The first two legs of the 2025 Triple Crown brought a surplus of drama and excitement thanks to a strong rally of sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby, which Woodford Reserve featured on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs on May 3rd.
Focus shifts to the present Belmont Stakes On June 7th, the Saratoga Race Course will host the final leg of the US Triple Crown for the second year in a row, with Belmont Park undergoing a complete renovation. The Saratoga racecourse layout will again reduce the race from the usual 1½ miles at Belmont Park to 1¼ miles.
For an overview of this year’s Belmont Stakes, group potential runners into tiers.
1) Classic Winner
Journalism, sovereignty
When Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott outlined his plans to skip Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness Stakes sovereignty Immediately after the 1½-long victory over journalism in the May 3rd run, I felt the air was coming out of the 2025 triple crown balloon. It really doesn’t fill in the void for the Derby winner, bypassing Preakness.
But more than two weeks later, horse racing is staring at the prospects of one of the most anticipated rematches in recent history. Derby runner-up Journalism Recharged through the almost nonexistent opening in Preakness stretches, earning five lengths at leader Gosgar in the final eighth of the mile for a breathtaking victory. Journalism showed incredible courage and resilience to overcome the shaking between horses early in the Preakness Stretch before targeting Gosgar and engaging him.
Now the Kentucky Derby favourite and Preakness winner won a shot to turn the sovereign table that beat him into a fair and square into a sovereign table. The Sovereignty completed the final three-eighth of 37.75, and completed the final furlong, and surged journalism in the past with a third victory with a career start of six at 12.71. He also closed like a freight train to win the 2024 Street Sense Stakes (3/8 final three-eighth of 36.74) and the fountain of youth stakes, and completed the rally at 37.68 in the final three races on March 1st.
Journalism trainer Michael McCarthy felt that Carlin Colt won the first 100 yards of the Kentucky Derby. But sovereignty is often thought up for this rematch, and don’t let us forget that on the first Saturday of May, Missiev Kolt was clearly the best.
Will this rematch be 21?st Century US Horsing’s “The Manila Thriller”? Perhaps, but don’t forget… there’s another one.
2) A crowd of three
Baeza
Those who love the rematch story, and it’s definitely juicy, and note that there’s one obvious spoiler in its storyline. It’s horse racing, so of course one of the participants can win on a particular day, Baeza He looks like a three-year-old, in particular, with the fascinating combination of talent and pedigree that enters the Belmont stakes for veteran trainer John Silef.
He finished second in the Santa Anita Derby on April 5th, broke from a far outside post at Kentucky Derby field with 19 horses and gathered from 15th It finishes third. Baeza was beaten 1¾ length by sovereignty in his fifth career race and won the neck behind journalism.
McKinsey is half-brother (same dam (mother), different bulls (father)) from the big brown mare Puka who won the stakes to Major, the winner of the 2023 Kentucky Derby and Dornock, who won the Belmont Stakes last year. He also needs to take the race with five weeks of rest and take the stage of improving the Belmont Stakes. Baeza is legal.
3) There’s a chance
Gosgar, Heart of Honor, Hill Road, Rodriguez
The Big 3 above looks like a horrible victory, but there’s no shortage of talent during the rest of the cast of Belmont’s stakes competitors. Gosgar On his third career start on April 12, he drove his heart to finish second in Preakness after winning the Lexington Stakes on Stone Street twice. The Wood Memorial Stakes announced by the winner of Resorts World Casino Rodriguez After looking like the best shot of Hall of Fame Trainer Bob Baffert in the 2025 Kentucky Derby, he was forced to miss the race with a bruise on his foot. A real colt should be at the Belmont Stakes control speed. Hill Road He finished third in the boys of Fanduel Breeders’ Cup, which TAA presented as a two-year-old, earning his first stakes victory in three-quarters on May 10th with the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes. The United Arab Emirates Derby is sponsored by Jumeirah runner-ups Heart of Honor After a bad start in his US debut, he ran fifth in Preakness and is entitled to improve that first state experience.
The Belmont Stakes are becoming the perfect horse racing and proper finale for the 2025 Triple Crown.
