Post positions have been drawn for the Belmont Stakes 12-colt field – sans former horse racing odds favorite Classic Empire – as seen below (including odds to win for people who like to bet on horses online):
Horse Racing Odds to win the Belmont Stakes
- Twisted Tom (+1000)
- Tapwrit (+600)
- Gormley (+1000)
- J Boys Echo (+2000)
- Hollywood Handsome (N/A)
- Lookin at Lee (+500)
- Irish War Cry (+500)
- Senior Investment (+700)
- Meantime (+1800)
- Multiplier (+1600)
- Epicharis (+425)
- Patch (+1000)
Post Positions to Consider
- Post position #1 has produced 23 winners of the Belmont Stakes since 1989, but the last was Touch Gold 20 years ago. Other winners from that position include Triple Crown champions Gallant Fox in 1930 and the legendary Secretariat in 1973. Twisted Tom’s trainer Chad Brown won the Preakness Stakes with Cloud Computing.
- Post position #2 has yielded 13 winners, most recently Tabasco Cat in 1994. 1943 Triple Crown winner Count Fleet also won the Belmont from that post. Tapwrit’s daddy Tapit has already produced two Belmont winners in Tonalist (2014), and Creator last year. Tapwrit won’t want to be the black sheep of the family – especially since that would cast doubt as to Tapit’s preferences.
- Post position #3 has generated 17 winners, including Ruler on Ice and Union Rags back-to-back in 2011 and 2012. Gormley finished 9th in the Kentucky Derby starting from No. 18, so fans who bet on horses online should expect him to do better in Belmont Park.
- Post position #4 has produced 10 winners, the most recent being Summer Bird in 2009. J Boys Echo descends from the same female line as Shut Out, who won the 1942 editions of the Run of the Roses and the Belmont Stakes – not that that necessarily improves his horse racing odds.
- Post position #5 has generated 16 winners, including 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah and 1988 Preakness and Belmont winner – and son of Secretariat – Risen Star. Hollywood Handsome is the grandson of Tapit and son of Tapizar and, people who bet on horses online might presume, nephew of Tapwrit?
- Post position #6 has yielded eight winners, the last of whom was Lemon Drop Kid in 1999. Which means Lookin At Lee has pretty good chance of becoming the first winner from that position in this century.
- Post position #7 has delivered 13 winners such as Drosselmeyer in 2010 and Rags to Riches in 2007 – becoming the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes in more than a century. On a related note, Irish War Cry’s maternal line includes racemare Pretty Polly, who bested male horses in the 1904 St. Leger and the 1905 and 1906 Coronation Cup.
- Post position #8 has been the starting point for six winners, including Jazil in 2006.
- Post position #9 has produced four winners, the most recent of whom was Afleet Alex in 2005 (Alex has also been the last horse racing odds favourite to win the Belmont Stakes).
- Post positions #10 has just one winner; Thunder Gulch in 1995.
- Post positions #11 has generated four winners, as recently as the aforementioned Tonalist.
- Post positions #12 also has yielded only one winner – Palace Malice in 2013.
- Post positions #13 from which last year’s winner Creator starter, was left vacant as a result of Classic Empire’s withdrawal.