Belmont picks: First Dude, Ice Box and Fly Down

This coming Saturday is the Belmont Stakes race, the last, and longest, race of Thoroughbred Racing’s Triple Crown. Super Saver won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness was won by Lookin at Lucky, so there is no Triple Crown win on the line this Saturday.

Only four of the Belmont Stakes contenders have also run in either this year’s Derby or Preakness. The other seven have had plenty of “R & R” ahead of the Belmont and that could certainly be a factor. In fact, it is fairly common for a “newcomer” to win the Belmont. On the other hand, those seven newcomers have less experience running at the top of the heap, too.

The Racing Industry’s sportscasters and handicappers will pontificate non-stop about all the horses and their workouts and their jockeys and their trainers and, if you listen to them you will learn the amazing fact that any one of the horses could win the Belmont, but then again, any one of them might lose. Place your bets accordingly.

FWIW – Looking at the last several races for each of the horses helps a little, but only a little. Most of them have some good wins but then most of them haven’t beaten any of the “crème de la crème”, at least not with consistency. Using the “past performance” approach pretty much brings the matter down to either First Dude or Ice Box, and that’s where I’m going to bet my nickel. But this is the Belmont and definitely one in which anything can happen…. which means it’s a good idea to bet a “newcomer” too, just to cover that angle.

Betting a “newcomer” in this year’s Belmont could be done in any of 397 perfectly viable ways. Bet the jockey, the color of the silks, the eye color of the horse, the trainer, the “coolness” of the horse’s name, whatever.

Personally, I think trainer Nick Zito has brought in “Fly Down” sort of under the radar. Like my other two picks, Fly Down is an A.P. Indy grandson (thus a Seattle Slew great-grandson) and that means he is about as game for a race as any horse you can name… and plenty of “game” can take the substitute nicely for more than a little speed.

So, First Dude is my first pick, then Ice Box, and my “newcomer” of choice is Fly Down. I’ve been wrong for both the Derby and the Preakness this year so… place your bets accordingly.

Good Luck!

By JIM MOORE
For The Highland County Press
This coming Saturday is the Belmont Stakes race, the last, and longest, race of Thoroughbred Racing’s Triple Crown. Super Saver won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness was won by Lookin at Lucky, so there is no Triple Crown win on the line this Saturday.

Only four of the Belmont Stakes contenders have also run in either this year’s Derby or Preakness. The other seven have had plenty of “R & R” ahead of the Belmont and that could certainly be a factor. In fact, it is fairly common for a “newcomer” to win the Belmont. On the other hand, those seven newcomers have less experience running at the top of the heap, too.

The Racing Industry’s sportscasters and handicappers will pontificate non-stop about all the horses and their workouts and their jockeys and their trainers and, if you listen to them you will learn the amazing fact that any one of the horses could win the Belmont, but then again, any one of them might lose. Place your bets accordingly.

FWIW – Looking at the last several races for each of the horses helps a little, but only a little. Most of them have some good wins but then most of them haven’t beaten any of the “crème de la crème”, at least not with consistency. Using the “past performance” approach pretty much brings the matter down to either First Dude or Ice Box, and that’s where I’m going to bet my nickel. But this is the Belmont and definitely one in which anything can happen…. which means it’s a good idea to bet a “newcomer” too, just to cover that angle.

Betting a “newcomer” in this year’s Belmont could be done in any of 397 perfectly viable ways. Bet the jockey, the color of the silks, the eye color of the horse, the trainer, the “coolness” of the horse’s name, whatever.

Personally, I think trainer Nick Zito has brought in “Fly Down” sort of under the radar. Like my other two picks, Fly Down is an A.P. Indy grandson (thus a Seattle Slew great-grandson) and that means he is about as game for a race as any horse you can name… and plenty of “game” can take the substitute nicely for more than a little speed.

So, First Dude is my first pick, then Ice Box, and my “newcomer” of choice is Fly Down. I’ve been wrong for both the Derby and the Preakness this year so… place your bets accordingly.

Good Luck!