Results of Our 2025 Belmont Stakes Picks
Sovereignty Wins vs. Journalism Again in Belmont Stakes!
The anticipation of the Showdown between the Kentucky Derby winner and the Preakness Stakes winner lived up to the expectations, mostly!
The result was an exact replica of the Kentucky Derby finish with Sovereignty, Journalism and Baeza running 1-2-3 with the pace setter and "New Shooter" Rodriguez hanging on for 4th.
The downside was they were the four favorites which resulted in low payouts.
As expected, Rodriguez, trained by Bob Baffert, went immediately to the lead while "New-Shooter" Cudo tried to pressure him early for the opening Mile till he started to retreat.
All the while Journalism was following them 2 1/2 lengths behind with Sovereignty another length back. When entering the far turn Journalism moved out 3-wide to get first run on the pace setter Rodriguez, taking the lead at the top of the stretch.
But Sovereignty was within 1/2 length of the new leader as their battle began with the KY Derby winner's late kick propelling him past Journalism as he powerd on to win by 3 lengths!
Baeza with his strong closing kick was able to get up for 3rd just as he did in the KY Derby 5 weeks earlier 1 3/4 lengths in front of the pace setter Rodriguez in 4th.
Sovereignty became the first Kentucky Derby winner to intentionally bypass the Preakness Stakes to wait for the Belmont Stakes as he was able to take down 2-3rds of the Triple Crown series while Journalism was the only horse to compete in all 3 Legs of the TC series!
The 5 week layoff between the KY Derby and the Belmont Stakes was no doubt the key to Sovereignty beating Journalism.
The "Big-Money" boys from the International Godolphine (owners of Sovereignty) showed they have no respect for the tradition of the Triple Crown series and that they do not respect it's importance in American horse racing. They just use the excuse that they do whats best for the horse which is the easy way out for not running the Kentucky Derby winner in the 2nd Leg!
Does anyone really think that Sovereignty could not have handled all 3 legs of the Triple Crown?
The last time the top 3 finishers in the KY Derby have come back to face off in the Belmont S. was in 2013 when Palace Malice (14-1) upset the field as the KY Derby 1-2-3 runners finished 2nd-3rd-6th.
Time of the 1 1/4 Mile race was a very quick 2:00 3/5.
This was the 2nd consecutive year for the race to be held at Saratoga at a distance shorter than the normal 1 1/2 Miles while reconstruction of Belmont Park continues.
This was the first time since 2018 that a horse won more than one leg of the Triple Crown series.
Lots of rain on Saturday morning and into the early afternoon resulted in a Sloppy/Sealed track till time for theBelmont Stakes which was listed as a Good track even though the TV guys said it was a Fast track. Turf races were moved to the Dirt track with (2) G1 Turf Stakes races postponed until Sunday.
A late arriving crowd, due to the weather, resulted in an attendance of over 46,000+ fans.
Our Belmont Stakes Picks:
We made Journalism our Top pick to win the race as we really liked his Preakness Stakes win and how he did it. The athleticism, tenacity and heart he displayed in persevering to win the Preakness the way he did, we felt that he would only be better in 3 weeks in the 3rd Leg of the Triple Crown series!
In addition, the last 8 times the KY Derby winner meet the Preakness Stakes winner in the Belmont S., the Preakness champ won 4 times with the KY Derby champ winning ZERO, thus the edge would go to Journalism.
Plus the Favorite in the Belmont S. has won 4 of last 7 years. Again, edge to Journalism.
Journalism also had our key pedigree factors with the Raise A Native sire side pedigree and the "X-Chromosome" Large Heart pedigree. As well as having the preferred running style for winning this race.
We did feel that there was a high probability of Journalism and Sovereignty running 1 - 2 or 2 - 1.
Our wagering strategy in a (8) horse field requires us to use (1)A, (2)B and (3)C horses to be used in the Exacta, Trifecta and Superfecta with the A runner our best choice for the win.
We made Journalism our A horse with Baeza and Rodriguez our B1 and B2 and Sovereignty, Hill Road and Heart of Honor (GB) our C1, C2 and C3 runners.
As you can see using our A, Bs and C1 runners gave you the Exacta, Trifecta and Superfecta.
We also suggested that just might want to play a KY Derby Trifecta.
Payouts were low as the top (4) favorites made up the Superfecta.
Our recommened wagering strategies cashed in on the $13.20 Exacta, $13.80 Trifecta and the $40.50 Superfecta which were way below the 10 year average!.
Our Full Card Picks:
Lots of rain on both Friday and Saturday with over 2 1/4 inches over a 24 hour period which resulted in a Sloppy/Sealed track up to the 13th race, the Belmont Stakes, when the track was listed a Good.
All Turf races were moved to the Dirt track which resulted in 29 horses being scratched in just 4 races. Two GI races on the Turf, Jaipur and Manhattan, were postponed until Sunday.
As a result, payoffs were very low there were (4) winning favorites, (6) favorites running 2nd as well as (2) second favorites winning.
Our Top selection won (3) races as well as being in out Top 4 in (7) additional races.
We Hit (11) Exacta winners R1 ($53.50, R2 ($38.60), R3 ($29.60), R7 ($13.40), R8 ($46.40), R10 ($22.60), R13 ($13.20) and the rescheduled R12 ($53.00).
Total - $270.30.40 for $2 wagers.
Cashed in on (3) Trifectas – Race 7 ($37.50), Race 8 ($48.24) and Race 13 ($13.80).
Total - $99.54 in $1 wagers.
Also had (4) Superfectas in Race 2 ($145.20, Race 7 ($150.50), Race 8 ($56.70) and Race 13 ($40.50).
Total - $329.90 in $1 wagers.
Hit (3) Daily Doubles – Race 3 ($11.70), Race 6 ($11.80) and Race 7 ($29.75).
Total - $53.25 in $1 wagers.
Hit (1) Special Double – Metropolitan / Belmont Stakes Double ($162.50).
Total - $162.50 in $5 wagers.
Grand Total Winning Wagers - $915.49. wagers.