[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by LITF

He certainly can win The Belmont but I won't be betting him to do so. I'll take Wicked Strong with a clean trip, which he should get with a smaller field and wider turns. Danza is a serious threat, as well. Tonalist, too. Samraat is interesting. The field in The Belmont will be much stronger than todays race, which really only had one interesting horse outside of the favorite, and he was washed out, went nuts in the gate, moved too early and had missed some training leading up to the race. Still, I thought he ran his nuts off to be third. Ride on Curlin, while a nice horse, will have to run even better than he did today just to hit the board in The Belmont. In fact, I think The Belmont will be a much more competitive race than even the derby was. Certainly it will prove more difficult than the Preakness. It wouldn't surprise me if Chrome didn't even hit the board.

With that said, I don't think it matters whether or not Chrome wins. ****, he could run last. He could split the field. He could even jump off the track, wrap his hooves around some woman's stomach in the grandstand as she's choking on a hot dog, give her the heimlich, hop back onto the track and win by open lengths and it wouldn't matter much. That card is going to be insane and to end it with a possible triple crown is going to be so much fun. I can't remember being so excited for a card. It's going to be an awesome day in three weeks. I can't wait. Hopefully the "industry leaders" can somehow, someway, find a way to market such a fantastic day. If horse racing can't flourish on this Saturday in three weeks than there really is no hope for a future for a sport that had once been referred to in the same breath as Kings.

I agree with you 100%. The Belmont will be a 10x tougher field than the Preakness. It's not always like that. There have been years where the Preakness was the stronger field. But this year it is no contest. The Belmont will be a much tougher field.