The Junkyard

I'll Have Another's Home Stretch closing speed is nothing short of Triple Crown worthy. If jockey Mario Gutierrez can get that out of I'll Have Another again in the Belmont Stakes, this last thoroughbred race towards winning the Triple Crown should be as exciting as the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

Considering the Belmont is 5/16 of a mile longer than the Preakness, it should be interesting to see where on the Home Stretch Gutierrez opens this 3-year old up, and if I'll Have Another has enough stamina and endurance to close on this 1 1/2 mile track as he has in these two previous races. Should be a good race as we haven't seen anyone win a Triple Crown since 1978 when Steve Cauthen rode Affirmed!

Always box your trifectas and exacts. It is almost always worth it.

The key to the Belmont is actually a horse that can grind out the fractions over the entire distance. Although it occasionally looks like a horse is speeding up at the end, that is almost never the case, but just the frontrunners stopping badly. It is hard to really handicap the Belmont as no American TB is actually bred to get the distance anymore. However, I'll Have Another' s damside is loaded up with distance influences ( Kris S, Pleasant Colony, Sea-bird), although the sire side is Mr. P over Mr. P- a sprint influence. Since the mitochondrial DNA comes from the mother, distance dam under short-fiber miler sire influences is a good place to start when breeding the modern TB.

Point Given was probably the last horse who actually relished the distance.