Saturday, June 6, 2009

Hoping For An Upset? Other Horses To Watch:

There's no guarantee that Mine That Bird will win today's Belmont Stakes. Though the condition of the track, rated as "sloppy-fast," is favorable to Mine That Bird (who won at Churchill Downs in similar conditions) there are other serious contenders that could ruin Mine That Bird and jockey Calvin Borel's day.

Charitable Man (3-1 odds) is considered as the horse most likely to upset Mine That Bird. Charitable Man's pedigree includes horses raised to raise one and a half mile tracks. History is also on Charitable Man's side in another way, is Charitable Man has actually won at Belmont before. Charitable Man is also rested, as he did not race at the Preakness.

Flying Private (12-1 odds) is another horse likely to upset Mine That Bird. Though not as rested as Charitable Man, Flying Private is a powerful horse that is not quite the underdog Mine That Bird was to being the Triple Crown. Flying Private showed well at the Preakness on a late surge, finishing fourth.

Four of the past nine winners of the Belmont Stakes skipped the Preakness. That statistic favors Dunkirk (4-1 odds), who has seemingly been forgotten. Don't sleep on Dunkirk, because he is rested, and at 4-1 odds, there are obviously many others who believe Dunkirk has the drive and ability to win at the Belmont. Dunkirk, like Flying Private, also has the one and a half mile pedigree that may help him eek out a victory.

No comments:

Post a Comment