The Belmont Stakes on Saturday will produce a champion thoroughbred, but it won’t be “The Test of the Champion” that the third leg of the Triple Crown usually provides.
Because of renovation work at Belmont Park, the 156th Belmont Stakes will be contested at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York – about 200 miles north of the race’s normal home. The most recent Belmont Stakes run somewhere other than Belmont Park occurred in 1967, when it shifted to Aqueduct Racetrack for similar reasons.
To fit the different venue, the Belmont Stakes will be a 1.25-mile race, not the usual distance of 1.5 miles, the length that helped give the event its nickname. The competitors in this year’s Belmont will run the same distance as the contenders in the Kentucky Derby on May 4 did.
Mystik Dan won that Kentucky Derby to become this year’s Triple Crown hopeful. But in the Preakness Stakes on May 18, Mystik Dan came home second – 2.25 lengths behind Seize the Grey.
This is the sixth straight year that the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes had different winners, eliminating any Triple Crown drama for the Belmont Stakes. Since Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018, no horse has won two of the Triple Crown races.
Mystik Dan and Seize the Grey are both running in the Belmont Stakes, but neither is the morning-line favorite in the race.
At the post-position draw on Monday afternoon, Sierra Leone was tabbed as the morning-line favorite at 9-5. Sierra Leone lost to Mystik Dan in the Kentucky Derby by a nose. While Mystik Dan went on to run two weeks later, Sierra Leone has had a five-week layoff.
Mystik Dan was 5-1 and Seize the Grey was 8-1 in the morning line.
Both had longer odds than Mindframe, too, which posted at 7-2 even though the colt has raced only twice – both victories.
The most recent winner of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes that did not win the Preakness Stakes was Thunder Gulch in 1995. Eleven horses have accomplished this feat.
The most recent winner of the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes that did not win the Kentucky Derby was Afleet Alex in 2005. Eighteen horses have accomplished this feat.
Post time for the 156th Belmont Stakes is 6:41 p.m. EDT Saturday.
FOX Sports coverage of the Belmont Stakes will start at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on FS1. At 3 p.m. Saturday, the main coverage will shift to FOX.
This year’s race has a $2 million purse, with $1.2 million going to the winner.
The 10 entries in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, listed by post position with morning-line odds:
Post Position 1: Seize the Grey 8-1
Seize the Grey had a dud of a showing at the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 6 with a seventh-place run and didn’t go on to the Kentucky Derby. But the roan colt did win at Churchill Downs on May 4, taking the Pat Day Mile with a nice stretch showing on the same day as the Run for the Roses. That led to a Preakness Stakes bid, and Seize the Grey was a wire-to-wire winner by 2.25 lengths on May 18. Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas, who saddled Belmont winners Tabasco Cat in 1994, Thunder Gulch in 1995, Editor’s Note in 1996 and Commendable in 2000. Jockey: Jaime Torres. Record: 10-4-0-3. Earnings: $1,819,938. Pedigree: Smart Shopping by Arrogate.
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Post Position 2: Resilience 10-1
Resilience wasn’t up to Sierra Leone, Track Phantom and Catching Freedom as he faded to a fourth-place finish at the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 17. The colt came back with more speed and stamina for a 2.25-length victory in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial on April 6. But that didn’t hold up at the Kentucky Derby on May 4, where another slowdown in the stretch sent Resilience back to a sixth-place showing. Trainer: Bill Mott, who saddled Belmont winner Drosselmeyer in 2010. Jockey: Junior Alvarado. Record: 7-2-1-1. Earnings: $494,630. Pedigree: Meadowsweet by Into Mischief.
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Post Position 3: Mystik Dan 5-1
Mystik Dan’s run on the rail allowed the colt to win the Kentucky Derby by a nose over Sierra Leone on May 4, but he couldn’t keep pace with Seize the Grey in the Preakness Stakes and came in second by 2.25 lengths. Mystik Dan became a Kentucky Derby contender by winning the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes on Feb. 3 by 8 lengths over Just Steel. The colt’s final derby prep didn’t go as well as Mystik Dan finished 4.5 lengths behind Just Steel, which ran 2 lengths behind race winner Muth in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on March 30. Trainer: Kenny McPeek, who saddled Belmont winner Sarava in 2002. Jockey: Brian Hernandez Jr. Record: 8-3-2-1. Earnings: $4,141,360. Pedigree: Ma’am by Goldencents.
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Post position 4: The Wine Steward 15-1
The Wine Steward won the first three times out, including surging to finish first by a head at Saratoga in the Funny Cide Stakes on Aug. 27. Since then, the colt has finished second three times in a row – beaten by less than a length each time. The Wine Steward lost by one-half length to the favorite, Locked, in the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 7, by three-quarters of a length as the favorite to Encinco in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes on April 13 and by three-quarters of a length as the favorite to Antiquarian in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes on May 11. Trainer: Michael Maker. Jockey: Manny Franco, who rode Belmont winner Tiz the Law in 2020. Record: 6-3-3-0. Earnings: $467,260. Pedigree: Call To Service by Vino Rosso.
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Post Position 5: Antiquarian 12-1
The third-place finisher in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 23, Antiquarian is coming off a three-quarter-length victory in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes over the favorite, The Wine Steward, on May 11. Trainer: Todd Pletcher, who saddled Belmont winners Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013, Tapwrit in 2017 and Mo Donegal in 2022. Jockey: John Velazquez, who rode Belmont winners Rags to Riches in 2007 and Union Rags in 2012. Record: 4-2-1-0. Earnings: $173,000. Pedigree: Lifetime Memory by Preservationist.
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Post Position 6: Dornoch 15-1
Dornoch had won three races in row, including the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes and the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, when the colt couldn’t keep pace with Sierra Leone’s blistering stretch run in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 6 and finished fourth. Four months earlier, Dornoch had beaten Sierra Leone by a nose at the Remsen. Dornoch is coming off a 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on May 4. Trainer: Danny Gargan. Jockey: Luis Saez, who rode Belmont winner Essential Quality in 2021. Record: 7-3-2-0. Earnings: $552,275. Pedigree: Puca by Good Magic.
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Post position 7: Protective 20-1
A victory in the Belmont Stakes would be Protective’s first race win. The colt ran third in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial on April 6 and third in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes on May 5 in his graded-stakes outings. Trainer: Todd Pletcher, who saddled Belmont winners Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013, Tapwrit in 2017 and Mo Donegal in 2022. Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione. Record: 4-0-1-2. Earnings: $121,920. Pedigree: Grace Hall by Medaglia D’Oro.
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Post Position 8: Honor Marie 12-1
The colt’s two 2-year-old wins include the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. As a 3-year-old, Honor Marie had to run hard to come in fifth in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 17, had a runner-up finish by 1 length to Catching Freedom in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 23 as both made strong stretch runs and made up ground at the end to come in eighth at the Kentucky Derby on May 4. Trainer: Whit Beckman. Jockey: Ben Curtis. Record: 6-2-2-0. Earnings: $526,175. Pedigree: Dame Marie by Honor Code.
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Post Position 9: Sierra Leone 9-5
Sierra Leone’s only losses have come by a nose -- to Dornoch at the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes on Dec. 2 and to Mystik Dan at the Kentucky Derby on May 4. The stretch-running colt won the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 17 and the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 6. Trainer: Chad Brown. Jockey: Tyler Gafflione. Record: 5-3-2-0. Earnings: $1,918,000. Pedigree: Heavenly Love by Gun Runner.
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Post Position 10: Mindframe 7-2
Mindframe didn’t make his debut until March 30, but the colt roared to a 13.75-length victory at Gulfstream Park. His second race came on Kentucky Derby day at Churchill Downs, and Mindframe posted a wire-to-wire 7.5-length victory in an allowance race. Trainer: Todd Pletcher, who saddled Belmont winners Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013, Tapwrit in 2017 and Mo Donegal in 2022. Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Belmont winners Creator in 2016 and Mo Donegal in 2022. Record: 2-2-0-0. Earnings: $87,360. Pedigree: Walk Of Stars by Constitution.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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