Belmont Stakes Betalicious lock!!
 

the belmont is this weekend.

Bold Ruler - sire line + Princequillo dams sire line = Secretariat, winner of the Belmont stakes by 31 lenghts.

Bold Ruler - sire line + Princequillo Dams sire line=
STEPPENWOLFER winner of the Belmont stakes ??,
i think he is a single in the tri, at least

Someone remind me of the last dead closer to win the Belmont...

Let's see, who beat Smarty Jones,,,,,,,,,,, Birdstone or something like that and I think we could consider him a closer.

Stppenwolfer And Jazil Will Not Win The Belmont Must Be In A Good Stalking Position And Then Let Them Try To Catch You. I Like Sunriver !!

as would i going by his pedigree and dosage.

"Someone remind me of the last dead closer to win the Belmont..."

Afleet Alex was something of a closer and he won it easily last year. He was sitting well back through the first mile.
I think stalkers and closers have about an equal chance in this race, and the key is just who can get the distance. Aptitude and Wolf Power were both good horses at distances beyond 9 furlongs, so I definitely think Steppenwolfer will run a strong race. He just isn't a horse that wins races however, so I think he'll probably finish second or third.

Afleet Alex...that was a good horse. He was a prince among them last year. He towered over last year's crop of three year olds, and was much the best.

Victory Gallop

Yeah that is true. He was definitely a closer. I think Afleet Alex was a closer too, but for some reason his connections did not realize that until his final two races.
Rose rode that horse in the Derby like he was on Smarty Jones when he should have acted like he was on Strike the Gold. The horse was so classy that he still managed to hit the board, but if he had been allowed to close we probably would have had a TC winner last year.

AA was more of a stalker. If I am remembering correctly he sat a couple (maybe five or six off the pace) during the Belmont. I consider a closer all the way back or one or two from the back.

I agree. He should have an asterik beside his name. He was good enough. His Preakness Stakes move before the incident with Scrappy T was legendary. You will probably hear that a hundred more times from me. I couldn't get enough of that horse last year.

Understand one thing... Steppenwolfer won't HAVE to be a closer here... The decidedly slower fractions up front early allow him to KEEP close.

Pietz hadn't asked the colt for much all along the way through KY, and NOW has him tuned tight. Owners M/M Low would dearly love to get a stallion profile out of Steppenwolfer, and this is their shot. I tend to agree right now with Paul... Steppenwolfer runs a big, big race... (Though I wish there was a different rider aboard...)

If you are looking for angles High Finance is the horse, although I am leaning towards Deputy Glitters.

form today's Haskin article

If you're looking for a horse that is bred to love a mile and a half at Belmont, High Finance's paternal grandsire, Deputy Minister, sired Belmont winner Touch Gold; his paternal great-grandsire, Gone West, sired Belmont winner Commendable; his broodmare sire, Conquistador Cielo, won the Belmont by 14 lengths; and his maternal great-grandsire, Vanlandingham, won the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I).

Ohhhh I love this horse Saturday absolutley love him.

To me Blue grass cat is the one to gun. As for gunning him down. I love Steppen off his last work. I believe that this horse can be set closer the pace. I think and hope that Pietz would ask that of Robby Albarado. But if he lets Robby take control I think it would be a bad thing. He tends to think he is Patient Pat at times laying back and making that one run. Just his style I guess.

Speaking of Bluegrass Cat... he and Sunriver both got their works in this morning. Jazil will not have a final breeze before the Belmont. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin inspected the training track at the same time as Pletcher and decided to cancel Jazil's final Belmont breeze. McLaughlin said Jazil will instead gallop up to the race.

Bluegrass Cat worked five furlongs in 1:01.72, while Sunriver worked the same distance in 1:00.24.

Bluegrass Cat, who has not raced since finishing 6 ½ lengths behind Barbaro in the Derby, worked by himself and was clocked galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.89 and seven furlongs in 1:28.57.

Pletcher maintained the "less is more" approach that he incorporated after Bluegrass Cat finished fourth as the favorite in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on April 15 at Keeneland Race Course in his final prep for the Derby.

"I thought he was well in-hand throughout," Pletcher said. "The one thing we've tried to be conscious of because of the way he worked before the Blue Grass, which was pretty fast, is to try to do a little less with him as opposed to a little more in his works.

"Trying to analyze the Blue Grass is probably the hardest thing you can do training horses, because you don't know if anything really matters other than who handles the surface. He went an easy [half-mile] a week before the Derby and he seemed to respond by running well. Who knows, maybe if he had run somewhere other than Keeneland the fast works would have worked fine."

Sunriver worked in company with Grade 1 winner Adieu in his first breeze since winning the Peter Pan by a neck over Lewis Michael on May 20 at Belmont.

"Sunriver I was a little afraid to work by himself for this big of a race because he's always worked in company," Pletcher said. "We got a little more solid work, which you would expect in a company situation. I thought his Peter Pan was the perfect prep for the Belmont."

Bluegrass Cat and Sunriver were the only Belmont contenders to work at the track on Monday. The final drill for Aqueduct-based High Finance also was postponed until Tuesday.

Thank's for that Info cajun

Couldn't agree with you more. I am leaning towards playing a Deputy Glitters-High Finance-Steppenwolfer ex box and a tri box. I feel comfortable tossing Bluegrass Cat, and the only horse that scares me is Sunriver.

I agree with you here Roses. If you ask me it's a shame he couldnt grab the Derby and I really think he may have if that glorified quarter horse, Spanish Chestnut was not in the race. That and he ran late down the rail, which was dead that afternoon.

Not to mention, the horse had such a great backstory, and so many emotional connections. Call me a sap, but that stuff makes this game great, too!

It was stuff of which movies are made.I loved this horse like no other.His Preakness will forever remain unforgettable.
I finally thought I had his successor in Barbaro and,of course, another tragic dissappointment.Eish there was someone on the horizon to get that excited about.
As for this year's Belmont, I'm thinking High Finance for the reasons mentioned above, but also, Sunriver.Pletcher seems to like him a lot and the Peter Pan could have been a perfect prep for the Belmont.

DG and HF has a real shot at a great price. Love Steppenwolfer to come along for 3rd too.