Photo: Kevin Creative (Kevin House)
Since 1970, the highest priced winner of the
Belmont Stakes was Sarava in 2002. Sarava went off at odds of 70-1. Also since 1970 there have been 13 horses that won the Belmont Stakes at odds higher than 10-1.
With
I’ll Have Another likely to offer up a short price in this year’s race, if he does not win, they pay out could be plentiful. Most recently in 2011, Ruler On Ice shocked the field winning at odds of 24-1. Favorite Animal Kingdom was beaten 9 and 1/4 lengths. In 2010 when Drosselmeyer won the Belmont at odds of 13-1; post-time favorite Ice Box was beaten by over 11 lengths. When Summer Bird won at odds of 11-1 in 2009, Mine That Bird was defeated by over 3 lengths. And, in 2008 Da’Tara defeated Big Brown at odds of 38-1 after Big Brown was pulled up.
With the rest of the contenders in this year’s field expected to offer higher value, the recent trends show that if I’ll Have Another gets defeated in his attempt for the
Triple Crown, he will do so by a large margin.