2011 Belmont Stakes: Potential Entries

Written by Jake Thompson
Monday, 06 June 2011 18:35

A list of contenders is emerging for the May 11th Belmont Stakes.

The 3rd leg of the Triple Crown might be the best race of the bunch this year, and the 2011 Belmont Stakes is set to have some of the best 3-year-old race horses in the field.  Although I’m sure it will be billed as the deciding race between Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom and Preakness Stakes winner Shackleford, there are plenty of other contenders set to be in the gate at post time that could spoil the hopes of both stars.

Kentucky Derby 2nd place finisher Nehro could easily pull the Belmont Stakes upset, as could a horse that has went toe-to-toe with Animal Kingdom and Shackleford in the past, like Mucho Macho Man.  Other horses that have competed in Triple Crown races this year that are considered to be potential Belmont Stakes runners are Brilliant Speed (7th in the Kentucky Derby), Master of Hounds (5th in the Kentucky Derby), Santiva (6th in the Kentucky Derby), Stay Thirsty (12th in the Kentucky Derby), and Isn’t He Perfect (9th in the Preakness Stakes).

On top of the household names, there are also a few horses that haven’t competed in the Triple Crown races that will likely be vying for the upset.  Monzon (6th in the Peter Pan), Prime Cut (3rd in the Peter Pan), Ruler On Ice (2nd in the Federico Tesio), Awesome Point (1st in the Alydar Stakes), and Harlan’s Hello (1st in an allowance at Belmont Park) are all considered as possibilities for the mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes.

Awesome Patriot might be the most interesting of the new entries after starting out on synthetic surfaces before being switched over to dirt recently.  He’s bred for dirt and distance, and his sire, Awesome Again, took 3rd or worst in 3 of his first 6 starts before finishing out his career with 6 straight wins, including the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.  The potential is there for a big run, and it will be interesting to see if this horse is amongst the contenders for the Belmont Stakes.

We’ll keep our readers updated on the lineup as we draw closer to race day, and we also hope you’ll check back about an hour before post time for our picks on the winner and trifecta.  In addition, we’ll be covering the Belmont Stakes throughout the next 10 days and hope that you’ll take a look at what we have to say about everything related to the final leg of the 2011 Triple Crown.