Belmont Stakes Field 2015: Final Outlook for Undercard, Stakes Lineup at Elmont
All eyes will be on American Pharoah at the Belmont Stakes, but there is an entire day's worth of action set up for Saturday in Elmont, New York.
The third leg of the Triple Crown is the 11th of 13 races and clearly the main event of the weekend. However, there is a lot of money to be made in the other races from the owners and trainers as well as the smarter bettors who are avoiding the more public races.
With six Grade 1 events and a bunch of well-known competitors throughout the day, there will be a lot more to watch than just one well-known race.
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| 1 | 11:35 a.m. | Winston Farm Easy Goer | Dirt | 1-1/16 m | $150,000 |
| 2 | 12:07 p.m. | - | Dirt | 1-1/16 m | $90,000 |
| 3 | 12:39 p.m. | Woody Stephens | Dirt | 7 furlongs | $500,000 |
| 4 | 1:15 p.m. | Jaipur Invitational | Turf | 6 furlongs | $300,000 |
| 5 | 1:52 p.m. | Ogden Phipps | Dirt | 1-1/16 m | $1,000,000 |
| 6 | 2:34 p.m. | Brooklyn Invitational | Dirt | 1-1/2 m | $400,000 |
| 7 | 3:15 p.m. | Acorn | Dirt | 1 m | $750,000 |
| 8 | 4:00 p.m. | Longines Just a Game | Turf | 1 m | $700,000 |
| 9 | 4:49 p.m. | NYRA.com Metropolitan | Dirt | 1 m | $1,250,000 |
| 10 | 5:46 p.m. | Knob Creek Manhattan | Turf | 1-1/4 m | $1,000,000 |
| 11 | 6:50 p.m. | Belmont Stakes | Dirt | 1-1/2 m | $1,500,000 |
| 12 | 7:38 p.m. | - | Turf | 1-1/8 m | $96,000 |
| 13 | 8:12 p.m. | - | Dirt | 7 furlongs | $96,000 |
One of the more interesting races aside from the main event is the one that has the second-largest purse. The NYRA.com Metropolitan Stakes has a prize pool of $1.25 million and includes some successful four-year-old horses, as noted by Dan Wolken of USA Today:
Tonalist was last year's Triple Crown spoiler, upsetting California Chrome and winning the 2014 Belmont Stakes. While the thoroughbred has been inconsistent since that point, he always seems to come through on this race track.
With wins at the Peter Pan Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup and Westchester Stakes, Tonalist is undefeated in four races. This is incredible considering he has only one other win in six starts on other tracks.
Meanwhile, Bayern was another horse many expected to challenge in Triple Crown events last year, but a poor performance at the Preakness Stakes caused trainer Bob Baffert to instead put him in the Woody Stephens Stakes, which he won. This ended up paying off as Bayern went onto win the prestigious Breeders' Cup Classic with a victory over California Chrome.
These horses will challenge for a win along with Wicked Strong and Private Zone in what should be an excellent race.
One of the biggest blowouts could come in the Ogden Phipps Stakes with Untapable coming in as a huge favorite, according to ESPN's Lane Gold:
"Untapable is the overwhelming 2-5 morning line favorite for the Ogden Phipps.
— Lane Gold (@lanegold) June 3, 2015"
The Filly has five career wins at Grade 1 events and will look to win a sixth in an extremely small field. The Kentucky Oaks and Breeders' Cup Distaff winner will only have to outlast five other horses with jockey John Velazquez leading the way.
Wedding Toast has a chance to pull off the upset, but anything other than an Untapable win would represent one of the bigger upsets of the day.
Of course, for most people, these races represent nothing but a way to kill time leading into the real main event.
| 1 | Mubtaahij | Michael De Kock | Irad Ortiz Jr. | 10-1 |
| 2 | Tale of Verve | Dallas Stewart | Gary Stevens | 15-1 |
| 3 | Madefromlucky | Todd Pletcher | Javier Castellano | 12-1 |
| 4 | Frammento | Nick Zito | Mike Smith | 30-1 |
| 5 | American Pharoah | Bob Baffert | Victor Espinoza | 3-5 |
| 6 | Frosted | Kiaran McLaughlin | Joel Rosario | 5-1 |
| 7 | Keen Ice | Dale Romans | Kent Desormeaux | 20-1 |
| 8 | Materiality | Todd Pletcher | John Velazquez | 6-1 |
The story for Belmont—as it has been so many times in the past 30 years—is whether American Pharoah can be the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown. He won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in impressive fashion, but winning the final leg always seems to be the toughest part.
Trainer Bob Baffert has been in this position three other times in his career, but he thinks this time could be different, via USA Today:
Victor Espinoza is also familiar with the pressure of going for the Triple Crown. This will be the third time the jockey has won the first two legs of the trio, although he failed to come through the first two attempts.
The question is simply which horse has the ability to beat the favorite. Frosted has the second-best odds going into Saturday, although Materiality is another competitor worth considering when making your bets. Neither finished in the money at the Kentucky Derby, but both will be well-rested Saturday after skipping the Preakness.
Tale of Verve might be one of the top sleepers to look out for after a second-place finish at Pimlico. If he can get out to a good start from the No. 2 post, anything can happen in a long race.
Still, you can be certain plenty of casual racing fans will want to see nothing but an American Pharoah victory to finally complete the Triple Crown after so many years without one.
Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for the latest breaking news and analysis.
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