The Belmont Stakes is going to be a great horse race. Forget about negativity to do with no Triple Crown winner for another year; look at how exciting this race is, and how intriguing a betting prospect it will be.
2011 hasn?t been a vintage year for thoroughbreds. Sure. Tell us something we don?t know. But from a bettors? vantage point, that doesn?t matter.
If you?ve money down a horse only has to be better than the other horses in a race. When a football team looks across the line of scrimmage, all they see are the other guys ? nobody?s asking them to beat Jonny Unitas, Walter Peyton and Jerry Rice. Why should it be any different for a horse?
Animal Kingdom impressed a lot of people when he won at Kentucky and there?s a feeling abroad that he was unlucky at Pimlico ? if he went off the bridle earlier he would have won. Jockeys always get blamed.
Shackleford was more or less a wire-to-wire winner at Pimlico, but they don?t win wire to wire at the Belmont Stakes. The race is one and a half miles long. It takes a beast of a horse to lead a race like that wire to wire.
Is a sprinter like Animal Kingdom at a disadvantage over so long a distance? It depends on how fast the early pace of the race is. If the first mile goes off slowly, then Animal Kingdom can certainly justify his favoritism by hitting the jets in the final straight. If the pace is quicker though, the jets just won?t be there. Even Usain Bolt slows down if he?s had to run around the stadium before running his 100 meters.
The best value horses at Belmont Park are those that have the strength and heart to stay the punishing distance, and that little bit of quality to kick on for home. Mucho Macho Man and Master of Hounds are the tempters here.
And because we have to pick one or the other, go with Master of Hounds. Garret Gomez is veteran jockey who knows his way around Belmont Park and Aidan O?Brien will remember to have his horse properly shod. O?Brien hasn?t come to America to make up the numbers. Master of Hounds at 8/1 with Sports Interaction is the value bet at the 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes.
2011 hasn?t been a vintage year for thoroughbreds. Sure. Tell us something we don?t know. But from a bettors? vantage point, that doesn?t matter.
If you?ve money down a horse only has to be better than the other horses in a race. When a football team looks across the line of scrimmage, all they see are the other guys ? nobody?s asking them to beat Jonny Unitas, Walter Peyton and Jerry Rice. Why should it be any different for a horse?
Animal Kingdom impressed a lot of people when he won at Kentucky and there?s a feeling abroad that he was unlucky at Pimlico ? if he went off the bridle earlier he would have won. Jockeys always get blamed.
Shackleford was more or less a wire-to-wire winner at Pimlico, but they don?t win wire to wire at the Belmont Stakes. The race is one and a half miles long. It takes a beast of a horse to lead a race like that wire to wire.
Is a sprinter like Animal Kingdom at a disadvantage over so long a distance? It depends on how fast the early pace of the race is. If the first mile goes off slowly, then Animal Kingdom can certainly justify his favoritism by hitting the jets in the final straight. If the pace is quicker though, the jets just won?t be there. Even Usain Bolt slows down if he?s had to run around the stadium before running his 100 meters.
The best value horses at Belmont Park are those that have the strength and heart to stay the punishing distance, and that little bit of quality to kick on for home. Mucho Macho Man and Master of Hounds are the tempters here.
And because we have to pick one or the other, go with Master of Hounds. Garret Gomez is veteran jockey who knows his way around Belmont Park and Aidan O?Brien will remember to have his horse properly shod. O?Brien hasn?t come to America to make up the numbers. Master of Hounds at 8/1 with Sports Interaction is the value bet at the 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes.
