THE 2025 BELMONT STAKES | FULL RACE | FOX SPORTS

 

DORNOCH PULLS OF AN UPSET TO WIN THE FIRST BELMONT STAKES RUN AT SARATOGA RACE COURSE AYLT 17-1

 

AP Photo 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — When Luis Saez first rode Dornoch at Saratoga Race Course last summer, he told trainer Danny Gargan, “You have the Derby winner.”

While that did not come true, Dornoch made good on that optimism Saturday by winning the first Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, hugging the rail and holding off Mindframe to spring a major upset in the Triple Crown finale at odds of 17-1.

The horse co-owned by World Series champion Jayson Werth won the Belmont five weeks after a troubled trip led to a 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. This time, Dornoch sat off leader Seize the Grey, passed the Preakness winner down the stretch and held on for a 1 1/2-length victory.

“I would put it right up there with winning on the biggest stage. Horse racing is the most underrated sport in the world, bar none,” said Werth, who won Major League Baseball's championship with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. "It’s the biggest game: You get the Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont. We just won the Belmont. This is as good as it gets in horse racing. It’s as good as it gets in sports.

It’s the first win in any Triple Crown race for Gargan and the second in the Belmont for Saez, who said he never lost faith in Dornoch.

“He’s one of the top 3-year-olds in the country, and we’ve always thought it,” Gargan said. “We let him run his race, and he won. If he gets to run, he’s always going to be tough to beat.”

It’s the sixth consecutive year a different horse won each of the three Triple Crown races. Sierra Leone, the Derby runner-up who went off as the favorite, was third and Honor Marie fourth.

Dornoch paid $37.40 to win, $17.60 to place and $8.10 to show. Todd Pletcher-trained Mindframe paid $6.80 to place and $4.20 to show and Sierra Leone paid $2.60 to show after a jumbled start and more directional problems.

There were no such issues for Dornoch, who triumphed at the track known as the graveyard of favorites for its penchant for upsets.

"No one believed in this horse," Gargan said. “It's speechless. He’s such a talented horse.”

Despite there not being a Triple Crown on the line, it's a historic Belmont because the race was run at Saratoga for the first time in the venue's 161-year history. It returns next year while Belmont Park undergoes a massive, $455 million reconstruction with the plan for the Triple Crown race to go back to the New York track in 2026.

Having it at Saratoga necessitated shortening the race to 1 1/4 miles from the usual “test of the champion" 1 1/2-mile distance that has been a hallmark of the Belmont for nearly a century. The temporary change contributed to getting more quality horses into the field who previously ran in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness or both. At 1 1/4-mile distance, Dornoch crossed the wire in a time of 2:01.64.

Gargan doesn’t think if the race were at the usual distance the result would’ve been any different.

“I don’t think anybody was getting to him,” Gargan said. “I’d have to watch it again. I kind of got excited jumping around there when he got clear. I didn’t see anybody really making a bold move.”

Dornoch now has the Belmont Stakes under his belt, but the 3-year-old still has a lot of miles on him. Gargan is eyeing another race potentially this year taking on a similar field and course.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if we just wait and run him in the Travers,” Gargan said. “But, we’ll have to wait and see.”

- SPENCER RIPCHIK

THE 2024 BELMONT STAKES FULL RACE | FIX SPORTS

 

BELMONT STAKES 2024 PREDICTIONS, TOP PICKS, CURRENT ODDS, HORSES, TIME: BEST BETS BY EXPERT WHO HIT THE DERBY

Jockey Flavien Prat will try to win the Test of the Champion for the first time in his career when he hops aboard the favored Sierra Leone in the 2024 Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. Considered one of the top jockeys in the country, Prat is winless in three previous Belmont Stakes mounts. His best finish is second, with Hot Rod Charlie in 2021. On Saturday, Prat will ride Sierra Leone, who was ridden by Tyler Gaffalione in his last three starts. Sierra Leone is the 9-5 favorite in the 2024 Belmont Stakes odds. The lightly raced Mindframe (7-2), Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (5-1) and Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey (8-1) round out the top four choices among the 2024 Belmont Stakes horses.

Post time is 6:41 p.m. ET. With an accomplished field set to enter the starting gate on Saturday, you'll want to see what SportsLine writer Gene Menez has to say before making any Belmont Stakes picks or horse racing predictions, given the success he's had during this year's Triple Crown.

A former reporter and editor at Sports Illustrated, Menez covered an array of sports, including horse racing, for the magazine and its website for almost 14 years. Between 2010 and 2012, he served as SI's handicapper for the Triple Crown races and correctly predicted Super Saver to win the Kentucky Derby in 2010.

In 2015, while writing for Sports on Earth, Menez accurately gave out the Kentucky Derby superfecta (American Pharoah, Firing Line, Dortmund and Frosted), which paid $1,268.20 for $2. Then in 2017, he tweeted out his Kentucky Derby picks, including Always Dreaming to win, and hit the Pick 4, which paid almost $6,900 on a $1 bet.

In a span of seven races last year for SportsLine, he cashed the winner of the Lecomte Stakes, the exacta in the Southwest Stakes, the winner of the Holy Bull Stakes, the winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes, and the trifecta in the Jenny Wiley Stakes. He also nailed National Treasure's win in the Preakness. And last month, he gave out 18-1 Mystik Dan as a live longshot in the Kentucky Derby.

For Saturday, Menez has handicapped the 2024 Belmont Stakes field, made his picks and constructed his best bets. You can head to SportsLine now to see them.

Top 2024 Belmont Stakes predictions

One surprise: Menez is completely tossing Mystik Dan, even though he won the Kentucky Derby and finished second in the Preakness Stakes. A Kentucky bred, Mystik Dan is best known for winning the garland of roses five weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby at 18-1 odds. Two weeks later in the Preakness Stakes, he finished as the runner-up to a loose-on-the-lead Seize the Grey.

On Saturday in the Belmont Stakes 2024, Mystik Dan will make his ninth start in less than eight months, and Menez believes the horse is due for a regression. "I think Mystik Dan will be hard-pressed to produce another top-notch effort," Menez told SportsLine. Menez is not using Mystik Dan in any of his wagers. You can see all of Menez's 2024 Belmont Stakes bets here.

How to make 2024 Belmont Stakes picks

However, Menez's top pick is a horse who will be "right there when the horses hit the wire." He also is high on a double-digit longshot who is coming off a performance that is "better than it looks on paper." He is including these horses in his wagers, and so should you. He's sharing which horses to back at SportsLine.

So who wins Belmont Stakes 2024? What double-digit longshot has a big chance to run well, and how has Menez constructed his wagers? Visit SportsLine to see Menez's picks for the Belmont Stakes, all from the expert who gave out Mystik Dan as a live longshot in the Kentucky Derby, and find out. 

2024 Belmont Stakes odds, contenders, post positions

HORSE RACING-BAFFERT'S ARABIAN KNIGHT BREEDERS' CUP FAVORITE AFTER ARCANGELO SCRATCHES

USA TODAY Sports 

Trainer Bob Baffert's Arabian Knight has a clear path to victory in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park after Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo scratched this week.

Arcangelo's absence due to a left hind foot issue narrowed the field down to 12 horses for the Breeders' Cup Classic, which is sometime called the "Super Bowl" of thoroughbred racing.

Arcangelo, who also triumphed at the Travers Stakes, had drawn the inside post and was a 7-2 choice before trainer Jena Antonucci announced the colt was unable to run.