmont Stakes:

Ice Box – Trained by infamous Nick Zito, Ice Box broke his maiden in October at the Meadowlands, and then followed that up with an allowance win at Gulfstream in January. He made his stakes debut in the Fountain of Youth (G2) on February 20, finishing 5th beaten 12 lengths. He came back to win the Florida Derby (G1) on March 20. Finished a fast-closing second in the Kentucky Derby beaten 2 1/2 lengths.

First Dude – After finishing 2nd in his first two starts, he finally broke his maiden in January at Gulfstream. Then he followed that with an allowance win also at Gulfstream, then finished third in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. He set the pace in the Preakness, finishing second beaten just 3/4 length by Lookin at Lucky.

Fly Down – Another Nick Zito trained horse, he won an allowance at Gulfstream in February, followed by a 9th place finish in the Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds on March 27. He came back next to win the Dwyer Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park on May 9, earning a career-best 99 Beyer.

Stately Victor – After breaking his maiden at Saratoga…

Read More » Bet on the 2010 Belmont Stakes this Saturday

Yep, a lot of guys will be gunning for Mine That Bird this weekend.

In case you don’t know it yet, the 141st Belmont Stakes is on this weekend as the top horses in the country will be looking to win the last leg of this year’s Triple Crown trail and end the season on a high note.

With Rachel Alexandra out, Mine That Bird took over the reigns as the heavy favorite at Belmont Park. After all, he is the reigning Kentucky Derby champion and came an inch close from winning the Preakness as well.

However, there will be others looking to challenge the horse this weekend, one of which is Luv Gov. Named after disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, the horse was last seen making his stakes debut in the Preakness. He was never a factor in the race. He settled early at the back of the pack, got forced eight wide entering the stretch, and was only able to hold his ground as a few fast fading stragglers went past him in reverse.

He wound up eighth.

On the plus side, he never exerted any real effort in the race, so he’ll be reasonably fresh and ready for the Belmont.

Luv Gov is a homebred son of Ten Most Wanted. His first crop of foals are just three…

Read More » Can they beat Mine That Bird in 141st Belmont Stakes?

As of this writing, Rachel Alexandra is still a no go for Belmont this Saturday.

You read it, and since we only have a few more days before the 141st Belmont Stakes gets going at Belmont Park in New York City, chances are, it’ll stay that way until raceday. That means, Mine That Bird should be the ULTIMATE, HEAVY FAVORITE, to win at Belmont Park. The thoroughbred, after all, won the 2009 Kentucky Derby before finishing second best at Pimlico.

Mine That Bird, if he wins the 2009 Belmont Stakes, will become only the 12th horse to complete the Derby – Belmont double and the first one since Thunder Gulch did it, 14 years ago in 1995.

Of course, there will be challengers and these horses should prove to be big ones.

One of which is Dunkirk. Dunkirk finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby in his last start, which was his fourth lifetime for trainer Todd Pletcher. He earned points for running style as he stalked the pace in his two wins, he has 4 starts as a 3-year-old, has topped the Beyer par of 106 with his 108 effort in the Florida Derby, and his dosage index is under 4. However he did not race as a 2-year-old, skipped the Preakness, did not have a sharp prep nor have any starts at Belmont Park, and he has points on the right side of his dosage profile.

Charitable Man, on the other hand, exits a…

Read More » Are these horses good bets for 141st Belmont Stakes?

No, there won’t be any flying privates making any escapes this weekend.

What we are trying to imply here are two of the contenders looking to make a big impact on the 141st Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park this weekend. Yes, the hroses are named Flying Private and Miners Escape.

Flying Private continued an impressive move which saw him open at 25/1 before moving to 20/1 earlier this week and now to 16/1 where he currently resides. Flying Private finished fourth beaten 4 lengths in the Preakness for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, which ”just” qualifies as a sharp prep race with a Beyer Speed Figure of 102, not quite par but earns points for breaking 100.

Flying Private ran 4th in an optional claimer at Oaklawn for his 2009 debut, then was 2nd and 4th in similar races also at Oaklawn. Ran 2nd by a head in the Mountain Valley Stakes there then shipped to Turfway to run 2nd in the Lane’s End Stakes. Put in an even effort to finish 5th in the Arkansas Derby. In the Kentucky Derby, he was 5 wide on the first turn then stopped badly after 1 mile finishing 19th and last. In the Preakness he raced 10th early and put in a mild rally to finish 4th beaten 4 lengths.

On the negative side he has too many starts at both 2 and 3, lacks a stakes win…

Read More » Can Flying Private do a Miners Escape at Belmont Park?

Because you can’t really go wrong with a kickass name like Mr Hot Stuff.

The 141st Belmont Stakes is on this weekend as the final leg of this year’s Triple Crown trail will conclude the horse racing season. Unfortunately, we won’t be having a new Triple Crown champion.

What we have, however, is a jockey looking to win all three legs of the Triple Crown trail. That being Calvin Borel. He’ll be aboard Mine That Bird again with Rachel Alexandra ruling out of the race. Can Borel lead Mine That Bird to win at Belmont Park? Maybe, but we’ll still be rooting for Mr Hot Stuff.

Mr Hot Stuff didn’t get that nickname for nothing. The horse was a late developer. He first tried to break his maiden in October, but it took him four months and five tries to earn his first win. He followed that up with third place showings in two California stakes, the Sham and the Santa Anita Derby.

He finished behind three other Derby runners in those races; Take The Points, Pioneerof The Nile, and Chocolate Candy. Overall, he has faced some classy fields, but he has just the maiden win to show for it. He’d also raced exclusively on synthetic tracks up to the Derby, so we don’t yet have a sense of whether he has an aptitude for dirt.

In his last race, Mr Hot Stuff ran in the Kentucky Derby, but it was far from notable. He was squeezed and bumped repeatedly at the start, and that seemed to take the life out of him. He settled near the back of the pack, moved wide on the final turn, and didn’t show any interest in responding when he was asked to move in the stretch. Some horses just don’t take to the spectacle that is the Derby, and this was clearly one. He finished 15th and was never better than that.

Mr. Hot Stuff is typically at or near the back of…

Read More » Our pick for the 141st Belmont Stakes? Mr Hot Stuff. (Yup, we really like the horse’s name a lot…)

The final leg of this year’s Triple Crown race is finally here.

The final leg of the Triple Crown will be the 141st Belmont Stakes on June 6th, and sadly, there will be no rematch between Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra.

Rachel Alexandra (was 9/4 on the 2009 Belmont odds) has been withdrawn and two more horses have been added to the betting options.

There are a ton of quality horses with a chance at the title remaining in the race and this one could very well come down to the final wire with a photo finish being the only way to decide who takes home the 2009 Belmont Stakes title.

Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Mine That Bird becomes an ever bigger favorite with the withdrawal of Rachel Alexandra. The three-year-old thoroughbred currently sits at 2/3 on the 2009 Belmont Stakes odds.

His runner-up finish at Pimlico earned him a 106 Beyer, his career best, and qualifies as a sharp prep and a stakes win this year to go with his Kentucky Derby victory. Although he has rallied from off the pace in the first two legs of the Triple Crown trail, he won using a stalking trip during his championship juvenile season in Canada so we awarded him the point for running style, as stalking the pace 1-5 lengths behind is preferable in the Belmont over front-runners or…

Read More » Can Mine That Bird win the 141st Belmont Stakes now that Preakness champ Rachel Alexandra is ruled out?

For the second time in this year’s Triple Crown trail, one horse is pulling the entire ”to run or not to run” fiasco on horse racing fans.

Yup, after Mine That Bird hinted that he’ll be missing the second leg of the Triple Crown, that being the Preakness Stakes, after winning the Kentucky Derby, it is now Rachel Alexandra’s turn to pull the same sick joke because after winning the Preakness, she is flirting with a NO SHOW for the 141st Belmont Stakes on June 6.

How come? Well, for some reason, Rachel Alexandra has her owners wondering if getting her to run at Belmont Park would still be necessary considering that the quest for the Triple Crown this year is once again, gone, after Mine That Bird failed to win the second leg at Pimlico.

Rachel Alexandra’s owner Jess Jackson feels getting the filly to compete for the 2009 Belmont Stakes is unnecessary considering that she wasn’t suppose to run for the Preakness Stakes anyway and since Rachel Alexandra already proved that she can run with the big boys when the filly won the Preakness, there’s not much to prove anything else on June 6.

”What else does she have to prove?” Jess Jackson said. ”The Preakness was a gamble. We don’t have to gamble anymore.”

Jackson claims that Rachel Alexandra, despite the stunning win at Pimlico…

Read More » Rachel Alexandra not running in 141st Belmont Stakes?

It is understandable that the Bills’ acquisition of Terrell Owens has generated all sorts of excitement in the league.

Of course, we won’t really know how effective Owens will be until the 2009 NFL football season gets here. But since the Bills will be Owens’ fourth team in what is turning out to be the last days of his aging career, will Owens finally make the most of his dwindling chances for redemption?

One expert, Dr. Harry Edwards, is confident that Terrell Owens, despite his controversial track record, will be a good addition to the city of Buffalo. How? Read on.

”This young man has never had one iota of trouble with women, drugs, violence, anything like that,” Dr. Harry Edwards said. ”You’re not going to get that with Terrell. What you are going to get is the kind of behavior on the field that his generation celebrates. It’s cultural. You’re not going to change it.”

”You just have to manage it. Terrell is not of the same generation as Lynn Swann and Jerry Rice. He is of the generation of Randy Moss.”

Oh yes, Randy Moss.

Two years ago, Randy Moss was in the same situation where…

Read More » NFL wideouts Terrell Owens and Randy Moss now have something more in common than you might think

In case you missed the race, (like most of us here…) the search for the new Triple Crown series champion continues.

Highly fancied Big Brown missed out on the coveted Triple Crown title after finishing dead last in the 2008 Belmont Stakes last weekend. Da’ Tara came up with the win in the last leg of this year’s Triple Crown trail.

A 1-4 favorite to win the Belmont Stakes and be part of history in his attempt to become only the 12th winner of the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978, Big Brown became the VERY FIRST of 19 horses going for a Triple Crown to finish last instead. Ugh…

Da’ Tara went wire-to-wire with the 2008 Triple Crown series contender during the race after jockey Alan Garcia sprinted out of the gate to take the early lead. Big Brown, who was eager in the early going, ran up on Da’ Tara’s heels heading into the first turn.

Da’ Tara had the lead down the backstretch, with Tale of Ekati in second and Big Brown running third on the outside with a clear path. This was probably Big Brown’s…

Read More » Why Big Brown failed miserably in winning the Triple Crown in the 2008 Belmont Stakes

This is it, the very race that will determine whether we’ll have the first Triple Crown winner for quite a long time or not.

It’s on this Saturday, as Big Brown will try to capture this year’s Triple Crown title in the 140th Belmont Stakes. The colt certainly didn’t look good heading for Belmont Park this weekend after discovering that crack on his left front hoof, but after the colt managed to get the No.1 post position for the final leg of the Triple Crown trail, people will probably ride his bandwagon again.

With 2-5 odds to win at Belmont, Big Brown will come out of the No.1 position after winning the Derby from the last gate and winning the Preakness from the middle. Jockey Kent Desormeaux should be more than happy of the fact that he’ll have the inside lane for a change, coming out of the post that produced the most Belmont winners since 1905.

”Absolutely, because it’s an easier trip,” Kent Desormeaux said, referring to the lane he will have to guide Big Brown on for the 2008 Belmont Stakes. ”I would be able to just guide and glide. Now, I’m going to have to jockey for position. He’s so fast away from the gate, though, the race might be over in 40 yards.”

While Desormeaux just might be a little too cocky in their attempt to win the 2008 Triple Crown series title, he should be aware that the rest of the pack would love to spoil their plans of a sweep.

With 50-1 odds, Guadalcanal will come out of post No.2 while Macho Again…

Read More » Big Brown goes for Triple Crown in Belmont Stakes 140