2010 Belmont Stakes betting will include a horse trained by Dale Romans. First Dude, who was second in the Preakness Stakes will be on the board in Belmont Stakes odds. Romans also trains Paddy O’Prado who finished third in the Derby and sixth in the Preakness but that horse will not be in the Belmont.
2010 Belmont Stakes betting odds should list First Dude as one of the contenders. He will likely be in the mix behind Ice Box who is expected to be the favorite. The Belmont will not have Derby winner Super Saver or Preakness winner Lookin at Lucky so it should be wide open. Romans is hoping that First Dude can get the win. First Dude likes to go to the lead and that might not be all bad in the Belmont. Even though the race is a mile and a half, the Belmont is often times won by a horse that gets out to the lead.
“A mile-and-a-half race is a speed race.” Romans said, “If he can get out there with slower fractions, he’ll be tough to catch.”
It would seem that a speed horse would not do well in the Belmont but it depends upon the type of speed. Usually in the Belmont the pace is slower so a horse on the lead can do well. Closers can win the Belmont but they don’t win as often as you might think. The last one to win was Jazil in 2006.
Roman’s horse First Dude will be sent to Belmont Park early so he can get accustomed to the track. “He’ll go to Belmont early,” Romans said. “I think that’s a racetrack you benefit training over.” The Belmont could have a pretty large field. There were as many as 13 horses that were being pointed to the Belmont. In addition to First Dude and Ice Box, other potential horses in the field include the first two finishers from the Dwyer Stakes, Fly Down and Drosselmeyer. Other possible horses are Dublin, Game On Dude, Make Music for Me, Setsuko, New Madrid, Spangled Star, Stately Victor, Stay Put, and Uptowncharlybrown. One of those horses is going to race this week as New Madrid will prep for the Belmont by running a turf allowance race on Thursday. One horse that probably won’t make the trip is the filly Devil May Care who was 10th in the Derby.