Belmont Stakes Odds: 2020 Betting Guide
2020 marks the 152nd year that the Belmont Stakes race will be run and there are numerous bets to be made on the opening leg of the Triple Crown competition. This page gives you the key information you need to make smart picks and (hopefully) make some coin.
If this is your first time betting on the Belmont Stakes, please read our How To Bet Guide that can walk you through the process to get set up.
Broadcast Dates and Key Betting Info
For the first time in history, the Belmont will be run nearly three months before both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes (moved to the fall) because of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Date/Time: Saturday, June 20, 3 p.m. ET
- Venue: Belmont Park, NY
- TV Coverage: NBCSN
- Opening Odds: Tiz the Law -135
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Rather than its usual mile-and-a-half distance, the Belmont will be run at a shorter distance of a mile and an eighth (9 furlongs) to properly account for the schedule adjustments to the Triple Crown series and overall calendar for three-year-olds in training. It will also be held without spectators and the purse has been reduced by a third to $1 million.
Betting Odds For 2020 Belmont Stakes
Odds have shifted for the 2020 Belmont Stakes after Nadal was forced to exit the lineup due to injury and Charlatan tested positive for a banned substance. Both were considered top-three picks to win the first leg of the Triple Crown with Tiz the Law having the lowest odds. With that news, Tiz the Law has since moved to an odds-on favorite.
Check out the full betting odds and preview for the 2020 Belmont Stakes but for now, here are the 10 horses on the oddsboard to win:
| Horse (Lane) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Tiz the Law (8) | -135 |
| Tap it to Win (1) | +600 |
| Sole Volante (2) | +700 |
| Dr. Post (9) | +750 |
| Pneumatic (10) | +1600 |
| Max Player (3) | +1800 |
| Modernist (4) | +2200 |
| Farmington Road (5) | +2200 |
| Fore Left (6) | +4000 |
| Jungle Runner (7) | +5000 |
Odds as of June 19 at Bovada
Two Best Options to Backing Chalk in Belmont Stakes
Tiz the Law is the headliner in Saturday’s $1-million Belmont Stakes (G1) and is the obvious one to beat, but at such a short price he may be worth taking a stand against in the first jewel of the Triple Crown.
The Barclay Tagg trainee won the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park in impressive style on March 28 in his last outing and now returns off nearly a three-month break. He is currently listed at -135 at Bovada, which hardly gets the pulse racing.
While the talented colt is the most likely to win, let’s look at a pair of runners in the 10-horse field that have a shot of pulling off the upset and certainly are going to offer more bang for the buck.
Pneumatic: +1600
This colt is coming off a third-place finish in the Matt Winn (G3) last out at Churchill Downs in his stakes debut. The colt pressed the early pace and battled on gamely in the stretch, beaten 1 3/4 lengths. The winner Maxfield was making his first start since winning the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) and the runner-up Ny Traffic is no slouch, previously running second in the Louisiana Derby (G2).
Pneumatic won his first two starts, beating Alw-1 foes at Oaklawn Park two back at a mile in his first start around two turns. The runner-up Captain Bombastic came back to win the New York-bred Mike Lee in his next outing on June 14. The colt draws the outside post, which may be an advantage here as his jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. can see how the early pace plays out, which may be lively. By Uncle Mo out of a stakes-placed Tapit mare, he has enough pedigree to handle nine furlongs. The colt looks as if he still has some upside and should be a fair price in this spot. His trainer Steve Asmussen won the Belmont in 2016 with Creator.
Dr. Post: +750
With jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, this colt is one of two in here sent out by the Todd Pletcher barn, who has won this race three times and has run second five times. This colt broke his maiden in fast time at Gulfstream Park in his second career start and handled the stretch out to a route last out, winning the Unbridled despite some traffic troubles.
He was caught in tight in the early stages, and again on the far turn, brushing and bumping with a foe and once clear drew off. The $400,000 Keeneland purchase is by Quality Road out of the stakes winner Mary Delaney ($305,879), who was best sprinting on synthetic surfaces. He should benefit if the early pace is lively and will be a fair price.
Wagering on the Belmont
It looks as if we should get a fair price on Pneumatic to win. In addition to a winning wager, I am going to play an exacta keying Pneumatic and Dr. Post on top and adding Tiz the Law and Tap it to Win in the second spot.
If you are a daily double or Pick 3 player, I like Oleksandra and Pure Sensation in the ninth race and, in the race after the Belmont Stakes (10th race), I am going with Digital Age and Largent as my top two picks in the 11th race.
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How to Bet on the Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes racing is easy to bet on. All you need is knowledge of the different bets you can make on one of horse racing’s top competitions. Below, we’ll explore the type of bets you can make and how to read odds.
Futures Bets
If you can correctly predict who will win the Belmont Stakes early, you could see yourself on the winning end of a great bet. Futures are bets you can make well in advance of a big event. Odds at your favorite racebook would look something like this:
| Horse (Lane) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Tiz the Law (8) | -135 |
| Tap it to Win (1) | +600 |
| Sole Volante (2) | +700 |
| Dr. Post (9) | +750 |
| Pneumatic (10) | +1600 |
| Max Player (3) | +1800 |
| Modernist (4) | +2200 |
| Farmington Road (5) | +2200 |
| Fore Left (6) | +4000 |
| Jungle Runner (7) | +5000 |
We use American odds but you can pick Fractional (1/5) or Decimal (1.20) odds if you prefer. Your location generally determines the odds type. Bettors in Europe and Australia tend to like decimals, whereas those in the U.K. use fractions. In North America, you’ll usually find American odds.
Favorites are always shown with the minus sign (-) and underdogs have plus signs (+) beside their odds. This is universal across all betting sites.
At -140, oddsmakers are giving Tiz The Law a 58.3 percent shot at winning. If you were to lay down $100 on Tiz The Law, you’d get a payout of $171.43 – your $100 is returned along with your winnings of $71.43.
On the other hand, a long-shot $100 bet on a horse like Dr. Post at +900 (10 percent chance) would give you $1,000 – your original money comes back coupled with your winnings of $900. Because this is considered a risky bet, the reward is greater.
To see how much you’d win based on the odds offered and the amount wagered, check out our Odds Calculator. You’ll also see the percentage chances that oddsmakers are giving each horse of winning.
Win, Place, Show
Akin to the moneyline in other sports, this is a set of three bets rolled into one where you would pick a horse to win, another to come in second (place), and the last to come in third (show). Win, place, show bets require accuracy since you will need to correctly predict the positions of three horses.
Exacta, Trifecta and Quinella Betting
To make an exacta bet, you’ll need to guess the top two finishers in the Stakes in the right order. To place a trifecta bet, you’ll need to determine the first-, second- and third-place horses. A quinella bet is a little simpler since you have to forecast two horses to finish first and second but they don’t have to be in the correct order.
Horse Matchup
To narrow down the field, horse matchup betting allows you to choose two horses. They don’t need to win outright, but they do need to come in the order of your choosing. For instance, if you bet that Dr. Post will finish before Mischievous and that happens, you win your bet. Neither horse needs to come in first, they just have to beat the other.
Handicapping Your Belmont Stakes Bets
The Belmont Stakes is known as “The Test of the Champion” because ordinarily the longer track distance of 1.5 miles historically puts faster horses at a disadvantage. However, with the reduced track length, endurance may not be a key factor for races like these along with handicapping a horse’s pace.
• Pressers/Stalkers: These are horses that come from behind. They may look slow at first but move swiftly to pass their opponents.
• Front-runners: These stallions start strong and keep a steady pace throughout the race. This is not to say that they can’t outrun their rivals if necessary, they’re just better at managing their strides to stay in the race.
• Closers: This is the name for horses that start slow and gain momentum as the race comes to a head.
Besides pace, knowing a horse’s position on the track can also help you make smart bets. Steeds that start the race closer to the inside of the track have a shorter distance to run.
Belmont Stakes Odds and Ends
- The Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the Triple Crown horse races with the first race taking place in 1867.
- Belmont Park is in Elmont, New York, about an hour’s drive from Manhattan. Unless there’s traffic. (There’s always traffic.)
- The winner of the race is draped with a blanket of white carnations. The pure white carnations symbolize love and luck. The blanket takes about 700 Colombian carnations and weighs approximately 40 pounds.
- Secretariat holds the best Belmont Stakes time at 2:24. His 1973 run time also set the world record for a 1.5-mile dirt track race and he won by 31 lengths, the largest margin of victory of any Grade 1 Stakes race in the United States. A statue of Secretariat likewise receives a carnation blanket.
- Prior to the 1921 race, horses ran clockwise like they would in an English race. Since then, most races run on U.S. soil are run counterclockwise.
- Trainer James G. Rowe Sr. has the most Belmont Stakes wins with eight.
- Sarava is the biggest underdog to have won the Stakes. In 2002, at +7000 (70/1) odds, this horse ended the front-runner’s bid for the Triple Crown.
- The 1867 purse – what the winner receives – was $2,500, equivalent to about $43,166.89 today. The 2020 prize has been reduced to $1 million.
- The favorite won this horse racing event 11 consecutive times from 1878 to 1888.
- The racetrack is named after investor and politician August Belmont I.
- The Tiffany and Co. designed trophy features three horses supporting a silver bowl with a single horse standing on top. The three bottom horses represent Eclipse, Herod and Matchem, foundational sire thoroughbreds. The top horse represents Fenian, the winner of the third Belmont Stakes. Winners are given the option of keeping the trophy for a year or leaving it to be displayed on the grounds.
- The race with the biggest crowd took place in 2004 with 120,130 people attending.
- Before 2016, bay horses were the most victorious with 56 wins. Chestnuts had 54 wins and dark/bay browns had 33.
- 2018 saw Justify become the 13th Triple Crown winner.
- Julie Krone is the first and only female jockey to win a Triple Crown race. In 1993 she achieved that honor in the Belmont with Colonial Affair, who was a +1300 (13/1) long shot.
Belmont Stakes Betting FAQ
When is the Belmont Stakes?
The 2021 Belmont Stakes is scheduled to take place June 4-6, 2021. The 2021 Belmont Stakes will mark the 153rd running of this illustrious horse race, and will take place at one of the most beloved and elite racetracks in the United States at Belmont Park (also known as “The Champion Track”) in New York.
What is the Belmont Stakes role within the Triple Crown?
The Triple Crown consists of three horse racing events: The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. If a horse wins all three races, then that horse is the Triple Crown winner. You can make wagers on each race individually or you can place a bet on one horse to win all three of these races.
How much does the winner of the Belmont Stakes get?
A total of $1 million in prize money was up for grabs in 2020, down from the $1.5 million offered the year before. In 2019, the winner received $800,000 or 53.3 percent of the total $1.5 million purse. In 2020, the winner took home roughly $530,000, which was split between the owner, trainer, and the jockey.
