Racing Roundtable: Recapping the 2025 Belmont Stakes Festival
Sovereignty wins the 2025 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. (Photo by Coglianese Photo / Credit to Susie Raisher))
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On this week's Racing Roundtable, James Scully, Ashley Anderson, and Vance Hanson discuss all thinks Belmont Stakes Festival from this past weekend at Saratoga.
Foremost among the leading performances was Sovereignty's outstanding win in the Belmont (G1), his second classic victory in five weeks and a more decisive one over Journalism and Baeza. The panel talks about the Belmont race dynamics and what to look for from the this group the rest of the season.
Good Cheer's upset loss to La Cara in the Acorn (G1) is the next topic, as the group tries to make sense of it all and what it means for the three-year-old filly division moving forward.
Finally, the Roundtable talks about the other major performances from the week at Saratoga that caught their fancy, and interestingly focus mostly on the outstanding efforts we saw from both the males and females in the various Grade 1 and Grade 2 sprints on dirt and turf.
Welcome to Belmont Stakes 2025!
Our LIVE coverage will begin at 1:30 PM EST.
Thank you to everyone that joined us today for this great day of racing, especially our expert panel with all their in-depth commentary and handicapping. Congratulations to all those winning bets and Sovereignty, winner of the Belmont Stakes 2025! We'll see you next time!
Winning the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont (G1) without adding the Preakness (G1) in between has become a rare achievement. Sovereignty became the first horse since Thunder Gulch in 1995 to complete this particular double, though in the years in between, American Pharoah and Justify won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont as part of their Triple Crown sweeps.
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Unofficial Results
1st Sovereignty
2nd Journalism
3rd Baeza
Good Luck to all those betting!
Today's racing action doesn't end with the Belmont! Many other tracks are racing this evening. Check out my picks for night racing at Charles Town, Prairie Meadows, and Tokyo Racecourse.
Also, the Summertime Oaks (G2) at Santa Anita is coming up in about 25 minutes, and I've recommended a cold daily double bet to play.
Saturday’s 157th running of the Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga is the third and final leg of the Triple Crown. With a purse of $2 million up for grabs, it ranks among the richest Thoroughbred horse races in North America.
Have you ever wondered how the Belmont purse is distributed? How much of the $2 million does the winning owner take home? How about the winning trainer? We have the answers.
Who is Kaitlin Free choosing to win the Belmont Stakes? Find out below!
In a rematch of the top three finishers from the Kentucky Derby (G1), I'm supporting runner-up #7 Journalism (2-1) to turn the tables on the victorious #2 Sovereignty (5-2).
Journalism didn't get the cleanest run in the early stages of the Derby and also raced significantly closer to a hot early pace. He's since bounced back to win a traffic-filled edition of the Preakness (G1) in spectacular fashion, and a sharp workout at Saratoga on Sunday suggests Journalism is ready to deliver another giant run in the Belmont.
My second choice is #6 Baeza (7-2), the third-place finisher from the Kentucky Derby. He ran into traffic around the far turn of the Derby, but regrouped to rally late and finish only a neck behind Journalism. This rapidly improving half-brother to 2024 Belmont winner Dornoch has more tactical speed than Sovereignty and may step forward enough to snatch second prize from the Derby winner.
Sovereignty warrants much respect off his stretch-running triumph at Churchill Downs, but I believe he received the best trip and pace setup of the top three finishers that day.
Belmont selections
1st: Journalism
2nd: Baeza
3rd: Sovereignty
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