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I want Revenge is out of the race for this up coming 135th Edition of the Kentucky Derby. The Bred has a really bad ankle problem. This is the first time with this issue, it’s something completely new. Every body is surprised that the 3-1 favorite to win, is now out of race.
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The Most famous race of the year is around the corner and people are starting to look at the early predictions of the odds to pick the winner. I Want Revenge was ranked this morning as 3-1 favorite to win. The top 10 raking of the horses is available here and also the odds.
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Mafaaz is another of the well known favorite horses to win the Kentucky Derby that is not going to be running at this 135th version of the famous race. The Churchill Down’s track is not going to have the horse at the competition basically because of the decision of the new trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. Read the rest of this entry »
Probably one of the fastest horses available for the race is out of running due to another crack in a hoof. So sad, because Quality Road was the option for more people than any other horse. Now the options are less to pick the favorite to win.
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Square Eddie is out of the race for this up coming 135th Edition of the Kentucky Derby. The Canadian-Bred has a really bad skin problem. This is not the first time with this issue, it’s not something completely new. It was matter of time, it is not official that there is only going to be 19 horses at the race.
The Kentucky Derby is well known around the world as one of the most famous horse races. People from all over the world come to watch the race, it generates lots of expectation on the audience. The race is around the corner, it will be hosted at Churchill Downs, a famous horse track located in Louisville Kentucky which is expecting arround 150000 fans to attend the race. The horses are announced and are here…
Brief History of the Belmont StakesThe first Belmont in the United States was not the famous stakes race or even the man for whom it is named. Rather, the first Belmont was a race horse that arrived in California in 1853 from his breeding grounds of Franklin, Ohio. The Belmont Stakes, however, are named after August Belmont, a financier who made quite a name and fortune for himself in New York politics and society. Obviously, Mr. Belmont was also quite involved in horse racing, and his imprint is even intertwined within the history of the Kentucky Derby. The Belmont’s AgeOne thing the Belmont does have over the Derby is that it is the oldest of the three Triple Crown events. The Belmont predates the Preakness by six years, the Kentucky Derby by eight. The first running of the Belmont Stakes was in 1867 at Jerome Park, on, believe it or not, a Thursday. At a mile and five furlongs, the conditions included an entry fee of $200, half forfeit with $1,500 added. Furthermore, not only is the Belmont the oldest Triple Crown race, but it is the fourth oldest race overall in North America. The Phoenix Stakes, now run in the fall at Keeneland as the Phoenix Breeders’ Cup, was first run in 1831. The Queen’s Plate in Canada made its debut in 1860, while the Travers in Saratoga opened in 1864. However, since there were gaps in sequence for the Travers, the Belmont is third only to the Phoenix and Queen’s Plate in total runnings.Some Monumental Belmont Moments
In 1890, the Belmont was moved from Jerome Park to Morris Park, a mile and three-eighths track located a few miles east of what is now Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The Belmont was held at Morris Park until Belmont Park’s opening in 1905.
Here’s a tidbit you didn’t see in Derby or Preakness history. When Grey Lag won the Belmont in 1921, it marked the first running of the Belmont Stakes in the counter-clockwise manner of American fashion. This 53rd running was a mile and three-eighths over the main course; previous editions at Belmont Park had been run clockwise, in accordance with English custom, over a fish-hook course which included part of the training track and the main dirt oval.
The first post parade in this country came in the 14th running of the Belmont in 1880. Until then the horses went directly from paddock to post.
The Belmont has been run at various distances. From 1867 tp 1873 it was 1 5/8 miles; from 1874 to 1889 it was 1 1/2 miles; from 1890 through 1892, and in 1895, it was held at 1 1/4 miles; from 1896 through 1925 it was 1 5/8 miles; since 1925 the Belmont Stakes has been a race of 1 1/2 miles.
Champion Sires
As we saw in the breeding section of the Call To The Derby Post Betting How-To Page, champions horses breed champion horses. This certainly holds form in the Belmont Stakes. A total of eleven Belmont Stakes winners have sired at least one other Belmont winner.
Man o’ War heads the list of Belmont champion sires. Not only did he win the race himself in 1920, but three of his subsequent sires won it as well: American Flag in 1925, Crusader in 1926 and War Admiral in 1937, who went on to win the Triple Crown.
Commando won the 1901 running, then sired Peter Pan, the 1907 champ and the Colin, the 1908 winner.
1930 champion Gallant Fox sired both Omaha (1935) and Granville (1936).
Count Fleet won the 1943 edition, and then sired back-to-back Belmont winners with Counterpoint (1951) and One Count (1952).
1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew sired a Call To The Derby Post favorite in Swale, who won both the Derby and the Belmont in 1984, as well as A.P. Indy, who won the Belmont in 1992. 1999 Belmont winner Lemon Drop Kid is also a descendant of the Slew.
The following horses have sired one Belmont winner each: Duke of Magenta of 1878 sired Eric (1889); Spendthrift of 1879 sired Hastings (1896); Hastings then followed his again by siring Masterman, the 1902 winner. The Finn of 1915 sired Zev (1923); Sword Dancer of 1959 sired Damascus (1967); last but not least, Triple Crown winner Secretariat of 1973 sired Risen Star, the 1988 winner.
Money at the Belmont
Oh, have times changed. The purse for the first running of the Belmont was $1,500 added with a total purse of $2,500, with the winner’s share taken by the filly Ruthless. The lowest winner’s share in Belmont history was the $1,825 earned by The Finn in 1915. The Belmont set an opposite record in 1992, in which the richest Belmont purse ever totaled 1,764,800. Five times in Belmont history only two horses entered the race: 1887, 1888, 1892, 1910 and sadly, 1920, the year Man O’War triumphed. The largest field, on the other hand, was 15 in 1983, when Caveat defeated Slew O’ Gold. In 1875 14 horses ran, when Calvin outdueled stablemate Aristides, that year’s winner of the inaugural Kentucky Derby. The Belmont’s lowest paid winner: Count Fleet in 1943, who paid a paltry $2.10. The Belmont’s highest winner: Sherluck in 1961, who dished out $132.10. A favorite’s race: Of the 129 Belmont runnings through 1997, the favorite had won 58 times, including 9 out of the last 25. There have been some strange twists of betting in Belmont history. Since the advent of mutuels in New York in 1940 there have been six times when no place or show betting was taken on the Belmont Stakes. The last time there was no show wagering was in 1978 when Affirmed and Alydar held their famous confrontation. There was also no show betting when Secretariat won his Triple Crown in 1973; no wonder–Secretariat won by a record 31 lengths. Show betting was also eliminated in 1957 when Gallant Man defeated Bold Ruler, and also in 1953 when Native Dancer won. In 1943, believe it or not, there was no place or show wagering when Triple Crown winner Count Fleet went off $.05 to the dollar and won by 25 lengths. To wrap it up, Whirlaway completed his Triple Crown victory in 1941 without show betting. In other words, by the time horses dominate the Derby and Preakness, there just might not be that many challengers when the horse goes to complete the sweep. Since 1940 there have also been 30 horses listed as odds-on favorites in the Belmont Stakes. In 1957, there were two: Gallant Man, who won at 19-20, and Bold Ruler, who finished third at 17-20. Of these 30, only 12 went on to win. The highest on-track mutuel handle on the Belmont: 1993. A total of $2,793,320 was bet on the Belmont that year, with $1,409,970 wagered on win, place and show betting, and $1,293,954 on the daily double, exacta and triple.
The Fastest Belmont
Who else? Secretariat set a world-record that still stands for the mile and a half distance on a dirt track at 2:24. (He had finished a mile and a quarter at 1:59, faster than his own Derby record of 1:59 2/5.)
Belmont Trophies
“The Belmont Stakes trophy is a Tiffany-made silver bowl, with cover, 18 inches high, 15 inches across and 14 inches at the base. Atop the cover is a silver figure of Fenian, winner of the third running of the Belmont Stakes in 1869. The bowl is supported by three horses representing the three foundation thoroughbreds–Eclipse, Herod and Matchem. The trophy, a solid silver bowl originally crafted by Tiffany’s, was presented by the Belmont family as a perpetual award for the Belmont Stakes in 1926. It was the trophy August Belmont’s Fenian won in 1869 and had remained with the Belmont family since that time. The winning owner is given the option of keeping the trophy for the year their horse reigns as Belmont champion.”
Belmont Stakes in 2006Today, this marquee meet of the Maryland racing season will feature 27 stakes races for purses of $4.455 million. Purses for thirteen races were increased from a year ago, while just one was decreased. Fourteen of the added-money races, including all 10 of the graded stakes for the meet, are slated for Preakness week, including nine on Preakness Day.
I hope you find all this information useful to bet on the Belmont Stakes.
1. KEVIN HARRICK has been in Dale Earnhardt’s shadow ever since he took the No. 3 car when the legend died in 2001, Fox Sports columnist Ryan McGee predicts this will be the year he emerges from that shadow and wins a title of his own.
2. TONY STEWART can compete with the best in any vehicle he’s chosen to drive. The Car of Tomorrow is yet another machine for Stewart to conquer and finish in the top spots of 2007.
3. MATT KENSETH has proven to be one of the most consistent drivers in Nextel Cup, but that does not mean there won’t be things he will have to battle to contend in 2007. Look for him to still finish among the best again!
4. JEFF GORDON has been part of the elite for years and there was a time when his record typing seventh title seemed all but assured. A few years later, we’re still waiting for No. 5 and chances are we we’ll keep on waiting in 2007.
5. DALE EARNHARDT JR. life off the track seems to be always full of distractions, be it his relationship with his stepmother, his father’s legacy or a documentary about his family, but look for him to put all those things aside and have another strong season in 2007.
6. CARL EDWARDS had an exciting back-flip-filled 2005 season, stumbled in 2006 spending much of the year fighting his way up the standings. This year looks to have much better things in store!
7. JIMMIE JOHNSON is the defending CHAMP! I would not go as far as saying a repeat is extremely likely, but his fans won’t like him being this low on the list. Too early to tell before Daytona, but a good season is definitely in store for him in ’07.
8. KASEY KAHNE owns the intermediate tracks and he obviously knows how to get into Victory Lane, but is he ready to be at the top of the pack?
9. KURT BUSCH/RYAN NEWMAN had a disappointing season in 2006, which led team owner Roger Penske to make big chances for 2007. Look for one of these guys to put last season behind them and get pushed into the elite 10!
10. JEFF BURTON use to be a perennial title contender. He seems to have woken from a deep slumber and has great chances to crack into the top 10.
Barbaro’s recovery has taken another step forward after X-rays showed that the pastern joint on his right hind leg had fused.
The pastern joint connects a horse’s hoof with the rest of the leg. Barbaro, this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, shattered his right hind leg in more than 20 places May 20 in the opening yards of the Preakness Stakes.
The X-rays were taken Sunday as part of the changing of the cast on his right hind leg. They also showed no signs of infection in Barbaro, who has been in the intensive care unit of the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals in Kennett Square, Pa., since he was injured.
“The cast was changed because there was a small crack in it,” Dr. Dean Richardson, the hospital’s chief of surgery, said yesterday. “Based on new radiographs that were taken, the leg looked excellent under the cast. The pastern joint looks completely fused, and there is only a small area in the long pastern bone that has a little farther to go before we take him out of the cast completely.”
Barbaro must also regrow 80 percent of the hoof wall on his left hind leg. The wall was removed in early July when Barbaro developed severe laminitis, a painful and often-fatal condition that afflicts horses that bear excessive weight on a limb. It was the most dire moment in his recovery, and at the time, Richardson said that Barbaro’s chances of recovery were poor.
But the left hoof wall has been improving. A bandage on it is changed daily, and there are encouraging signs of regrowth.
Richardson said he was encouraged by several aspects of Barbaro’s convalescence. For weeks, Barbaro has not needed epidurals for pain or a sling to help support his weight. For nearly three weeks, he has been grazing for up to 30 minutes in a field outside the hospital.
“Barbaro is bright and happy this morning with an excellent appetite,” Richardson said.
