2015 Belmont Stakes: Post Time, NBC Race Schedule, Entry Field, Post Positions

Apart from the odds, everything else about the 2015 Belmont Stakes is set after the post position drawings. Assuming no last-minute scratches, we'll have an eight-horse field racing in a potentially historic final leg of the Triple Crown.  

All eyes will be on Bob Baffert's American Pharoah, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner. However, while the oddsmakers have Pharoah as a significant favorite, the horse will run a race that's stacked against him, with seven fresh competitors and one of the deeper Triple Crown fields in recent memory.

Taking a look at the full field and NBC television coverage, let's outline the biggest storylines facing the Belmont's top draw and his challengers.

Race Schedule and Field

Date: Saturday, June 6

Where: Belmont Park in Elmont, New York

TV Time: 2:30-4:30 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Network), 4:30-7 p.m. ET (NBC)

Post Time: 6:50 p.m. ET

Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra

Post Position	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Odds
1	Mubtaahij	Michael De Kock	Irad Ortiz Jr.	14-1
2	Tale of Verve	Dallas Stewart	Gary Stevens	20-1
3	Madefromlucky	Todd Pletcher	Javier Castellano	16-1
4	Frammento	Nick Zito	Mike Smith	40-1
5	American Pharoah	Bob Baffert	Victor Espinoza	2-3
6	Frosted	Kiaran McLaughlin	Joel Rosario	6-1
7	Keen Ice	Dale Romans	Kent Desormeaux	25-1
8	Materiality	Todd Pletcher	John Velazquez	13-2

Race Preview

Is Pharoah Built to Win?

No one doubts American Pharoah is the best three-year-old thoroughbred in the world, especially after his strong finishing kicks on a pair of slow tracks in the first two legs. Indeed, with an undefeated record in six career graded stakes races, a healthy Pharoah would be a deserved overwhelming favorite at the 1 ½-mile race track.

Of course, therein lies the rub, as there are very real questions as to whether a horse, even one as fit as a Triple Crown thoroughbred, is physiologically capable of running three intense races over a five-week period. Pharoah just recently began running at the Belmont after a post-Pimlico layoff, and from all indications, observers are impressed with his pre-race form:

However, even though Yahoo's Pat Forde tweeted out that ostensibly encouraging sign, even he believes Pharoah's odds are fool's gold, as the Belmont has traditionally been the most unpredictable of all of the Triple Crown legs:

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The favorite hasn't won in a decade, and has won just twice since 1995. Seven times this century, the winner has been a double-digit-odds long shot. Three times this century, the winner's odds have been 36-1 or higher.

Thirteen times since 1978, the Derby and Preakness winner has swaggered into New York with an aura of seeming invincibility...two-thirds of them haven't even finished in the top two. There have been four second-place finishes, four in third, two in fourth, one in seventh, one DNF (Big Brown) and one pre-race scratch (I'll Have Another).

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As the only horse to run every Triple Crown race, even the longest shots in the field have a health advantage over Pharoah. Baffert's horse has been built to dominate thus far, but 37 years of history provide plenty of skepticism as to whether or not he's built to last.

Who Can Dethrone Pharoah?

Garry Jones/Associated Press

Taking the field over Pharoah isn't necessarily a bold choice, but it's harder to zero in on a single horse. Kiaran McLaughlin's Frosted has been the second favorite over the past three weeks. The Derby's fourth-place finisher has just one career graded stakes win in five starts, but as Regal Bloodlines illustrates, his pedigree suggests a horse with the stamina and closing speed perfectly suited for Belmont:

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Now Frosted is rested after skipping the Preakness, and is a dangerous horse, who is very capable of breaking up American Pharoah’s Triple Crown bid. Although some may consider him a closer, he is not a deep closer, and has the tactical speed to stay in touch with the field...while his trainer may not want to see him on the lead in the Belmont Stakes, he can be forwardly placed in the race and try to make a move on the leaders heading into his stretch run. This racing style can lead to running a winning Belmont Stakes.

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Apart from Frosted, a pair of Todd Pletcher horses, Materiality and Madefromlucky, are legitimate dark horses to win the race. In fact, based on closing speed at the Belmont, just two horses in the Belmont field trumped Frosted at Churchill Downs:

None of that necessarily guarantees success at Belmont, of course, where the early pace will determine which horses can have a legitimate chance at the finish. Pharoah has stayed near the pace at both legs before pulling away down the stretch, but that strategy could leave the tired horse vulnerable.

Apart from Pharoah, six of the seven other horses in the field raced at the Derby before skipping the Preakness, with Madefromlucky the lone exception. Consequently, this is as talented of a Belmont field as we've seen in years, which could allow a secondary contender like Mubtaahij or Materiality to surprise the Pharoah-Frosted duo and lengthen the Triple Crown drought to 38 years.