6/8 (BEL) 145th Belmont Stakes: Field at 14 as 'Tiz' passes

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by Kasept

5/18: PREAKNESS

Orb (Shug McGaughey/Joel Rosario) Kentucky Derby, 1st
Normandy Invasion (Chad Brown Javier Castellano) Kentucky Derby, 4th
Mylute (Tom Amoss Rosie Napravnik) Kentucky Derby, 5th
Oxbow (D. Wayne Lukas/Gary Stevens) Kentucky Derby, 6th
Will Take Charge (D. Wayne Lukas/Jon Court) Kentucky Derby, 8th
Itsmyluckyday (Eddie Plesa Jr. Elvis Trujillo) Kentucky Derby, 15th
Goldencents (Doug O'Neill/Kevin Krigger) Kentucky Derby, 17th
Vyjack (Rudy Rodriguez/Garrett Gomez) Kentucky Derby, 18th
Govenor Charlie (Bob Baffert Martin Garcia) Sunland Derby, 1st
Departing (Al Stall Jr./Brian Hernandez Jr.) Illinois Derby, 1st
Street Spice (Greg Geier/Jeffrey Sanchez) Illinois Derby, 5th
Titletown Five (D. Wayne Lukas/TBA) Derby Trial, 5th

In Departing vs. Orb, not only do you have the Claiborne/Phipps/Janney angle, but you've got the Illinois Derby winner vs. the KY Derby winner who coincidentally had the most Derby points going into the race if memory serves. Like anybody, I want a TC winner and it's the right horse, breeding and connections for the history books, but if we sadly end up Crown-less for another year, it might have the positive effect of forcing them to put the Illinois Derby in the points system however much Churchill despises Hawthorne.