Belmont Oaks Predictions, Betting Odds & Picks

Post Position and Odds – Belmont Oaks

Check out our predictions and odds for the 2020 Belmont Oaks at Belmont Park!

Best Bets for the Belmont Oaks

Here are my plays ($36 in total)

$8 Exacta Box – Neige Blanche and Magic Attitude = $16

$6 Exacta Box – Neige Blanche and Antoinette = $12

$4 Exacta Box – Neige Blanche and Setting the Mood = $8

Top Pick:

Neige Blanche (5/1).

It will be the Americans against the Europeans as a small field of five 3-year-old fillies vie for the top prize in Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Oaks at Belmont Park.

Contested over 1 ¼-miles on the turf, America’s top hope will be Antoinette, who returned to the grass to register a game victory in the Saratoga Oaks in her most recent start. A stakes winner on both turf and dirt, the consistent daughter of Hard Spun will look to use her good tactical speed to control the race from the outset.

Chief among her rivals in the $250,000 turf test will be a pair of fillies who have done most of their racing in France. Of the two, Magic Attitude looks to be the preferred one, having tangled with Group 1 competition in her last two. The Group 3 winner at Longchamp earlier this year will make her American debut on Saturday as she joins the barn of Arnaud Delacour.

Neige Blanche, meanwhile, is also a Group 3 winner in France but has already run once in the U.S., having finished a rallying fourth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks last month.

Setting the Pace, from the barn of Todd Pletcher, and Key Biscayne, who finished third behind Antoinette in the Saratoga Oaks, round out the field of five.

How to Watch the Belmont Oaks

Race Analysis

Magic Attitude

From a class perspective, it is hard to look past this daughter of Galileo. After showing promise as a juvenile, she has moved well into top-class racing in France. She began the year with a Group 3 victory at Longchamp, before facing some of the best young fillies in Europe in her most recent two efforts. She was not really close to winning either but was not embarrassed either. She will get Lasix for the first time on Saturday, as she goes on a trip which she has already proven to handle. She is the one to beat in here but must prove that she can adapt to American racing while facing very little early pace in front of her.

Antoinette

Trainer Bill Mott has switched this one back and forth from turf to dirt, and his filly has responded with repeated good efforts. After a solid third in the Coaching Club American Oaks on the Saratoga dirt, she came right back to beat a solid turf field in the $500,000 Saratoga Oaks. Under regular rider John Velazquez, she will likely look to employ similar front running tactics on Saturday which she used to win that 1 3/16-mile affair. Given her gameness and consistency, she is a big threat to win again, as she stretches out to the longest race of her career.

Neige Blanche

The other European invader does not have the French class that the morning line favorite possesses, but with a Group 3 victory achieved in her final race over there, and a good performance in her American debut, she looks to have a big shot on Saturday. While she could never quite get all the way there in the Del Mar Oaks, it was a good start at a distance shorter than she prefers. In fact, while the 10 furlongs will be a question for some in here, she never ran shorter than that in six races overseas. She’ll need to lay closer than she did in her latest, but it looks like she is capable of that. I like her chances to run a strong race and give the favorites all they want.

Setting the Mood

Although she has never won on turf, and never before ran in stakes racing, she is not without hope in the Belmont Oaks. The daughter of Lea has made steady improvement while running against allowance company in New York. Her last, in which she has only beaten a head at Saratoga, was her best yet and proved that she is not afraid of a battle. Rider Luis Saez should have her involved in this race from the outset.

Key Biscayne

The longest shot in the race, this one ran a pair of decent races in two stakes tries at Saratoga, including a third last time behind Antoinette. Having said that, she never really threatened for the win. She should be fine with the extra sixteenth of a mile, but as a winner of only 1-of-9 on the turf, you have to wonder if she has the required class to run a truly contending race on Saturday.