A field of ten was entered and post positions were drawn on Wednesday for the 141st Belmont Stakes to be run Saturday June 6 at Belmont Park over a distance of 1 1/2 miles. Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Mine That Bird drew the 7 hole as the morning line favorite at 2-1. Second choice and Peter Pan Stakes winner Charitable Man is the 3-1 second choice, while Dunkirk, unraced since finishing a distant 11th in the Kentucky Derby, is the 4-1 fourth choice. Obviously there will be no Triple Crown winner this year, but only eleven horses have won both the Derby and Belmont but lost the Preakness. Will Mine That Bird be the next to complete that double?
Mine That Bird's trainer Bennie "Chip" Woolley said, "The No. 7 is fine with me. My horse is going to back out of it anyway, so it's not going to be a factor. If you watch Mine That Bird run, his stride is bigger than most horses. He has a huge stride and gets over the ground real easy. With his running style, we're going to have to let him run his race. But the good thing here is, when you start slowing the fractions down, if you let him run his same race, he's going to move way up. If we can just be within 10 to 12 of them, I'm confident he'll have enough kick left."
Trainer Nick Zito, whose two entrants drew the outside posts and are each 15-1 longshots, Miner's Escape in post 9 and Brave Victory in 10, said, "I think they're live longshots. They've had two good races in a row. I think they're going to run well. The only thing, sometimes leading up to the Triple Crown can take a lot out of the horse. These two particular horses may have that in their favor. They might not be as good as Mine That Bird or Charitable Man, but on the other hand, they didn't have the rigors of the Triple Crown (prep) races leading up to the Derby. We've been lucky in this race, and hopefully everything will work out OK. If we don't win, we certainly are rooting for Mine That Bird and Summer Bird." Zito trained Birdstone, sire of both Mine That Bird and Summer Bird, to victory in the 2004 Belmont, upsetting Smarty Jones' Triple Crown bid by a length.
Post time for the Belmont Stakes is 6:27 pm Eastern and the race will be televised on ABC from 5 to 7 pm. ESPN will provide additional coverage of the other stakes races on the card from noon to 5 p.m.
Below are the entries with post positions and odds for the 2009 Belmont Stakes. Be sure to click the link on each horse's name to view full info, stats, and a photo. Free past performances are available from Daily Racing Form.
Triple Crown quick links:
- Belmont Contenders Analysis - As usual, we took several of the more popular and effective angles to try and pick the winner by matching the profile of a Belmont winner.
- Belmont Stakes past performances - free from DRF
- Belmont Weather Forecasts - so far Saturday looks good
- Belmont Stakes Info Central - the master index with even more stuff
- Past Belmont Stakes winners - with their connections, odds, winning time, etc.
- Belmont Stakes Traditions - from white carnations to the Belmont Breeze
- Belmont Stakes 101 - an overview of the Belmont Stakes from history to handicapping to how to attend.
- Triple Crown Near Misses - only 11 horses have won the Kentucky Derby-Belmont Stakes double while losing or skipping the Preakness. Will Mine That Bird become the 12th to do it?
- Belmont Stakes official site - lots of news, stats, and other info
- Belmont Media Guide - for 2009 from NYRA in PDF format. Includes all kinds of interesting stats plus charts for all the previous runnings.
- Belmont Stakes Ticket Info - has 2009 the Belmont Stakes ticket applications and locations. Prices and seating diagram are in the application.
- Blood Horse Triple Crown Mania
- Thoroughbred Times Road to the Triple Crown
- DRF Belmont Special
- New York Time Sports - will have Belmont coverage mixed in on the "Other Sports" page
- New York Post Sports Section - should have some articles, scroll way down to find them in the "Sports Stories" section.
- Belmont Stakes Videos - Lots of video clips of past Belmonts in the History section including most of the Triple Crown winners
- Triple Crown winners - Only 11 horses have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes to become Triple Crown Champions.
- Triple Crown Trivia Quiz - test your knowledge of the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont and compete with others
- 2009 Preakness Results and Photos - Rachel Alexandra beats the boys with Mine That Bird second
- 2009 Kentucky Derby Results and Photos - Mine That Bird wins in the slop at 50-1
Post | Horse | Trainer | Dosage | Jockey | M/L Odds | |
| 1 | Chocolate Candy | Hollendorfer | 2.08 | Gomez | 10-1 | |
| 2 | Dunkirk | Pletcher | 3.00 | Velazquez | 4-1 | |
| 3 | Mr. Hot Stuff | Harty | 2.11 | Prado | 15-1 | |
| 4 | Summer Bird | Ice | 2.11 | Desormeaux | 12-1 | |
| 5 | Luv Gov | Lukas | 4.60 | Mena | 20-1 | |
| 6 | Charitable Man | McLaughlin | 2.06 | Garcia | 3-1 | |
| 7 | Mine That Bird | Woolley Jr. | 5.40 | Borel | 2-1 | |
| 8 | Flying Private | Lukas | 3.67 | Leparoux | 12-1 | |
| 9 | Miner's Escape | Zito | 3.80 | Lezcano | 15-1 | |
| 10 | Brave Victory | Zito | 4.33 | Maragh | 15-1 |
