2024 Belmont Stakes Recap & Picks Results!
Click Here to See 2023 Belmont Stakes Results & Recap
Congrats to Dornoch (17-1) in His Upset Victory in the Belmont Stakes!
In a historical year of running the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga for the first time ever, featured were the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winners Mystik Dan (6-1) and Seize the Grey (5-1) along with the favorite Sierra Leone (3/2), in what appeared to be a show-down race of those three horses.
The race was also run at the shorter distance of 1 1/4 miles instead of the normal marathon distance of 1 ½ miles and thus lost it’s status of the “Test of Champions”!
However, the racing Gods of Saratoga, know as the “Graveyard of Favorites”, produced yet another longshot winner in Dornoch (17-1) ridden by Luis Saez for trainer Danny Gargan!
Seize the Grey went straight to the lead, just as we expected, while racing in the 2 – 3 path while in hand, leading the way to the ¾ pole while being pressured by Dornoch in 2nd all the way. With a ¼ mile to go, Dornoch took over the lead as Seize the Grey tired and began to fade and finished 7th.
All the while the undefeated but inexperienced Mindframe (5-1) was racing in a close 3rd behind Dornoch and was able to pressure him and put his head in front at the at the 3/16th but then showed his inexperience by wandering to the outside several paths as he shied away from the left-handed crop as Dornoch dug in to the wire as Mindframe got straightened out to finish just a ½ length behind the winner!
The Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan never really factored in the race as he was running mid-pack for most of the race and never got closer than 3 ¼ lengths of the lead and finished 8th, 13 ¾ lengths behind the winner.
Sierra Lone’s late closing move could only get him within 1 ½ of the winner as he finished 3rd as he was 4 lengths in front of Honor Marie (14-1) in fourth.
Dornoch is a Full Brother to the 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage.
With a different winner in each leg of the Triple Crown Series for the 6th straight year, there currently is no standout 3-year old horse and is looking like the Haskell, Travers and the PA. Derby will go a long way in determining which 3-year old horse will be the leader of the crop!
It was a year of upsets in the Triple Crown series with Mystik Dan (18-1) winning the Kentucky Derby, Seize the Grey (10-1) in the Preakness Stakes and Dornoch (17-1) in the Belmont Stakes.
In our Belmont Stakes Picks we went with Resilience who ran 6th in the Kentucky Derby! We did this because we still felt that he was the best runner coming from the Kentucky Derby, other than the favorite Sierra Leone, who ran a better than looked race as he made a good mid-race move to get within contention after racing wide from post no. 18. He also showed Sharp morning works since the Derby.
Our Belmont Stakes Profile tells us that a horse that ran in the KY Derby and skipped the Preakness usually wins the Belmont Stakes!
We were right to pick a runner that ran in the KY Derby and skipped the Preakness, we just chose the wrong horse to win.
There were (4) runners that met this criteria and (3) of them finished in the Superfecta!
Our wagering strategy in a (10) horse field is to use (1)A horse, (2)B and (4)C horses that are our main contenders for making up the Exacta, Trifecta and Superfecta wagers.
Resilience (10-1 ML) was our A horse, Sierra Leone (9/5 ML) and Dornoch (15-1 ML) were our B runners and Mindframe (7/2 ML), Seize the Grey (8-1 ML), The Wine Steward (15-1 ML) and Honor Marie (12-1) were our C horses.
We had all four runners in the Superfecta, just not in the correct order.
Resilience was a big disappointment as he finished last after having been forwardly placed racing in 4th until approaching the Mile marker when he started to fade. No excuses for the poor effort.
Once again another horse with the powerful Raise A Native top sire side pedigree line won which now makes it a winner in 17 of last 30 editions!
We did cash-in on the $1 Exacta paying $163.25 by suggesting Boxing our B and C horses.
We also won the $5 Just a Game / Belmont Stakes Double paying $886.25 and the $5 Acorn / Belmont Stakes Double paying $257.50.
In Our Full Card Picks:
Payoffs were good with only (3) winning favorites and (3) winning 2nd favorites along with (3) favorites running 2nd. Average $2 Win payout was a decent $17.43 with the low being $4.10 and the high $50.00.
The Track was rated Fast and the Turf Course Firm. Our Top selection won in (3) races as well as being in our Top 4 selections in (4) additional races.
We Hit (6) Exacta winners R6 ($18.00, R7 ($22.40), R8 ($19.00), R11 ($45.00) and R12 ($326.50).
Total - $449.30 for $2 wagers.
Cashed in on (5) Trifectas – Race 6 ($36.74), Race 7 ($40.24), Race 10 ($43.50), Race 11A (128.00) and Race 11B ($74.24).
Total - $322.72 in $1 wagers.
Also had (5) Superfectas in Race 6 ($136.00), Race 7 ($101.00), Race 8 ($1,727.60), Race 11A ($513.50) and Race 11B ($561.50).
Total - $3,039.50 in $1 wagers.
Hit (4) Daily Doubles – Race 6 ($25.00), Race 7 ($23.90), Race 10 ($9.50) and Race 11 ($86.90).
Total - $145.30 in $1 wagers.
Had (2) Pick 3s in Race 6 ($76.00) and Race 10 ($213.25).
Total $289.25 in 50 CENT wagers.
Hit (3) $5 Special Doubles – Metropolitam / Belmont DBL ($240.00), Acorn / Belmont DBL ($257.50) and Just a Game / Belmont DBL ($886.25). Total - $1,383.75 in $5 wagers. Grand Total Winning Wagers - $5,629.82.
(4) of our Longshots to use placed in the Superfecta. They were in Race 2 (3rd), Race 4 (2nd), Race 5 (2nd) and Race 7 (3rd).
Up next is the Royal Ascot meet June 18-22 which features (4) Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" Challenge races which always produce big upsets and big payouts!
Payoffs were good with only (3) winning favorites and (3) winning 2nd favorites along with (3) favorites running 2nd. Average $2 Win payout was a decent $17.43 with the low being $4.10 and the high $50.00.
The Track was rated Fast and the Turf Course Firm. Our Top selection won in (3) races as well as being in our Top 4 selections in (4) additional races.
We Hit (6) Exacta winners R6 ($18.00, R7 ($22.40), R8 ($19.00), R11 ($45.00) and R12 ($326.50).
Total - $449.30 for $2 wagers.
Cashed in on (5) Trifectas – Race 6 ($36.74), Race 7 ($40.24), Race 10 ($43.50), Race 11A (128.00) and Race 11B ($74.24).
Total - $322.72 in $1 wagers.
Also had (5) Superfectas in Race 6 ($136.00), Race 7 ($101.00), Race 8 ($1,727.60), Race 11A ($513.50) and Race 11B ($561.50).
Total - $3,039.50 in $1 wagers.
Hit (4) Daily Doubles – Race 6 ($25.00), Race 7 ($23.90), Race 10 ($9.50) and Race 11 ($86.90).
Total - $145.30 in $1 wagers.
Had (2) Pick 3s in Race 6 ($76.00) and Race 10 ($213.25).
Total $289.25 in 50 CENT wagers.
Hit (3) $5 Special Doubles – Metropolitam / Belmont DBL ($240.00), Acorn / Belmont DBL ($257.50) and Just a Game / Belmont DBL ($886.25). Total - $1,383.75 in $5 wagers. Grand Total Winning Wagers - $5,629.82.
(4) of our Longshots to use placed in the Superfecta. They were in Race 2 (3rd), Race 4 (2nd), Race 5 (2nd) and Race 7 (3rd).
Up next is the Royal Ascot meet June 18-22 which features (4) Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" Challenge races which always produce big upsets and big payouts!