Two legs down, one more to go. With the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness now behind us, it’s time for the Belmont Stakes to get all the attention, as the third and last leg of the Triple Crown is about to determine its winner this coming June 6. Will American Pharoah beat the competition at the Belmont Park and be the first colt in almost 40 years to sweep the Triple Crown? Or will another horse pull the rug from under the Derby-Preakness winner? Read on below for our first preview of this year’s Belmont Stakes, which we will continue to cover as the event draws nearer.
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2015 Belmont Stakes Preview
Favorite: American Pharoah
[sc:horses240banner ]After being draped in red roses (Kentucky Derby) and in Black-Eyed Susans (Preakness Stakes), American Pharoah (-110) is now just a Belmont-Stake win away from being the first Triple-Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. The Bob Baffert-trained colt was untouchable in the Preakness Stakes, as jockey Victor Espinoza challenged American Pharoah to be aggressive right out of the gate. The result was a more impressive and more dominant win for American Pharoah, as he won the race by seven lengths. Espinoza has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness two times before, but failed both times to capture a win in the Belmont Stakes. Will the third try be the charm for Espinoza? He certainly hopes so.
Sleepers: Firing Line, Keen Ice
While American Pharoah is undoubtedly the favorite coming into the Belmont Stakes, he’ll still be up against tremendous odds as no horse has swept the Triple Crown in 37 years. In fact, of the 13 horses from 1979-2013 that won the Derby and the Preakness, 12 raced in Belmont, where their Triple Crown dreams all perished.
This is why it’s not a bad idea to take flyers on sleepers like Firing Line and Keen Ice. If you may remember, Firing Line gave American Pharoah quite a scare in the Derby, where the Simon Callaghan-trained colt finished runner-up. Firing Line, however, disappointed in the Preakness Stakes, as he only managed a seventh-place finish. He’ll give it a go again in the Belmont Stakes, a race jockey Gary Stevens has won three times before. Save for his Preakness performance, Firing Line has never finished off the board since he began competing in 2014.
Another colt looking to upset in the Belmont Stakes is Keen Ice (+2,500), who skipped the Preakness Stakes after racing in the Kentucky Derby. In the Derby, Keen Ice finished seventh overall after beginning the race in the 17th position. That rally says something about Keen Ice’s ability to stay in the race, an important attribute for a horse competing in a long track like the Belmont Park. Keen Ice has showed three times over his last seven races, including a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Risen Star stakes last February.
Long Shot: Frammento
As for the long shots, bettors can consider betting on Frammento (+4,000), a three-year-old trained by Hall-of-Famer Nick Zito. Despite finishing 11th in the Kentucky Derby, Zito’s confidence on Frammento hasn’t faded a bit. In a recent interview, Zito said that Frammento is a horse built for lengthy racetracks (Belmont is 1.5-mile long), as he’s one that will “run all day”. Frammento, who didn’t race in the Preakness Stakes, only has a show in four races thus far this year. That was in February’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth stakes, where Frammento finished third behind Derby runners, Itsaknockout and Upstart .
