Belmont Could Use a Plotline

In six of the last nine years, the Belmont Stakes has been alive with the hubbub of a potential Triple Crown.

This year, no horse will even run in all three Triple Crown races, much less win them.

The Belmont, which bills itself as the “test of the champion,” won’t have the champion of either the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness for the first time since 2000, and for only the third time in 36 years.

There is so little buzz about the field of 12 in Saturday’s race that one of Belmont Park’s promotional efforts is an opportunity for fans to sign “world’s largest get-well-soon card for Barbaro.”

The 62-foot-by-seven-foot card will be sent to New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., where the Kentucky Derby winner who broke down in the opening seconds of the Preakness is a celebrity patient who inspires news reports about the size of the carrots he consumes.

Without Barbaro or Preakness Stakes winner Bernardini, whose connections decided to skip the Belmont to prepare for other summer races and point toward the Breeders’ Cup in November, the 1 1/2 -mile Belmont is mostly a field of bit players.

The 3-1 morning-line favorite is Bluegrass Cat, who will break from post position 9 after Wednesday’s draw at Belmont Park.

Bluegrass Cat was second, 6 1/2 lengths behind Barbaro, in the Kentucky Derby as a 30-1 longshot after disappointing results in the Tampa Bay Derby and the Blue Grass Stakes.

He’ll be ridden by jockey John Velazquez, the two-time Eclipse Award winner who recovered more quickly than expected from a broken shoulder blade and cracked rib suffered in an April spill when the horse he was riding broke down and had to be euthanized.

“He’s recovered real quick,” Bluegrass Cat trainer Todd Pletcher said of Velazquez, who rides regularly for him. “We weren’t sure he’d be back by Saratoga, but he’s come back and ridden well.”

Pletcher, the top trainer in North America the last two years, would seem to have a good chance to break his 0-for-19 skein in Triple Crown races.

He also trains Sunriver, the 4-1 second choice who was excluded from the Kentucky Derby’s field of 20 because of insufficient earnings, but won the Peter Pan Stakes, a traditional Belmont prep race in May.

Missing the Derby “was probably in his best interest,” Pletcher said. “It set us up better for the Belmont.”

Other intriguing horses in the field include 9-2 closer Steppenwolfer, who was third in the Kentucky Derby, and 5-1 Bob And John, a colt owned by Houston Texans owner Bob McNair and trained by Bob Baffert that skipped the Preakness after a disappointing 17th-place finish in the Derby.

For those still looking to pull for any Barbaro connection, there is Deputy Glitters, a 15-1 longshot who won the Tampa Bay Derby over Bluegrass Cat and will be ridden by Barbaro’s heartbroken jockey, Edgar Prado.

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Belmont Stakes

The field for the 138th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday in Elmont, N.Y. To be run over 1 1/2 miles. Purse: $1 million. Post time: 3:30 p.m. PDT; coverage begins at 2 p.m. on Ch. 7:

*--* PP Horse Jockey Trainer M/L 1. Platinum Couple Jose Espinoza Joseph Lostritto 30-1 2. Sunriver Rafael Bejarano Todd Pletcher 4-1 3. Hemingway’s Key Jeremy Rose Nick Zito 15-1 4. Bob And John Garrett Gomez Bob Baffert 5-1 5. High Finance Eibar Coa Richard Violette Jr. 12-1 6. Oh So Awesome Mike Smith James A. Jerkens 20-1 7. Deputy Glitters Edgar Prado Tom Albertrani 15-1 8. Jazil Fernando Jara Kiaran McLaughlin 10-1 9. Bluegrass Cat John Velazquez Todd Pletcher 3-1 10. Double Galore Mike Luzzi Myung Kwon Cho 30-1 11. Steppenwolfer Robby Albarado Daniel Peitz 9-2 12. Sacred Light Victor Espinoza David Hofmans 15-1

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Source: Equibase and Daily Racing Form

Los Angeles Times