Super Saver vs Looking at Lucky who will win Belmont Stakes
Now that the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes have been won by different horses, race fans were looking for a showdown between Super Saver and Looking at Lucky to determine who is the best. Most gamblers were hoping to see them square off June 5th in the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. It looks like those two will get a well deserved rest leaving the field for the running of the Belmont wide open.
The Belmont is considered one of the most grueling tests in horse racing. The race run in New York is a mile and a half and longer than any of the other Triple Crown races. This is the 142nd running of the Belmont Stakes with a purse of $1 million. Even without Super Saver or Looking at Lucky a large field is expected.
The New York Racing Association (NYRA) says the early favorite for the Belmont Stakes will probably be Ice Box, the runner up in the Kentucky Derby. Ice Box skipped the Preakness Stakes and should be well rested for the long run at Belmont. Nick Zito is the trainer who the NYRA says could enter Jackson Bend in the race as well, “if all goes well over the next three weeks, we hope to have two solid contenders, and I think Ice Box will be a legitimate favorite.” Jackson Bend finished third in the Preakness and Zito is pretty confident the colt will bounce back quickly from that race to be able to run again.
The NYRA also lists First Dude as an early favorite. First Dude came in second in the Preakness Stakes and was making a run at the winner in the final furlong. The racing association says trainer Dale Romans is very upbeat, “I think he’s going to move forward again, the mile and a half suits him and we’re excited to go up there.” Romans expects the Zito horses to give a strong challenge to First Dude along with Fly Down who was the winner of the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8th.
Trainer Bob Baffert sees the Belmont shaping up into a battle of the Dudes. He is ready to put his horse, Game on Dude, up against Romans colt, First Dude. While Game on Dude has not run in any of the other Triple Crown races he did win the Lone Star Derby. Baffert is no stranger to Belmont Park having had three horses run the race with a chance to capture the Triple Crown only to get beat. Despite that disappointment, he tells the NYRA he is anxious to come back “I like the Belmont. It’s a long, tough race. When I ran my other horses for the Triple Crown, I had to give them a break. It’s tough on them.”
Baffert has decided to give his Preakness winning horse a long rest. Looking for Lucky has been shipped back to California, “If we were going for the Triple Crown, I would take him," Baffert said the morning after the race at Pimlico, “but I want to take him home and freshen him up. I ran him real hard as a 2-year-old. He deserves a little rest." Todd Pletcher trains Derby winner Super Saver and he is leaning against running his horse again as well. He tells the Racing Association that it would too much on the colt which seemed to tire out at the end of the Preakness, “as I said after the race, there’s nothing more that I would have loved to have done than to come back to Belmont with a chance at the Triple Crown, but we are so happy with the way he ran in the Derby and so thankful about that, that it would be hard to be disappointed about anything he does from this point on.”
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