Here's how the field is shaping up.

https://www.offtrackbetting.com/belmont ... nders.html

Multiplier love him he's no slouch and he will relish the long stretch.....there are no Manassa in here

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Are you mocking or serious? I want to like him, but he will be a long-shot in this race.

I wrote to a handicapping writer about him last week, George Pepis, going by "greekgod" in his e-mail address, to call him out for being skeptical about Multiplier in this race. Here's what he wrote me:

"I watched it back again (the Preakness) and the interference was not as egregious as thought. Perhaps he could have picked off another position but I am not believing in this guy going into the Belmont. Plus the pace scenario is radically different than in the Preakness. Closers are a sucker bet as of late in the Belmont. I would tread carefully if I were you about Multiplier."

The thing for me about Multiplier is that he doesn't seem to have a lot of tactical speed like a Practical Joke that could weave in and out of traffic and not be deterred if he gets blocked. He's more like a locomotive, where if he gets a clear lane to run in, he has the overdrive to get up to a fast cruising speed down the stretch. The Belmont might be he's ideal race track, in spite of Pepis' warning about closers.

No sir Rube I'm not mocking you...ask W_Z and Leash I'm fair.Multiplier doesn't have to come out from the clouds....Irish War Cry ( throwing the anchor out ) and Mike Smith's horse looky out here will go to the front......always trust your handicapping.Here's an example loved Skip Away finished 2nd in the Preakness and Belmont went on to win 9.5 million....Black Tie Affair... rushed to Sportsman to lay $100 on his nose and lost.....the last fucking race he lost went on to win the Breeders....don't let someone like me or Foghorn Leg Horn ( JORR )Intimate or change your mind good luck my friend

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

I've never tried to talk anyone out of betting a horse. But I don't "pick" horses anyway. I evaluate chances based on the odds. I frequently bet against the horse I believe has the best chance to win. For example, Classic Empire may have the best chance to win the race on Saturday, but I'm almost sure that his odds will be lower than his chances. There's certainly a price at which I would bet him. I just can't see that happening.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Doing what you said is not "picking" talk to LTG about hoops Jesus Christ don't play me for a fool

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

What are you talking about? I said it's not picking. Don't you make your own odds line for each race you bet?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

no

_________________
I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

how disappointing would it be if classic empire doesn't win? 0 for 3, favored in all 3 basically.

Irish War Cry won't go the front, because they know it's a losing strategy. The jockey (who was subsequently fired) did that in the Holy Bull and the horse was burnt out by the quarter pole. They will want to keep the horse off the pace and have him fire at the end. Even though he has the pedigree to go the 1 1/2 mi, he has yet to show he has the stamina for a distance more than 1 1/8 mi., with his performance in the Kentucky Derby being case in point. He was on or near the lead at the quarter pole but then faded. I guess you could make the argument that it was the mud, but there were other horses that didn't tire.

If it's not Classic Empire who clicks, there is chatter about Epicharis, besides the monkey on his back of being a Japanese invader. Isn't he the most classic horse in this race besides Classic Empire or am I out of "my damn fool mind"? If he can go all the way to Dubai from Japan and get a close second, I'm not that concerned about the shipping factor. The horse is a stud, nuff said.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm seeing Gormley in the picture. He just seems like a tough grinder, whose style will suit him well in this race.

Irish War Cry is going to be close to the pace. He'll probably be stalking Meantime. I expect Gormley to go out near the front also. Twisted Tom will likely be with the front group as well.

I do think this is a much better spot for Multiplier than the Preakness was. If the front end falls apart he should have the jump on the deep closers like Lookin At Lee and Senior Investment. And I'm not sure he can't finish stronger than them anyway.

The thing about the Belmont is that it's an oddity. These horses have never gone a buck and a half and most- probably all- never will again. The temptation is to think horses like Lookin At Lee have all that extra distance to keep coming. But the pace makes the race. And it's just natural for a rider to be less aggressive when he thinks he has all that time to catch the leader(s). Next thing you know some guy up front is gone.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

he gone

_________________
I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

HUGE bust.

There's a snake in the grass and he's carrying a spatula. Last year he bought into Creator this year J Boys Echo watch this guys he is slippery as EVOO

_________________
I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

wish i would've known about that last year!

Only two horses in the field have the Raise A Native-Northern Dancer nick- Irish War Cry and Lookin At Lee.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Twisted Tom might be the surprise in this race, other than Multiplier. That price of 20/1 on the M/L is too high.

There's a lot of class in this horse. He can be on or near the pace, and has that extra gear for down the stretch. He lost the lead to O Dionysus in the Federico after the quarter pole, but came back to win by 2 1/4 in the mud.

He's as good as Irish War Cry for 1/6 the price.

We got ourselves a handicappers race. There should be good value in the field for once.

Whoa! Easy there, Seabiscuit. Irish War Cry is a two time winner at Grade 2. Twisted Tom just crawled out of the Tesio. I would be very surprised if Twisted Tom wins this race.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

He's got Castellano on board, who just won the Preakness. Comes in with the hot hand!

His Giant's Causeway pedigree is as good as any in this race. Grand-daddy lost the Breeders Cup Classic by a nose.

I'll be surprised if he stays at 20-1. Dirt cheap!

The horse that Twisted Tom beat, O Dionysus, ran very hard in that race. I wouldn't discount the performance out-of-hand.

jodi demling picks...hollywood handsome.

EEPICHARIS found lame by the track vet on Wednesday Night...Trainer Hagiwara said he'd be ready for Saturday.The last things the Japs said not to worry about was Fukushima

_________________
I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Tapwrit might end up as the favorite.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I think they meant Fukudome.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

J Boys Echo didn't have an excuse in the Blue Grass. That was a regression. I would be putting a line through him, if Dale Romans was not high on him. He does get Albarado back, but still risky after laying back-to-back lemons.

Aren't we missing the obvious with Meantime? He looks like a Nyquist-type. Another mis-priced horse at 15-1 after putting up a 105 figure last time out (the highest figure in the field) and with Mike Smith aboard. He is sired by a Preakness winner in Shackleford. Isn't it all about speed?? He could take it wire to wire.

I can't really see Meantime wiring this field at a mile and a half, but it's possible.

J Boys Echo did get bounced around at the start in Lexington. I think he fits in the race very well. But he's a small little thing. I prefer a more strapping type of horse in the Triple Crown races.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

This is troubling news for this horse. I can't see a horse bouncing back from lameness in three days when he's away from home. Do they really know the cause that treating him with an anti-inflammatory is going bring feeling back to his leg? There's no way he stays at 4-1 now, he'll fall to 7-1 or 8-1, if he's not scratched.

I think this race now becomes Meantime's to win. The horse that Meantime lost to in the Peter Pan, Timeline, could be the best three year old out of all of the them.

J Boys Echo for me. And this was before I found out about Bobby Flay buying a piece of him earlier this week, just as he did a year ago on Creator before he won the Belmont.

Andy Serling, the "Dan Bernstein" of horse racing analysis, also likes J Boys Echo.

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So does Edzo

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Epicharis, would win this race at 1 1/4 mi. But even if he's healthy, I'm not sure he'd make 1 1/2 mi., because he was tiring at the end in the UAE Derby.

Whatever horses I pick, I want them to be gamely at the end. So I think I'll go with Multiplier to win. There's so much distance for him to run the field down on the back stretch. Then I like J. Boys Echo, Gormley and Tapwrit/Twisted Tom. Tapwrit has a good chance. I don't think Meantime has it in the tank to go the 1 1/2 mi.

I read that Gormely likes the surface. That's good news for him, but 3/1 is a very short-price.