Belmont Stakes 2012 Post Time: Race Time Heat Will Lead to Slow Pace

The 2012 Belmont Stakes is scheduled to start at 6:40 p.m. ET on NBC, and the undesirable weather conditions will lead to a slow pace for the 11 horses in the field.

Race time temperatures are expected to be in the high 70s, with humidity near 50 percent. The Belmont is the longest of the three Triple Crown races at 1.5 miles, so there will be plenty of time for the horses to tire out on their way to the finish line.

Dullahan, Paynter and Union Rags figure to be the pace-setters at the Belmont. All three possess the raw speed to jump out in front of the field early, but their pace will be slowed by the high temperatures and humidity. The same thing goes for horses that goes for people, when it's really hot, they're going to have a tough time running extremely fast for an extended amount of time.

Dale Romans' horse is the current favorite at 9-5 odds (odds are according to belmontstakes.com), but is going to be running much slower than usual thanks to the temperatures. The wet weather on Long Island as of late is going to make the track slower as well, so we could see a race as slow as we've seen in recent memory.

Dullahan is already going to have a problem, as he relies on his closing ability to win races. If the track is slow, he won't be able to make up as much ground as he could have on a faster track.

Bob Baffert entered Paynter in the race after he pulled Bodemeister out, and the three-year-old colt is extremely fast as well. He was to rely on his speed to blow the competition away early, but now he is at a disadvantage because of the weather.

Paynter has won two of his four races, but none have been of this length. It was going to be hard enough for him to remain in contention for 1.5 miles, and now that the weather conditions are hot and sticky, we could see some fatigue earlier than previously thought. 

Union Rags benefited the most from I'll Have Another's exit. He finished seventh at the Kentucky Derby, and took the Preakness off to get some rest before the Belmont Stakes. He'll be neck and neck with Dullahan at the end of the race. Perhaps more than any horse in the field, Union Rags relies on his speed above all else, so we could see another disappointing finish from the thoroughbred in today's race.

The slow pace will be detrimental to Michael Matz's horse, specifically because he got caught up in the field thanks to a bad post position in the Kentucky Derby. The slow track will allow more horses to stay in the race for a longer amount of time, which could result in Union Rags getting bumped early and often like he did at Churchill Downs.

The 1.5-mile track already hinted that we might see a slowed pace down the stretch, but with the weather expected to be less than ideal, the pace might be even slower than previously though.