Belmont Stakes 2012 Contenders: Race Is Paynter's to Win

With I'll Have Another forced to retire due to injury, the mystique of the 2012 Belmont Stakes has diminished a fair amount, but that won't stop another unknown in Paynter from rising to the occasion.

Before winning this year's Kentucky Derby, I'll Have Another was, well, just another horse in the race. After winning racing's biggest event and then the Preakness, the horse rose to super-stardom. The promising Paynter will replicate the former Triple Crown hopeful's rise to fame with a victory at the Belmont.

While you may just be hearing Paynter's name, his trainer is Hall of Famer Bob Baffert who also coached up Derby and Preakness runner-up Bodemeister.

While the owner of both horses, Ahmed Zayat, would tell you he prefers his more well-known colt, Baffert believes Paynter to be the better of the two. The trainer recently told Alicia Wincze Hughes of the Boston Herald:

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These are two different type of horses but [Paynter] is getting better and better. I think the mile-and-a-half would suit him better than it would Bodemeister.

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While Baffert may have a bit of bias in his opinion, he's not alone in believing his horse could win, with Ron Rippey of the New Jersey Star-Ledger believing Paynter has the best shot, stating:

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Paynter will have an advantage of being able to get to the lead without difficulty, and have jockey Mike Smith slow the pace down...If allowed to have an uncontested lead and perhaps a sloppy track, Paynter could romp by a dozen or more lengths.

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Obviously inexperience could come back to hurt the young colt, but his pedigree should instill confidence in gamblers and fans alike. Paynter's father is none other than Canadian Hall of Fame horse Awesome Again, who dominated the racing circuit back in 1998.

Awesome Again won five races back in '98, including the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap and the year's Breeder's Cup Classic.

It'll be just Paynter's fifth start ever, but lineage and training have led this newcomer into the top five of likeliest horses to take home first place. 

The field of horses may still be in the shadow of I'll Have Another even as the race gets underway, but after Paynter takes home the first place trophy, the horse racing world will have all eyes on this up-and-comer.