Belmont Stakes 2018 Post Positions: Final Projections, Odds Payout and Post Info

Justify faces the biggest test of his career in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, and if he gets a passing grade in the grueling test of champions at Belmont Park in New York, he will earn the sport's biggest honor.

A win in the 1 ½-mile race would give him the Triple Crown, an honor that will allow him to stand with the greatest thoroughbreds in the history of the sport.

Justify will try to join American Pharoah in winning the Triple Crown this century. American Pharoah broke a 37-year dry spell when he won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in 2015.

Justify, a big, powerful and speedy colt, will start from the No. 1 post Saturday, and he will compete against nine challengers.

Here are the post positions for Saturday's race, along with the odds, according to OddsShark.

1. Justify -110 (wager $110 to win $100)
2. Free Drop Billy +3,000 (wager $100 to win $300)
3. Bravazo +750
4. Hofburg +450
5. Restoring Hope +3,300
6. Gronkowski +2,500
7. Tenfold +1,000
8. Vino Rosso +900
9. Noble Indy +2,800
10. Blended Citizen +1,800

Justify is trained by Bob Baffert, who also prepared American Pharoah for his Triple Crown races. Baffert is one of the most successful trainers in the history of the sport, and if he were to saddle two Triple Crown winners, it would earn him legendary status in the sport of kings.

Baffert has also known disappointment. He has brought three other horses to the Belmont Stakes with a chance to win the Triple Crown, and he failed with them before his successful run with American Pharoah.

Justify got near the front quickly in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. However, if he runs near the front in the Belmont Stakes as he did in those two races, it could prove to be his undoing. The Belmont's distance is a factor for all horses, and stamina and saving ground during the race are two huge details.

Justify's jockey, Mike Smith, may want to break quickly to avoid traffic at the start of the race, but he could settle behind the leaders shortly after that to preserve Justify's ability to give it his all around the far turn and then run down the stretch with a purpose.

However, if he engages in a speed duel in the first half of the race, it would almost certainly cause huge problems for him.

Baffert knows his horse will be a crowd favorite, as Justify has gotten a huge reaction from fans every time he steps on to race tracks. Justify has five wins in his five career starts.

"I was just surprised on how well he handled the atmosphere at the Derby with the crowd, how he handled it at the Preakness because every time he shows up people start yelling and screaming, and he just looks at them like, 'Thank you,'" Baffert said, per the Associated Press (h/t USA Today). "Once he enters the building, it'll be like Elvis."

Prediction

Baffert and Smith know how treacherous the 1 ½-mile race can be for even the best horses. They must give Justify a chance to win by allowing him to preserve his strength.

The combination of Baffert and Smith may be the top trainer-jockey duo in the sport. They will not allow their charge to begin his run too early.

Look for Justify to get off to a quick start in an effort to avoid traffic out of the gate. He will allow Bravazo to get to the front, and look for that horse to keep the lead until the top of the stretch.

That's when Justify and Hofburg will mount their strongest runs. Hofburg will stay with Justify through the first half of the long Belmont stretch. That will give Justify's supporters some anxiety, but the colt's class, power and ability will allow him to take the lead and win by two lengths. Justify wins the Triple Crown in the most thrilling of fashions.