Belmont Stakes: Tacitus is Our Pick

The Belmont Stakes is coming up at 6:37 p.m. Eastern, and we find it hard to see a horse other  than Tacitus or War of Will winning the race.

That view is based on their strong performances in Triple Crown races and their overall records. compared with today's rivals.

We like Tacitus to win because he seems better suited than War of Will to today's 1 1/2 mile distance--with War of Will finishing second.

We like Tax, Sir Winston, Everfast and Master Fencer for use in the second spot in exacta part wheels and in deeper exotic bets.

Predicted finish:

1 Tacitus (10)

2 War of Will (9)

3 Tax (4)]

4 Sir Winston (7)
5 Everfast  (2)

Belmont Coverage on the Way

Scheduled post  time is   6:37 p.m. for today‘s Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The Grade 1 race is 1 ½ miles on dirt and is the third leg of the Triple Crown for 3-year-olds

The track is listed as fast and the forecasts  for this  afternoon are  for a zero percent chance of rain.

We will previews and race coverage  this afternoon and evening on  this  blog.

A list of entrants follows, with post positions,  morning  line odds  and trainer-jockey combinations.

1Joevia, 30-1, Greg Sacco-Jose Lezcan0

2 Everfast, 12-1, Dale Romans-Luis Saez

3 Master Fencer, 8-1, Koichi Tsunoda-Julien Leparoux

4 Tax, 15-1, Danny Gargan-Irad Ortiz Jr.

5 Bourbon War, 12-1,  Mark Hennig-Mike Smith

6 Spinoff, 15-1, Todd Pletcher-Javier Castellano

7 Sir Winston, 12-1, Mark Casse-Joel Rosario

8 Intrepid Heart, 10-1, Todd Pletcher-John Velazquez

9 War of Will, 2-1, Mark Casse-Tyler Gaffalione

10 Tacitus, 9-5, Bill Mott-Jose Ortiz

Scheduled post  time is   6:37 p.m. for today‘s Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The Grade 1 race is 1 ½ miles on dirt and is the third leg of the Triple Crown for 3-year-olds

The track is listed as fast and the forecasts  for this  afternoon are  for a zero percent chance of rain.

We will previews and race coverage  this afternoon and evening on  this  blog.

A list of entrants follows, with post positions,  morning  line odds  and trainer-jockey combinations.

1Joevia, 30-1, Greg Sacco-Jose Lezcan0

2 Everfast, 12-1, Dale Romans-Luis Saez

3 Master Fencer, 8-1, Koichi Tsunoda-Julien Leparoux

4 Tax, 15-1, Danny Gargan-Irad Ortiz Jr.

5 Bourbon War, 12-1,  Mark Hennig-Mike Smith

6 Spinoff, 15-1, Todd Pletcher-Javier Castellano

7 Sir Winston, 12-1, Mark Casse-Joel Rosario

8 Intrepid Heart, 10-1, Todd Pletcher-John Velazquez

9 War of Will, 2-1, Mark Casse-Tyler Gaffalione

10 Tacitus, 9-5, Bill Mott-Jose Ortiz

Gulfstream's Saturday; 12:35 Post, 12 Races

Gulfstream Park plans a 12:35 first post today, as it enters day 41 of the Spring-Summer meet.

There is one stakes races listed. It’s the Soldier’s Dancer Stakes, in race 10 – a $100,000 Florida-bred 3 year-old on the turf course at 1-1/16 miles.
The co-favorites on this race are Galleon Mast and Jay’s Way, both at 2:1 ML odds. Plan on a 5:15 PM Post.
One snag weather-wise is the 60%+ chance of rain with thunderstorms during racing hours. That weather led to 3 off-turf races on Friday. That could change the complexion of the day for bettors and on-site fans also.


In Friday’s racing action, 59 starters ran 9 races, with four favorites entering the winners circle. With the rain and sloppy-sealed track after race 4, surprisingly no long-odds horses won. No wining horse was higher than 2.7:1, which watered down the payouts a lot. 

Here are Friday’s late race payouts.

Late Pick 4 paid: $70.25
Late Pick 5 paid: $286.45
Rainbow 6 paid: $706.80 to about 166 winners.
The Rainbow 6 pool was $212,607.


Carryovers:
The sole carryover is the Rainbow 6 (Pick 6) wager, at $2,146,645 to be run about 3:40 PM with race #7.

Good Luck, and stay dry!

Gulfstream Ffriday Preview

Friday, June 7—Gulfstream  Park  has a nine-race card today with first post at  2:15  p.m.

That will be  the first post time at Gulfstream on “twilight racing” Fridays  through Aug. 30.

Today’s card has a Rainbow 6 carryover that is 41 race  days old and has grown to $2,095,630.

The  Rainbow  6,  a  20-cent  per combination only  bet, is on  races  four  through nine  with the  sequence  scheduled to start  at  3:52 p.m.

The featured seventh race is the $75,000 Portofino Bay Stakes at 7 ½  furlongs on turf for 3-year-old fillies.

As part of its regular simulcast menu, Gulfstream will have today’s Belmont Park card which includes five stakes races.

Gulfstream will simulcast Saturday’s Belmont Park  card with the Belmont Stakes (Grade 1) and nine  other  stakes  races.  Scheduled post  for the Belmont Stakes is  6:37  p.m. Eastern.