Saturday marks the 152nd running of The Belmont Stakes. I’m from Long Island, and this is always a Saturday I never miss. We get there around 9am, start the tailgate, drink our faces off, and demolish some burgers and dogs before heading in there around 4pm to play a Pick 3 or 4 that ends with The Stakes…and crush more beers. I always play an Exacta and a Tri for the big race, and usually a Super if I’m still able to walk by that point. I mean…you’re crushing beers for 9 straight hours by then, in 80 degree heat, surrounded by thousands of people…and by time you get into the track, it feels like hundreds of thousands…because it’s old, cramped, smelly, everyone is fucking sweating, the kiosk lines to place a bet are a mile long, the beer lines are even longer, the bathroom lines wrap around the fucking track, and it’s (usually) the last leg of the Triple Crown, so everyone and their mother is there.

But not this year…fucking Covid douchebag motherfucker.

Now let’s be honest. Is this really The Belmont?! Sure, they’re calling it The Belmont Stakes, and yea it’s being run at the track in Elmont like always, and it’s still (reluctantly) being considered a leg of the Triple Crown…albeit the first instead of the third. But we all know for sure as shit that this race ain’t “The Belmont Stakes.”

[Side Note: I would even argue this year that the REAL Triple Crown is actually the Derby on 9/4, the Preakness on 10/3, and the Breeders on 11/3. With 3 months between the Belmont and Derby this year, and without the Derby as the first leg, this year’s so-called “Triple Crown” needs an asterisk.]

This is not a true Belmont. First of all, The Belmont is the final leg of the Triple Crown, not the first. Secondly, it has always been the longest of the three races at 1 1/2 miles, but this year’s race is the shortest at 1 1/8 miles. Also, they normally post around 6:45pm, but the race is set to go off an hour earlier this year. And lastly…THERE WON’T BE ANYONE THERE!! How can you have a true Belmont without drunk New Yorkers like myself screaming at each other, throwing fists because some loser spilled your beer, and then taking the two mile walk back to the parking lot while every drunk broad eye-fucks you?! You can’t. So no, this is not a true Belmont. However…I’m gonna gamble my dick off as if it were the real Belmont Stakes, so fuck you Covid. And fuck that dumb ass bat too.

THE FIELD – Odds as of 6/19 @ 11:50pm (Jockey/Trainer)

1. Tap It to Win (4-1) – John Velazquez/Mark Casse
2. Sole Volante (11-1) – Luca Panici/Patrick Biancone
3. Max Player (11-1) – Joel Rosario/Linda Rice
4. Modernist (19-1) – Junior Alvarado/William Mott
5. Farmington Road (12-1) – Javier Castellano/Todd Pletcher
6. Fore Left (19-1) – Jose Ortiz/Doug O`Neill
7. Jungle Runner (24-1) – Reylu Gutierrez/Steven Asmussen
8. Tiz the Law (Even Money) – Manuel Franco/Barclay Tagg
9. Dr Post (7-1) – Irad Ortiz, Jr./Todd Pletcher
10. Pneumatic (23-1) – Ricardo Santana, Jr./Steven Asmussen

THE BETS 🔨

8-1 Exacta – UNBOXED ($25 bet = $25 ticket)

1-5-8 Trifecta – BOXED ($5 bet = $30 ticket)

1-2-5-8-9 Superfecta – BOXED ($1 bet = $120 ticket)

PICK 4 ($1 bet = $120 ticket)

R7: 3->6, 8, 14   R8: 1->5    R9: 2->5   R10: 8

HAMMER it.

Good luck.

Giddy-Up.

**For more FREE PICKS & sports talk, give THE HAMMER a follow on Twitter @HammerHeadBets ➡️ https://twitter.com/HammerHeadBets 🔨🔨

The Hammer
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