We already know that there won’t be a Triple Crown winner in 2021, with different horses winning this year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. However, that doesn’t diminish the excitement of the upcoming race, the Triple Crown-concluding leg that is the 2021 Belmont Stakes. Which horse will get the win and the $800,000 top prize? Let’s check out some of the favorites, a sleeper, and a long shot for this race down in Elmont, New York.
Essential Quality was a favorite to win the 2021 Kentucky Derby, but it failed to even show in that race, finishing just fourth overall at Churchill Downs. Despite that letdown performance in the first leg of the Triple Crown, Essential Quality is once again viewed as a favorite to win, this time in the 2021 Belmont Stakes. Essential Quality, which skipped the 2021 Preakness Stakes, has won all its non-Kentucky Derby races. That’s five victories overall, including the Blue Grass Stakes (Grade 2) and the Southwest Stakes (Grade 3).
Essential Quality trainer, Brad Cox, feels tremendously confident about his horse’s chances this coming weekend.
“We wanted to keep him honest,” he said at dawn Saturday after Essential Quality had a final breeze before assuming the favorite’s mantle for the Belmont Stakes. “We definitely got a good work under him.”
Rombauer bettors would never ever forget how they were able to rake in their winnings during the 2021 Preakness Stakes. The 3-year-old colt had a sensational win at Pimlico, taking over the race down the stretch to beat second-placer Midnight Bourbon by 3½ lengths. It was Rombauer’s first graded stakes win. The colt has now shown in all of its last three races, including a third-place finish at the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Grade 2).
Hopes were high on Bourbonic to make large waves in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, but instead, all it could muster was a forgettable 13th-place finish at Churchill Downs. Bourbonic had built a nice momentum going into that race, as it’s won three of his previous four races, including the Wood Memorial (Grade 1 stakes) back in April. It was a shocking win for Bourbonic, as it entered that race as a 72-1 long shot. It’s also worth noting that the sire of Bourbonic’s dam, Afleet Alex, had won both the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes back in 2005.
With Brooklyn Strong reportedly withdrawing from the 2021 Belmont Stakes, France Go De Ina is now the horse with the longest odds to win the third and last leg of the Triple Crown. France Go De Ina has yet to win a race in its career. It hasn’t started a lot, though, having raced just three times so far, two of which were graded stakes races. It placed sixth at the UAE Derby (Grade 2) and then seventh at the 2021 Preakness Stakes.
