Holy Bull Favored in the Woodward

Today’s Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park will feature a showdown between Kentucky Derby winner Go For Gin and Holy Bull, a leading horse-of-the-year candidate who beat Preakness and Belmont winner Tabasco Cat in the Travers his last time out.

“It’s the race of the year so far,” said Scotty Schulhofer, who will saddle 1993 Belmont Stakes winner Colonial Affair for the race.

Also on today’s Belmont card will be two Grade I, $100,000-added stakes for juveniles, the Futurity and Matron; the Vosburgh, a seven-furlong sprint worth $200,000; the $400,000 Man o’ War on grass, and the $200,000 Ruffian, featuring two of the country’s top females in Sky Beauty and Dispute.

The purses total more than $1.5 million.

The Woodward field from the rail out, with jockeys and morning-line odds: Tinners Way, Pat Day, 5-1; Devil His Due, Jerry Bailey, 4-1; Go For Gin, Chris McCarron, 9-2; Pistols And Roses, Jorge Velasquez, 20-1; Holy Bull, Mike Smith, 8-5; Brunswick, Julie Krone, 10-1; Bertrando, Pat Valenzuela, 6-1, and Colonial Affair, Jose Santos, 8-1.

The older horses will carry 126 pounds under weight-for-age conditions, while the two 3-year-olds, Go For Gin and Holy Bull, are assigned 121. The winner will earn $300,000.