Belmont Stakes 2013: Why Oxbow, Not Orb, Should Be Favored To Win

After the post position draw on Wednesday, Orb was announced as the favorite to win the 2013 Belmont Stakes, according to ESPNNews. However, Oxbow has a better chance of winning the final leg of the Triple Crown:

The race known as "The Test of Champions" is a mile-and-a-half long and requires an incredible amount of endurance to win. 

The draw didn't put any of the favorites in a bad spot, as you can see, thanks to Belmont Stakes on Twitter:

Here's a more detailed look at where every horse will start, along with information about their jockeys, trainers and odds.

Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Odds
1	Frac Daddy	Alan Garcia	Ken McPeek	30-1
2	Freedom Child	Luis Saez	Tom Albertrani	8-1
3	Overanalyze	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	12-1
4	Giant Finish	Edgar Prado	Anthony Dutrow	30-1
5	Orb	Joel Rosario	Shug McGaughey	3-1
6	Incognito	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Kiaran McLaughlin	20-1
7	Oxbow	Gary Stevens	D. Wayne Lukas	5-1
8	Midnight Taboo	Garrett Gomez	Todd Pletcher	30-1
9	Revolutionary	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	9-2
10	Will Take Charge	Jon Court	D. Wayne Lukas	20-1
11	Vyjack	Julien Leparoux	Rudy Rodriguez	20-1
12	Palace Malice	Mike Smith	Todd Pletcher	15-1
13	Unlimited Budget	Rosie Napravnik	Todd Pletcher	8-1
14	Golden Soul	Robby Albarado	Dallas Stewart	10-1

Odds courtesy of BelmontStakes.com as of 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, June 5.

As you can see, Oxbow doesn't even have the second-best odds to win. Oddsmakers give Revolutionary a slight edge over Oxbow and Orb is clearly the horse favored to win.

There's rain in the forecast on Friday and Saturday (h/t Weather.com). So there's a good chance the track will be rather sloppy. Given Orb's success at Churchill Downs under similar conditions, it's logical to think the horse will have a nice run at Belmont Park.

Oxbow's wire-to-wire victory at the Preakness was impressive, but that was the shortest of the three Triple Crown races at 9.5 furlongs (one-and-three-sixteenths of a mile). Winning that race isn't necessarily a good indication of how Oxbow would do at Belmont.

That said, Oxbow possesses an excellent pedigree for such a long race.

Oxbow hails from two legendary horses—Man 'o War and Seattle Slew. Both won the Belmont and, after watching Oxbow win from start to finish at the Preakness, it's clear he has outstanding speed to go along with the endurance that comes from these two Triple Crown winners.

In addition to Oxbow's incredible pedigree, the horse drew an extremely favorable post. Horses starting from the No. 7 post have won three of the last six Belmont Stakes.

Finally, Oxbow's jockey/trainer combo of Hall of Famers Gary Stevens and D. Wayne Lukas is a factor that can't be discounted. Between the two, these men have been involved in 23 Triple Crown victories.

In the game of age before beauty, Stevens and Lukas are ahead of the pack by a wide margin. 

Oxbow isn't the favorite to win but should be. By the end of the 145th running of the Belmont Stakes, Stevens and Oxbow will prove this point with an emphatic win.

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