Belmont 2012 Predictions: I'll Have Another Will Make History with Dramatic Win

It has been 34 years since Affirmed won the Triple Crown, and horse racing will finally have another thoroughbred achieve the sport’s highest honor.

Mario Gutierrez and I’ll Have Another proved that they have the poise and heart to beat out the field at the one and one-half mile track at Belmont Park.

The horse’s first two wins at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes were full of drama.

In both races, I’ll Have Another hung back behind favored Bodemeister and then made its move at the perfect time to beat out Bob Baffert’s horse down the stretch. 

While Bodemeister is not racing at the Belmont Stakes, Baffert’s other horse, Paynter, will be. The colt is receiving 8-1 odds to win.

Other serious challengers will be Dullahan, who finished third at the Derby and is at 5-1 odds, and Union Rags at 6-1 odds.

To pull off this victory, I’ll Have Another will have to beat history as well as the other horses.

Since Affirmed’s win in 1978, 11 horses have won the Derby and the Preakness only to fail at Belmont. Recently, Smarty Jones came extremely close but finished second in New York in 2004.

Whether it is the fatigue from the earlier races or the longer track at Belmont Park, horses that win the first two races have a very difficult time with the third leg of the Triple Crown.

But I’ll Have Another will be different. What makes this horse special is the connection with Gutierrez.

The horse and its rider have a special chemistry that made the epic finishes in Kentucky and Maryland possible. Gutierrez has a seemingly supernatural connection with I’ll Have Another that allowed him to push the colt at exactly the right time. 

This partnership will be even more important at Belmont than it was in the first two legs because of the added length. The Derby is on a one and one-quarter mile track, and the Preakness is on a one and three-sixteenths mile track.

It will be much easier for horses to burn out trying grab an early lead, and the late-charging contenders will have a big advantage.

No one has proved to be better at surging late than I’ll Have Another, and that is why the horse will make history on June 9 in New York.