2018 Belmont Stakes Odds: Bettors Should Expect Competitive Field for Justify

The third jewel of the Triple Crown is the most difficult to win, with 23 horses previously finishing first in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes only to come up short in the Belmont Stakes.

Justify will be attempting to avoid that scenario on Saturday at Belmont Park and instead become the 13th Triple Crown winner as the -125 favorite (bet $125 to win $100) on the 2018 Belmont Stakes odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark in a competitive field.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has been in this position recently, as his horse American Pharoah won the Triple Crown just three years ago at Belmont, becoming the 12th horse ever to earn that rare honor. Before that, Affirmed was the previous horse to win it back in 1978, one year after Seattle Slew accomplished the feat.

The big question is, does Baffert's latest contender, Justify, have enough in the tank to pull it off this year?

Justify had a close call in the Preakness Stakes three weeks ago, edging Bravazo by a half-length and Tenfold by a bit more than that en route to the victory on a sloppy track. Bravazo and Tenfold will get a rematch in the Belmont, and they are sitting as the +700 (bet $100 to win $700) and +1000 third and fifth choices on the board, respectively.

Bravazo is expected to be the only other horse in the Belmont Stakes field besides Justify who also participated in the first two Triple Crown races. He will try to become the first Belmont winner for legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas since Commendable in 2000.

The 82-year-old Lukas is tied with the 65-year-old Baffert for the most Triple Crown race wins of any trainer (14), as the latter moved into a deadlock for the all-time lead with Justify's victory in the Preakness. However, Baffert has won the Belmont just twice in his career compared to the Kentucky Derby (five) and Preakness (seven).

A few other top contenders in the Belmont did not run in the Preakness, including +400 second choice Hofburg, who finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby. Vino Rosso is another notable horse who fits that criteria, and he is listed as the +800 fourth choice.

For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week's top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.