Belmont Draw

The day is here, the wait to see who will draw what post. Will I'll Have Another get a good post on his road to possiblity the first TC winner since 1978? Potential spoilers Dullahan and Union Rags where will they be? And of course the ones that actually scare me the most, the new shooters of Street Life, Attigun and Paynter, plus the longshots. While Post Postion for the Belmont doesn't really matter, some may be have helped or hurt by today's draw. Lets take a look at this year's field.

PP	Horse	Jockey	Age/ Sex	Weight	Trainer	Morning Line
1	Street Life	Lezcano	3/C	126	Brown	12/1
2	Unstoppable U	Alvarado	3/C	126	McPeek	30/1
3	Union Rags	Velazquez	3/C	126	Matz	6/1
4	Atigun	Leparoux	3/C	126	McPeek	30/1
5	Dullahan	Castallano	3/C	126	Romans	5/1
6	Ravelo's Boy	Solis	3/C	126	Azpurua	50/1
7	Five Sixteen	Napravnik	3/G	126	Schettino	50/1
8	Guyana Star Dweej	Desermoux	3/C	126	Shivmangeal	50/1
9	Paynter	Smith	3/C	126	Baffert	8/1
10	Optimizer	Nakatani	3/C	126	Lukas	20/1
11	I'll Have Another	Gutterrez	3/C	126	O'Neill	4/5
12	My Adonis	Dominguez	3/C	126	Breen	20/1

 Street Life was third in the Peter Pan in his last, but the Wood Memorial horses have not done well since that race. His trainer Chad Brown did asst. on Empire Maker's 2003 win though so something to keep in mind.

Unstoppable U is undefeated and defeated Guyana Star Dweej in his last, however he is step up in class big time. He also has been having changing lead problems.

Union Rags is the one people say could be the biggest spoiler of them all, he won the Champagne on this track last year and had a trip from h*** in the Derby. Skipped the Preakness to go here, but he is getting a jockey change for the race. The good news is that his new jockey has won the Belmont, but last year's Belmont for him personally draw a line through it.

Atigun won an allowance on Derby day and was 5th in the AR Derby, Kenny McPeek his trainer (and Unstoppable U's) pulled off the biggest Belmont upset of all time in 2002 with Sarava, so don't count him out. He has one of Union Rags' former jocks in the irons.

Dullahan has been training tremendously the past couple of days, Dale Romans spoiled last year's TC in the Preakness and has had success in this race before with a 3rd place finish with a maiden no less. Add in that his big brother was third in this race in 2009. Like Union Rags though, he gets a new jockey and ironicly it's with another one of Union Rags' former jocks. If IHA does not him, do not be suprised if he is the one instead. Even though he's beene training well over the dirt, 0 wins on the surface so far. That may not matter though.

Ravello's Boy is coming off the longest period of rest, but based on his pervious races he doesn't have a chance in here. His jockey on Rock Hard Ten ganged up on Smarty Jones in 2004 (with Eddington and Jerry Bailey) and it almost did not work out. (Smarty was 2nd losing to Birdstone by only a length after losing the lead)

Five Sixteen's sire won the Triple Crown in Uruguay before taking his talents to the US. The issue is he needs to improve big time. While his jockey does move horses up, she can only do it so often. If she can, and something where to happen, she would join Julie Krone as the only two females to win a TC race and become the youngest since Fernarndo Jara when he won on Jazil.

Guyana Star Dweej's sire was 4th in the Belmont in 04, but he was a 2nd place finisher behind Unstoppable U. His jockey has won this race before, but was taken off Dullahan after he failed a breathlyzer the day before the Preakness.


Paynter is the x-factor, he was 4th to IHA in only his second start in the SA Derby. Came back to finish second to Hierro in the Derby Trial and won an allowance on the Preakness undercard. Both Bob Baffert and Mike Smith have won this race before, but both have also had some heartbreaking defeats and bad losses in this race. His dam is a full sister to Tiznow who won over this track in the BC Classic.


Optimizer is the one who should have the least worries about the distance (by a horse who won a mile and a half out of a dam whose sire won the Belmont). The issue is that his race record is bad. Jockey has never won a TC race, and for all three races is next to the pupil of his most famous mount. His trainer also has won this race, but in the past several years has mismanaged horses. 


Post position doesn't really matter for I'll Have Another, afterall he won from Post 19 in the Derby. The question will be how much does he have in the tank. His jockey has never ridden at Belmont (that will change on Friday), will the nerves end up getting the best of him? Not sure.


My Adonis has last year's winning trainer and owner. That is the only thing he has going for him. 


So that is this year's field! I will have my pick posted Saturday morning, but will announce it on the show Friday night.