Belmont Stakes Odds and Post Positions

With nary a Kentucky Derby or Preakness winner in sight, this year’s Belmont Stakes is looking to be the least-hyped Belmont in years. However, this is the perfect opportunity for horse bettors to get a piece of the action with a race filled with newer talent, a horse could really make a name for itself at the longest race of the Triple Crown, running at 1.5 miles.

Top Belmont Stakes contenders include Ice Box, who is running from post position 6. Ice Box is the Florida Derby winner who came in a close second to Super Saver at the Kentucky Derby has the best Belmont Stakes odds with Sports Interaction’s online racebook putting him at 14/9, followed by Fly Down at 9/2 who took the win at the Dwyer last month and will be running in post position 5. Running from the eleventh post position, Preakness runner-up First Dude has been in the money in 6 out of 7 starts with 1 win. He is listed as a 5/1 favorite at the Belmont.

Dave in Dixie is a 25/1 longshot ridden from the first post position by jockey Calvin Borel, the winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby and 3 of the last 4 runs for the roses. Other horses worth betting on include Drosselmeyer (running from post position 7), ridden by hall of fame New York legend Mike Smith at 12/1 odds. Trained by Big Brown’s trainer Rick Dutrow, 20/1 longshot Spangled Star (post position 2) will be ridden by hall of famer Garrett Gomez, who has had a trying Triple Crown season after being fired as the jockey of Lookin at Lucky, who went on to win the Preakness Stakes.

“It’s a dramatically different race and it impacts the attendance but it won’t impact the handle in a large way,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Super Saver and newly added Belmont entrant Interactif, who will run from post position 12. “You can see by the 12 entries it’s still a big race and a race a lot of people will want to win. There is no substitute for a horse running for the Triple Crown. That becomes one of sports’ biggest events, not horse racing’s biggest events.”