Belmont Stakes 2016 Post Positions: Slot Info, Predictions for Finishing Order

Exaggerator will look to follow up his win at Preakness on Saturday when he competes in the 2016 Belmont Stakes.

The colt will start from Post 11 in the 148th running of the prestigious race, and while Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist will not be running, he could face stiff competition from the likes of Stradivari and Cherry Wine.

His post has produced just two winners in the past, which could be a concern for prospective bettors.

Here are the post positions for the entire field, complete with a breakdown of winners by slot and predictions for where each horse will finish:

Post	Horse	Past Winners	Predicted Finish
1	Governor Malibu	23	6th place
2	Destin	11	4th place
3	Cherry Wine	13	3rd place
4	Suddenbreakingnews	9	5th place
5	Stradivari	13	1st place
6	Gettysburg	7	10th place
7	Seeking The Soul	11	9th place
8	Forever d'Oro	5	11th place
9	Trojan Nation	3	13th place
10	Lani	2	12th place
11	Exaggerator	2	2nd place
12	Brody's Cause	0	7th place
13	Creator	0	8th place

Exaggerator will have to contend with a significantly larger field than American Pharoah did last year, as the Triple Crown champion was one of just eight horses to compete.

Per the Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman, that will not be the case this year:

At the Preakness, Exaggerator came from behind to top a similarly large field of 11, per NBC Sports:

After winning it by 3 ½ lengths—and having showed his endurance in poor conditions at the Santa Anita Derby in April, in which he powered home by 6 ½ lengths—big things will be expected from him on Saturday.

Despite starting on the outside, jockey Kent Desormeaux was delighted with the draw. Per Alicia Wincze Hughes of the Lexington Herald Leader, he said: "I think it’s a wonderful post position. I can’t see any horses that will cross over on him. (We should be) able to establish position, preferably, without getting a grain of sand in his face."

However, Exaggerator and Lani are the only horses running at Belmont who also ran in both the Derby and Preakness—over 1 ½ miles, fatigue could become a factor with the rest of the field being much fresher.

There are a number of horses who could cause problems—most likely the aforementioned Cherry Wine and Stradivari, who finished second and fourth at Preakness, respectively.

DRF's Mike Welsch has been impressed with both in training:

Meanwhile, even more fresh will be the likes of Destin and Suddenbreakingnews, who featured at Kentucky but skipped Preakness. Per Privman, a healthy proportion of recent winners at Belmont have followed a similar path:

Per Wincze Hughes, two-time Belmont winner Todd Pletcher, trainer to both Stradivari and Destin, said:

"

I think Stradivari and Destin are horses that have natural positional speed and that in a race like this, where you wouldn’t think too many horses will be gunning away from there, they’ll both be in prominent stalking positions. I think Destin ran a sneaky good race in the Derby. He didn’t get away from the gate the way we wanted to. He had to work to get to the top of the stretch in the position that we’d hoped he would have naturally already been in so … he wasn’t beaten badly and he’s trained well since then.

Stradivari I think you could make the case he was behind schedule a little bit heading into the Preakness and a race like that could move him forward. They’ve both shown that on their days they are capable of running with the best of this crop.

"

Exaggerator is still more than capable of winning on Saturday—particularly if the conditions are sloppy as they were at Preakness and the Santa Anita—and he should be in contention regardless.

However, with the majority of his main rivals enjoying far more favourable post positions and likely to have fresher legs, victory at Belmont Park may be just beyond his reach.