Belmont Stakes 2024 Contenders: Odds, Jockey and Pedigree Info for Top Favorites (2024)

The Triple Crown of horse racing concludes Saturday in New York with the running of the 2024 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Preakness winner Seize the Grey and Kentucky Derby victor Mystik Dan headline the field but face stiff competition from other horses favored higher by oddsmakers.

Will either return to the winner's circle or will a fresh-faced colt make the trip, providing the sport three different victors in three exciting races?

The answer awaits Saturday.

Before then, find out the odds for the hotly anticipated race, where each of the 10 competing horses will line up, and which three should have your attention with this preview.

Viewing Info

TV: Fox

Streaming: Fox Sports app, Fubo

Post Time: 6:41 p.m.

Lineup and Odds

Jockey: Jaime Torres

Pedigree: Arrogate (sire), Smart Shopping (dam)

The Pat Day Mile winner at Churchill Downs stunned the racing world with his victory in the Preakness as the frontrunner, never giving up the lead. An adaptive colt, he can win from any position on the track, whether at the front of the pack or by closing in from the back.

It would not be a surprise if the D. Wayne Lukas-trained horse manages to take another trip to the winner's circle. He will have every chance to, at a Saratoga track on which he made his maiden race on July 29, 2023.

Lukas, the legendary 88-year-old trainer, is not worried about the colt's fatigue or mentality entering the race.

He told reporters, "I'm watching him mentally the last two weeks and watching him today, there's no reason why we won't get that same effort or better. No reason at all. We might walk over there and get a better effort."

He was not as thrilled with the prospects of taking the inside post position for the race, but again, does not appear to believe it will make much of a difference in Seize the Grey's ability to win the race.

"If I had to choose a post, I wouldn't choose post one but it's not a dealbreaker by any means."

Jockey: Flavien Prat

Pedigree: Gun Runner (sire), Heavenly Lov (dam)

Sierra Leone finished an agonizing second at the Kentucky Derby and is the favorite to win at Belmont.

Trainer Chad Brown has never won at the track in his previous three tries but that streak may be ending, thanks to what he believes is a special horse.

"But I really believe in the horse. He's super talented and if he is able to work out a trip here, he is the horse to beat," he told reporters following the post-position draw.

To win, Sierra Leone will do so with a new jockey: Flavien Prat, who replaced Kentucky Derby jockey, Tyler Gaffalione. Gaffalione guided the horse from the 18th position to the front but Brown believed there was an opportunity to take the lead and it did not come to fruition.

"He made a lot of good decisions in the Derby as far as navigating that trip from 18th place early. But the last three-eighths of that race, it didn't quite go as well as I thought it could have."

It remains to be seen if Prat can be the difference maker but Sierra Leone's performance at Churchill Downs was that of a colt who can race to the front of the field and win Belmont running away.

If so, it will be his third win of 2024 to that one, utterly disappointing second-place finish.

Jockey: Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Pedigree: Constitution (sire), Walk of Stars (dam)

If there is one horse to watch in Saturday's race, it is Mindframe.

A three-year-old colt out of Maryland, he has not seen an abundance of race action, meaning he is fresh and ready to steal headlines and spotlight in Saratoga.

In the two races he has competed in, he is 2-0 and has dominated the field, winning by a combined 21 1/4 lengths. They have been dominant runs, but there are still questions about his experience on the track and whether his lack of it will be detrimental to his attempt to earn the high-stakes victory.

Trainer Todd Pletcher acknowledged as much, telling The Racing Biz, "Obviously, he's giving up some experience to some really good horses, so that's the concern. I think, from a talent perspective, he has enough talent to compete with this field, but he doesn't have the foundation and the experience that most of the ones in here do."

Mindframe's day Saturday in New York will ultimately be determined by the age-old battle in all sports: talent versus experience.

If he can take the sort of lead he has in his first two races, all questions will be answered definitively on one of racing's grandest stages.