Belmont Stakes 2022: Prize-Money Purse, Post Time, Vegas Odds Payouts and More
The 2022 Triple Crown series will end with eight horses vying for the Test of the Champion in the Belmont Stakes.
The grueling 1 ½-mile race is arguably the most difficult of the three to win. It takes a great combination of endurance, speed and competitiveness to get the white carnations at the end of the race.
Unfortunately, we won't get the showdown that was set up in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike is running on Saturday, but Preakness victor Early Voting's connections decided to skip the final leg and focus on the Travers Stakes in August.
It's a disappointing development. Rich Strike skipped the Preakness, choosing not to go for the Triple Crown. Now, the final leg is up for grabs with only one American Classic champion in the field.
Here's a look at the prize money at stake, post time and odds heading into the race.
Belmont Stakes Prize Money, Post Time and Odds
Post Time: 6:44 p.m. ET
Prize Money: $1.5 million
Payouts
Win: $800,000
Place: $280,000
Show: $150,000
Post Positions and Odds
1. We the People 2-1
2. Skippylongstocking 20-1
3. Nest 8-1
4. Rich Strike 7-2
5. Creative Minister 6-1
6. Mo Donegal 5-2
7. Golden Glider 20-1
8. Barber Road 10-1
Odds via BelmontStakes.com
Race Preview
All things considered, a competitive field will be on show at Elmont, New York. The biggest long shot is just 20-1, a far cry from the 66-1 that Rich Strike was when he won the Kentucky Derby.
Of course, you won't see odds like that for Rich Strike anymore. The secret of his talent is out and he's been priced accordingly. He comes in with the third-best odds of the field.
It's fitting in a year that has produced two different winners in two Triple Crown races that the favorite for the Belmont didn't even compete in the other two races.
We The People made his presence known winning the Grade III Peter Pan Stakes, but his last Grade I stakes race was a seventh-place finish in the Arkansas Derby in April.
The second favorite is Mo Donegal. The Todd Pletcher-trained horse put in a disappointing showing in the Kentucky Derby, finishing fifth. Just under a month prior, the colt outran Early Voting and Skippylongstocking in the Wood Memorial.
Mo Donegal isn't Pletcher's only entrant in the race. He's also trained Nest, who could become the fifth filly to win the Belmont. The last to do it was Rags to Riches in 2007.
Nest could just have the stuff to win the race. She posted a 106 Equibase speed figure in a win at the Grade I Ashland Stakes in April.
Speaking of Skippylongstocking, the colt is one of the long shots to carry 20-1 odds as we get closer to Saturday. He put in a decent performance in the Preakness with a fifth-place finish but might struggle with the added distance of the Belmont.
Creative Minister gave a much better account of himself in Baltimore, when the Ken McPeek-trained colt finished just behind Early Voting and Epicenter in the Preakness.
It wouldn't be surprising to see him improve and take the victory in New York.
Prediction
This is a wide-open race and the unpredictable nature of the first two legs of the Triple Crown, combined with a couple of new entrants, makes it even more difficult to project.
Mo Donegal is among the favorites after a disappointing run at the Kentucky Derby. He was considered one of the favorites at Churchill Downs based on his talent and previous results, but he couldn't manage the 20-horse field and finished outside of the money.
That shouldn't be as big a concern with just eight horses in the running at Belmont Park.
Ray Bryan, who is part of the ownership group for Mo Donegal, believes the post position draw and smaller field are going to lead to a better trip than the one the colt and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. had in the Run for the Roses.
“In the Derby, he was never able to get to the outside and do that, so Irad was compromised a couple times," Bryan said, per Mike MacAdam of The Daily Gazette. "I don’t think that’s going to be the case with the smaller field and him being in the 6 post. If anything, that should give him some comfort.”
At one point, Mo Donegal was 19th in the Derby and made up 14 spots to get the fifth-place finish.
With a smaller field and a better trip, he could be wearing the carnations by the end of Saturday's race.
Prediction: Mo Donegal to win.