Belmont Stakes 2012 Odds: Top Closers to Watch as They Come to the Wire

The 2012 Belmont Stakes won't be the same without I'll Have Another, but his absence opens the door for Union Rags and a couple other top closers to take this year's third Triple Crown race.

It's going to take a strong finish down the stretch for any colt to win at Belmont Field. The mile-and-a-half track is a brutal test that requires fortitude, endurance and will to overcome, and many horses will fall behind down as the leaders come to the wire at the end.

Here are the top three horses to watch for at the end of today's race.

Union Rags

Union Rags failed to perform up to expectations at this year's Kentucky Derby after getting trapped at the back of the massive field at Churchill Downs. That being said, the colt still managed to kick it into high gear at the end and finished in seventh place. 

Trainer Michael Matz recently talked with reporters about his colt's chances to win at Belmont. Alicia Wincze Hughes of McClatchy Newspapers reported the story, via the Boston Herald:

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His second and third dam were 1{-mile horses, so I think that’s where he gets the distance from. He is a big horse with a long stride that covers the ground easy. But we don’t know (about the distance). No one knows.

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Union Rags has an excellent opportunity to win this race. He has a nice burst at the end, and he'll be one of the horses I'll be watching for at the end.

Dullahan

After it became known that I'll Have Another was being scratched from this race, Dullahan became the odd-on favorite to win the race, according to ABCNews.com. He is well-rested after skipping the Preakness, and his third-place finish behind I'll Have Another and Bodemeister at the Kentucky Derby shows he has the closing speed to make this race interesting at the end.

Even I'll Have Another's trainer, Doug O'Neill, believes that Dullahan will win the race. And he plans on putting his money where his mouth is by betting on him, according to the above-mentioned report.

Paynter

After Bodemeister failed to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown, trainer Bob Baffert decided it was time to bring in Paynter to try and win at Belmont. Paynter is a colt who has won twice already this year.

Baffert told reporters that, "He’s [Paynter] the kind of horse, a very lightly raced horse, that needs to get away from there well and get into a groove," according to the AP. If Paynter does manage to break clean at the start, he has a chance to pull off a bit of an upset by riding his fresh legs to victory.

Here are the latest odds for every horse, according to BelmontStakes.org:

Horse	Odds
Atigun	24/1
Dullahan	9/5
Five Sixteen	50/1
Guyana Star Dweej	60/1
Optimizer	16/1
Paynter	9/2
Street Life	17/2
Union Rags	11/5
Unstoppable U	21/1
Ravelo's Boy	40/1
My Adonis	20/1

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