Belmont Day

Heavy rain in New York, wet track... maybe sloppy by race time. Animal Kingdom (Derby winner) and Shackleford (Preakness winner) are entered. An interesting fact: for the first time EVER, the first SEVEN finishers in the Derby are entered, among them the guy I've liked all season, Mucho Macho Man.

Belmont is the ONLY 1-1/2 mile track in the country. There are 4-5 mile and a half races each year and three of those are at Belmont (one was yesterday.)

The Breeders Cup Marathon is one and three-fourths miles!

And in today's race, I'm going to go with Animal Kingdom because he has been a strong runner after a mile. He didn't like all the dirt in his face in the Preakness... he's gonna HATE mud in his face today, so he'd better be close to the front. Even with a good trip, I don't think Shackleford can go the mile and a half. So my second place horse is Master of Hounds. Another horse I'm placing in the top 4 is Nehro even though he seems to spend a lot of energy fighting his jockey rather than concentrating on running. MMM is questionable since he seems to have a "problem" every race. I love his name and if he can manage to keep his shoes on... well who knows. (Maybe his people should run him shoeless on all 4 feet!)

IF today's race goes the way the ENTIRE rest of the season has, the winner will be someone who has NOT won anything worth mentioning so far this year!

UPDATE (post race)
I refer you to the last paragraph above. Fourteen 3 year old stakes races, THIRTEEN DIFFERENT winners.
Kudos to Ruler on Ice! (Stay Thirsty was 2nd with Brilliant Speed 3rd.)
This was Ruler's FIRST graded stakes victory and the FIRST time ever a gelding has won the Belmont. Ruler has run in 7 races, on 7 different tracks, at 6 different distances. Talented kid!
The horses I liked finished:
Nehro, 4th
Shackleford, 5th
Animal Kingdom, 6th
Mucho Macho Man, 7th
and Master of Hounds, 10th
And once again, MY horses are all clumped together... just not in front.

On to the Breeders Cup!