Belmont Stakes Pace Scenario

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by outofthebox

Boy did Orb blow another opportunity! Final 1/2 in 54 seconds and he flattened out late and couldnt pass the staggering leaders..Calzone was spot on about the pace. Maybe even a 10 out of 10.

Thanks man.

That was solid, but unspectacular Orb at his finest.

Had Orb finished 2nd, I would have selected the exacta cold in the newspaper.

I ended up stabbing with Palace Malice and selected him to win the Belmont in the Erie newspaper: (picks are on right hand side of the link below)

http://www.goerie.com/article/201306...Belmont-Stakes


I wish I had more conviction with Palace Malice. I hated that horse prior to the Derby. So, it was tough to pick him on top in the Belmont Stakes ... and ultimately I only did because he figured to be the biggest price of three Pletcher colts with a look...and when you're doing newspaper picks, you have to pick someone 1st.

It just felt like a race where the good Orb would run 2nd to something that jumps up and the bad Orb would plug on for 3rd.

Anyway, this was a fun triple crown series. It's a very memorable one because the Derby was just about the fastest paced dirt race of the entire year on pace figures. Only one race at Laurel, where a horse totally ran off, is close.

Oxbow and Palace Malice both had ugly backform going into the Derby, but they both ran the race of their life in the Derby, and their heroic performances in the Derby were totally concealed by up the track results, finishing well behind a nobuddy closer like Golden Soul.

Anyway, it should be a very fun Haskell and Travers.