Belmont Stakes Odds 2016: Latest Vegas Betting Lines for Belmont Field

There will not be a Triple Crown winner this year, but Exaggerator still has a chance to win his second major race in a row Saturday at the 2016 Belmont Stakes.

He enters the race as the overwhelming favorite thanks to his impressive showings at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but also because of the absence of Nyquist, the Triple Crown favorite a month ago.

Nyquist is out because of a high white blood cell count, and he remained at Pimlico Race Course until June 5 before flying back home to Santa Anita, California, per Steve Andersen of Daily Racing Form (via ESPN.com). 

Key competitors from the Preakness, such as Cherry Wine and Stradivari, are expected to return for the Belmont Stakes, so Exaggerator will have to be in top form to win again.

Here are the latest odds for each contender, according to Odds Shark.

Horse	Trainer	Odds
Exaggerator	Keith Desormeaux	11-10
Suddenbreakingnews	Donnie Von Hemel	13-2
Cherry Wine	Dale Romans	15-2
Stradivari	Todd Pletcher	15-2
Destin	Todd Pletcher	10-1
Brody's Cause	Dale Romans	12-1
Lani	Mikio Matsunaga	12-1
Unified	James A. Jerkens	14-1
Creator	Steve Asmussen	20-1

Based on these projections, it would be shocking if Exaggerator failed to beat the field to the finish line.

In his previous two races, the horse appeared to sit back before making blistering runs down the stretch. He was close but unable to catch Nyquist at the Derby, though he overtook him to win the Preakness. 

With Belmont being the longest track of the three at 1 ½ miles, Exaggerator's team will want to make sure he avoids getting heavy legs by the final turn, per his trainer, Keith Desormeaux (via Jonathan Lintner of the Courier-Journal):

"

It doesn’t matter if we’re two off the lead or 20 off the lead as long as Exaggerator is comfortable. If he’s comfortable for the first half, three quarters of the race, then it doesn’t matter if it’s a slow pace or not. He’s got a tremendous kick, and that tremendous kick can only be realized by his comfort level in the first part of the race. ...

After all these starts, he finally realizes exactly what we’re asking him to do. We’re not asking him to blow away from there from the gate and run as fast as he can. We want him to settle and finish, and that’s very hard to do.

"

The settle-in-then-explode strategy should be effective on a long Belmont track.

Stradivari entered the Preakness as a wild card because of his limited experience, and he performed well. He was among the leaders before falling to fourth. Todd Pletcher, Stradivari's trainer, is confident the horse will be a contender Saturday, per Daily Racing Form's David Grening (via ESPN.com).

"I think he could potentially be the pacesetter," Pletcher said. "If not, he's going to be forwardly placed. The key is if he'll just turn off a little bit and get into a comfortable rhythm. We feel like he'll keep galloping."

Cherry Wine placed third at the Preakness, and he has looked great in practice at Belmont, according to Daily Racing Form's Mike Welsch:

Exaggerator is obviously the best horse in this race, and his style paired with the length of the course creates a great opportunity for him to thrive. As a result, the horse could end up winning comfortably on Saturday.