2020 Belmont Stakes Contenders & Odds

The 152nd renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes will be contested at nine furlongs and take place on Saturday, June 20 at Belmont Park as the opening leg of the Triple Crown for the first time in history.

To align with required health and safety measures implemented in New York to mitigate risk and combat the spread of COVID-19, the Belmont Stakes will be held without spectators in attendance.

Traditionally contested at 1 1/2-miles and held as the third and final leg of the Triple Crown, the 152nd running of the Belmont Stakes will be run at a distance of 1 1/8-miles to properly account for the schedule adjustments to the Triple Crown series and overall calendar for 3-year-olds in training.

The revised date and distance for the Belmont Stakes follows the previously announced rescheduling of the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, from Saturday, May 2 to Saturday, September 5 as well as the rescheduling of the Preakness Stakes from May 16 to October 3.

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Dr Post

CONFIRMED - The dark bay son of Quality Road has done no wrong in his two sophomore starts. Following a distant fourth as the favorite in his career debut behind eventual stakes winners Green Light Go and Another Miracle in July, Dr Post returned off the bench in style with a Gulfstream Park maiden victory on March 29, where he registered a 96 Beyer Speed Figure. He followed up with a successful stakes debut in the May 9 Unbridled at the South Florida oval.

Bred in Kentucky by Cloyce Clark, the lightly raced Dr Post is out of the graded stakes-winning Hennessey broodmare Mary Delaney and was a $400,000 purchase from the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who will also saddle Farmington Road in the Belmont, has trained three winners in the American Classic with Rags to Riches (2007), Palace Malice (2013) and Tapwrit (2017).

Owner Vincent Viola will seek his second American classic triumph as an owner. In 2017, he was part of a large ownership group that campaigned Kentucky Derby-winner Always Dreaming, who also was trained by Pletcher.

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Farmington Road

CONFIRMED - Farmington Road's connections have earned Belmont Stakes success once before, as trainer Todd Pletcher and owners Robert La Penta and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners teamed up to win in 2017 with Tapwrit. LaPenta also owned 2008 Belmont hero Da' Tara, who went gate-to-wire to spring a 38-1 upset.

Farmington Road, who arrives off a fourth-place finish in a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, owns one career win, breaking his maiden at third asking on January 12 over the main track at Tampa Bay Downs by 1 ¾ lengths.

The bay son of Quality Road will attempt to give his prolific multiple-champion producing sire his first victory as a stallion in an American Classic.

Pletcher has trained three Belmont Stakes winners with Rags to Riches (2007), Palace Malice (2013) and Tapwrit (2017). He will attempt his fourth Belmont Stakes victory, equaling the amount won by Max Hirsch, R W. Walden and D. Wayne Lukas, for whom he started as an assistant.

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Jungle Runner

CONFIRMED - Jungle Runner will be looking to find the form he showed as a juvenile and bounce back from a trio of off-the-board efforts to start his sophomore campaign. As a 2-year-old, the Candy Ride colt broke his maiden at third asking, winning at one mile in September at Remington Park before taking the step up in class and capturing his stakes debut in the seven-furlong Clever Trevor over the same track.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who won the 2016 Belmont with Creator, kept Jungle Runner against stakes company to start 2020. Last out, Jungle Runner ran eighth in a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on May 20 at Oaklawn Park, competing at the same 1 1/8-mile distance as this year's Belmont edition.

Jungle Runner has been training at Belmont Park since June after splitting the previous month between Oaklawn Park and Lone Star.

Jockey Reylu Gutierrez will celebrate his first Belmont Stakes starter aboard Jungle Runner.

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Max Player

CONFIRMED - Max Player's track record isn't extensive, but it is impressive, running second in his debut at one mile in November at Parx before winning at the same track and distance at second asking in December, rallying from fifth for a 4 ¼-length score on a sloppy and sealed track.

The colt's New York debut built on that success when he defeated a talented field, including runner-up Shotski, by 3 ¼ lengths in the Grade 3 Withers in February at Aqueduct Racetrack. By earning a personal-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure, Max Player also showed he could thrive at the 1 1/8-mile distance, which will be the same for the Belmont Stakes for this year's edition instead of the traditional 1 1/2-mile test.

Max Player will be trainer Linda Rice's first Belmont Stakes entrant since Supervisor finished fifth in 2003. His owner, George E. Hall, has enjoyed success in the Classic, with Ruler On Ice capturing the 2011 edition. Joel Rosario, who captured last year's Belmont Stakes aboard Sir Winston, has the call on Max Player.

The highest-earning progeny in 2020 of Honor Code, Max Player was bred in Kentucky by K&G Stables.

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Modernist

CONFIRMED - Modernist is familiar with the NYRA circuit, where he made his first three starts, including a maiden-breaking victory on January 25 at Aqueduct Racetrack to start his 3-year-old campaign.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Modernist handled the step up in class - and the ability to ship - by winning a division of the Grade 2 Risen Star in February at Fair Grounds at 1 1/8 miles. Modernist ran third in the 14-horse Grade 2 Louisiana Derby last out on March 21.

The Uncle Mo colt will be looking to give Mott his second career Belmont Stakes win, following Drosselmeyer in 2010. Modernist's owners, Pam and Martin Wygod, are seeking their first Classic win but have won a pair of Breeders' Cup races, with Sweet Catomine in 2004 Juvenile and Life Is Sweet, who won the 2009 Ladies' Classic.

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Pneumatic

CONFIRMED - The lightly raced Pneumatic enters the Belmont Stakes off a third-place finish in his graded stakes debut in the Grade 3 Matt Winn on May 23 at Churchill Downs.

The son of Uncle Mo won his debut over the Oaklawn Park main track, defeating next-out winners Skol Factor and Liam's Pride. In his following start, he bested stakes-winner Captain Bombastic by 2 ½ lengths on April 11 over the Hot Springs oval.

A Kentucky homebred, Pneumatic is a direct descendant of Carols Christmas, who was claimed for $25,000 and went on to become a foundation `blue hen' mare for Winchell. Graded stakes winners Pyro, Olympio, Call Now and Cuvee are all from the same family.

Asmussen will attempt a second victory in the Belmont Stakes after having saddled Creator to a 16-1 upset win in 2016.

Asmussen and Winchell sent out Tenfold to a fifth-place finish in the 2018 Belmont behind Triple Crown-winner Justify.

Sole Volante

CONFIRMED - Never off the board in six career outings, Sole Volante brings a consistent record into the Belmont Stakes, arriving at the event off a Gulfstream Park allowance victory on June 10.

The four-time winning son of Karakontie stamped himself as a force on the Triple Crown trail when he took the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis on February 8 at Tampa Bay Downs by 2 ½ lengths. He followed up with a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby before his most recent allowance win. All six of his career starts have taken place in Florida.

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, headed by Dean and Patti Reeves, has had one Belmont Stakes contender when Mucho Macho Man finished seventh in the 2011 running.

Italian for "flying sun," Sole Volante was purchased for $20,000 by his trainer Patrick Biancone, who will saddle his third Belmont Stakes contender. In 1989, he sent out Le Voyageur to a third-place finish behind Easy Goer.

Bred in Kentucky by Flaxman Holding Limited, Sole Volante is out of the Kingmambo broodmare Light Blow and is a direct descendant of Northern Trick, the 1984 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in France.

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Tap It to Win

CONFIRMED - Trainer Mark Casse won the Belmont Stakes last year with Sir Winston and will look to become the first conditioner in nearly a quarter century to go back-to-back in the Classic, as Tap It to Win will take the step up in class.

The Tapit colt is 2-for-2 to start his sophomore campaign, coming off a seven-month layoff to win an allowance optional claimers on May 9 at Gulfstream Park. Casse brought him back on June 4 at Belmont Park, where Tap It to Win handled the 1 1/16-mile distance with aplomb, romping the eight-horse field by five lengths.

With the Belmont Stakes this year at 1 1/8 miles on Big Sandy, the Florida homebred will look to stretch out and produce another stellar effort on the famous course.

Casse, elected to the Hall of Fame in May, is looking to become the first trainer to win consecutive Belmonts since fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas won three in a row from 1994-96.

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Tiz the Law

CONFIRMED - The 152nd running of the Belmont Stakes is full of statistical oddities. The Classic will be the Triple Crown's opening leg instead of the concluding race; it won't be run at its famed 1 ½-mile distance for the first time since 1925; the June 20 date is the latest a Belmont Stakes has been run since Pavot won on June 23, 1945; and for the first time ever, no spectators will be permitted on site.

Tiz the Law will be looking to make history as well in his bid to become just the fourth-ever New York bred to win the Belmont and first since Forester in 1882. The Barclay Tagg trainee has built an impressive resume as he looks to end that 138-year drought, winning four of his first five starts, including a trio of graded stakes victories.

Bred by Twin Creeks Farm, Tiz the Law won the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont as a juvenile and has started his sophomore campaign just as strongly, posting a three-length win in the Grade 3 Holy Bull on February 1 at Gulfstream Park that earned him a personal-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Tiz the Law followed with a 4 ¼-length score in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 28 at Gulfstream. The Constitution colt's fast start has drawn favorable comparisons to another top New York-bred trained by Tagg, who saddled Funny Cide to wins in the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness before running third in the Belmont. Tiz the Law will look to give Tagg, who trained his first winner in 1972, and owners Sackatoga Stable, who also campaigned Funny Cide, a career Triple Crown.

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