CASINO DRIVE - BEMONT CONTENDER OR PRETENDER?
6/7/08
The question on a lot of bettors minds heading
into the Belmont Stakes on Saturday is Casino Drive,
Contender or Pretender? The odds list Casino Drive
as the 2nd betting choice at 5-2. Pretty steep
considering the horse has only run twice and one of
those races was in Japan. So why all the fuss? The
fuss comes as a result of a few factors. One being,
the lack of other high profile challengers in the
Belmont. The other reasons stem from Cason Drives
bloodlines, Jockey Edgar Prado and of course, his
Peter Pan Stakes win.
Casino Drive has ties to past Belmont winners.
Not only past Belmont winners, but the last two
Belmont winners. He is half brother to 2006 Belmont
winner Jazil and 3/4 brother to last years winner
Rags to Riches. But the buzz doesn't end there. On
board will be one of America's premier jockeys,
Edgar Prado. Not only is Prado a proven winner, he
also has played the role of Triple Crown Spoiler on
two other occasions. In 2004 he won with 36-1 shot
Birdstone ending Smarty Jones Triple Crown hopes and
in 2002 on board 70-1 shot Sarava stopping War
Emblems bid. Those wins are part of the reason Prado
was chosen to ride Casino Drive.
Contender or Pretender? Really, there's no way to
tell for sure. That's why they run the race. But the
price simply isn't right to take a shot here. 5-2 on
an unproven Colt with one race in the USA? No
thanks. There are better choices out there,
particularly for use in your exotics, at much better
odds. Horses with a little more experience here,
that are rested and lying in wait.
Casino Drives workout the other day was so slow
it wasn't even clocked. His handlers say that was
intentional. They say they want him to be strong on
Saturday. They say his job in the Belmont is to pass
horses in the stretch. Not a bad game plan
considering that long Belmont stretch run is usually
the undoing of Triple Crown hopefuls.
Just be happy there's some drama Saturday. What
would a race of this magnitude be without added
drama. Whether or not Casino Drive is a pretender or
a contender is really irrelevant. It's the fact that
we have to ask the question in the first place that
adds the drama. The answer comes on Saturday as we
all tune in to see if history can be made.
Truthfully folks, if Big Brown is going to do it,
I'd like to see him do it in Secretariat fashion and
blow away the field. But however it goes, it figures
to be exciting.
One final note - some nice scores have been made
in the past betting on the Belmont Stakes. It's the
added distances and the stretch run that have plenty
of long shots hitting the board. So take some
chances with your exotics. You might be handsomely
rewarded. Good Luck and enjoy!
