The third and final race of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes is aptly named the “Test of the Champion” as it is the longest and most gruelling of the three jewels. Inaugurated in 1867, the Belmont Stakes takes place at the iconic Belmont Park also known as the fairest of racetracks. Like the two races before it, the Belmont Stakes is one of the most sought-after in terms of online betting.

Let’s look at the Belmont Stakes betting overview, which contains:

• How to bet on the Belmont Stakes
• What to bet on in the Belmont Stakes
• The best Belmont Stakes betting sites

Bodog

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Inconsistency when posting betting lines

Bodog is among the leaders in terms of betting odds availability in Canada and they also have a rich selection of props, which include the Belmont Stakes.

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One of the best and most popular books among Canadians, Bodog’s easy-to-use interface, nifty mobile betting platform, and abundant selection of betting odds make it a go-to even for horse racing aficionados.

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SIA offers a wide variety of betting odds from every major sporting event including the Belmont Stakes. It also includes a healthy dose of props.

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A staple among both seasoned bettors and beginners, SIA has earned its dependable reputation thanks to a combination of its friendly interface, depositing methods, and competitive betting odds. Can’t go wrong here.

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Belmont Stakes betting picks

As the third and final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes can become the most memorable of the three if not just for recency bias. It may trail the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in terms of popularity, but when a horse like American Pharaoh or Secretariat is going for it, it can easily become the most electric.

Funds are at an all-time high flowing through Belmont Stakes betting sites with 2019 generating a record handle for a non-Triple Crown year at over $100 million, which is around where Preakness Stakes was.

With betting becoming even more popular, sports betting is a booming business, which means oddsmaking will become craftier. It won’t be easy to go against the bookies. But you can still profit if you know how to play your cards, so to speak.

Understanding the Belmont Stakes, its history, and how its betting odds work is half the battle. With horse racing, choosing the winner is a no-brainer. Sometimes it is a foregone conclusion and sometimes it’s a bit more wide open.

But there will always be favorites, Belmont Stakes betting sites believe have the best chance of winning, and underdogs, those who are less likely to win.

By converting betting odds to implied probability, you can find what the bookies think of each horse’s chance. But what do you think? At times there is a disparity between what bookmakers believe will happen and what will happen, hence upsets.

You can learn more about this by getting into the Belmont Stakes. Read up and do some research. And this includes comparing the top online sportsbooks that offer the odds. 

Belmont Stakes betting preview

With betting, there are only winners and losers. Although upon closer inspection, the difference between winning and losing can be as little as a fraction and may not be worth the risk.

In this case, let’s look at a betting scenario between a heavy favourite and a longshot. Let’s call these hypothetical horses King Rule and Black Dog. 

King Rule is the significant favourite at odds of 1.50 meaning you will only see a $5 return on a $10 bet. On the flipside, Black Dog is one of the biggest underdogs at 50.00 meaning a $10 bet will yield a $500 return.

Our favorite is on the path to a Triple Crown and has won the last two races by at least four lengths. His odds have quickly dropped as chalk players looking for an “easy payday” bet him heavily. He’s the foregone winner and they’re more than happy to make pennies out of a dollar. Meanwhile, Black Dog sits steadily at 50-1 odds making no headlines at all. 

The race starts and while King Rule has a solid start, he starts to falter in the middle. Black Dog, who had a slow start is beginning to catch up. All of a sudden, with just a quarter of the race left, both King Rule and Black Dog are neck-and-neck.

The big money chalkers are all sweating bullets while the handful of casuals who bet Black Dog on a whim are ecstatic. This is a historic upset in the making.

Alas, King Rule manages to edge out Black Dog and win the race. He becomes a Triple Crown winner. Chalkers breathed a heavy sigh of relief while those who bet Black Dog still couldn’t help but smile feeling they’ve won. 

While it’s true that the favourite did win, the amount of stress it took to cash almost made that bet not worth it while the underdog gleefully teased its bettors. Not all winners (and losers) are made the same. Be smart when betting. There is no such thing as a “sure winner.”

What can you bet on during the Belmont Stakes?

The Belmont Stakes’ betting outlook can look a bit different depending on the hype heading in. If there is a horse going for the Triple Crown, expect there to be a bit more betting markets available. But if there is no bid for a Triple Crown, this might look a bit different. Either way, the Belmont Stakes will always be a major attraction and will constantly offer plenty of betting.

For those horse racing fans that aim to bet on the Belmont Stakes online, we have a range of great betting markets to explore. We aim to highlight the various ways to enjoy betting on the Belmont Stakes, as well as explore previous years’ races. Stay tuned for more in our Belmont Stakes betting guide.

Belmont Stakes Winner 2022

Here it is, the betting odds that matters most: pick the outright winner of the Belmont Stakes. It’s straightforward and most of the work for newbies is deciphering what odds mean. So this is what they mean:

• American odds: show up with minus and plus numbers. Minus indicates how much you need to bet to win $100 while plus shows how much you win when you bet $100. When it comes to the Belmont Stakes, sometimes every horse has a plus number. This means oddsmakers don’t believe any single horse has more than a 50% chance of winning. 
• Fractional odds: this is what you might see most and reads like “50-1” or “4-1” odds, meaning you multiply the second number with the first to indicate how much you win on top of your stake. The bigger the first number is over the second, the bigger the payout.
• Decimal odds: is like fractional odds but translated as a decimal; it is easier to calculate: simply multiply your wager with the number e.g. 5.00, 4.00 and that is how much you get back, including your stake. This is the popular format for Canadians. 

Belmont Stakes – Podium Finish

Since the Belmont Stakes, like most horse races, award the top three finishers, betting odds are also widely available for these. 

These odds manifest per horse: you get to choose which position the horse will finish in. It may appear like this:

• [Horse] 
  • To Win (First place)
  • Top 2 (“Place”)
  • Top 3 (“Show”

Picking “top 2” or “Place” indicates the horse will finish second place or first place and “top 3” or “Show” is a third place or better finish. The payout is adjusted on the proximity of the bets. Since finishing in the top 3 is a less risky bet than a top 2 or outright win, it pays less. But the odds of cashing the bet is also higher.

Depending on the Belmont Stakes betting sites and situations, you can also bet on the horse to finish in a specific position within the top 3 or not at all. The payout will be significantly higher as predicting an exact finish (other than first place) is incredibly difficult outside of heavy favorites.

Prop Bets: Events and Horses etc. 

Belmont Stakes betting sites also offer several prop bets. These are wagers made on a specific condition happening or not happening. Think of it as the sports betting manifestation of this question: “bet you this will happen” or “bet you this won’t happen.” 

This is when you can let loose and have a bit of fun as many of these can be arbitrary or unconventional in nature. 

Here are some examples of popular prop bets at the Belmont Stakes:

• Will Secretariat’s record time be broken?
• Will a horse win the Triple Crown? (only available if the horse has already won the previous two jewels)
• What is the winning horse’s time: over/under
• What letter will the winning horse’s name start with?
• Will the winning jockey win an Eclipse Award?

Usually, these prop bets are simply a selection between either/or although odds are not always 50/50 (such as breaking Secretariat’s record).

In terms of the over/under, one of the more popular prop bets, you bet whether the winning time will go over (higher) or under (lower) than the bookie’s predicted time. If the oddsmaker sets the winning time at 2:21:33, you bet whether the winner will have a shorter (under) or longer (over) time. 

When it comes to betting props, take it slower and don’t bet as much. The betting limits tend to not be that high anyway. 

While they appear trivial, you can still make a tidy profit here by doing some deep digging. Find past betting results on some frequently opened props or look into the history of the Belmont Stakes to find any trends the oddsmakers may have missed or miscalculated. 

You never know what you’ll find when you look hard enough.

Betting Strategies

It’s never more apparent that bettors are either lottery gunning for a major upset or chalking, betting heavily on favourites, than the Belmont Stakes. As the third and final leg of the Triple Crown, it’s fairly common – once every four year average – that there is a horse gunning for the legendary title.

When it is one of those cases, you can either side with this future Hall of Famer or go against it. Do some research first. Start with what the success rate of horses going for a Triple Crown are? Do they usually succeed or not?

The oddsmakers have that calculated already. The key is to determine if they calculated correctly or they may have miscalculated a bit. Wait a while as the betting public will tend to lean on one side.

Also, depending on what side you’re taking, it’s better to either wait or bet immediately. For favourites, it may be better to bet as early as you can before the public bet a line to the point it becomes unprofitable. But for underdogs, especially big underdogs, there shouldn’t be any rush betting.

In the event there will be no Triple Crown and it’s almost an even playing field, it can be a crapshoot. Look at the odds and see if it’s viable to bet on more than one horse. Set a betting budget and shop around for the best betting odds.

How does the Belmont Stakes betting work?

Like its two counterparts, Belmont Stakes odds are available all year round and is usually reliant on both the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Derby in terms of how it is lined. Naturally, Belmont Stakes betting sites use both of these races as a barometer for the contestants. 

Odds are traditionally released early, even right after the most recent Belmont Stakes has just finished. Though these odds would be vague and may be taken off the board or changed within a few days or weeks. Betting on these odds, known as “Futures”, would mean tying up your money for a while and only has small limits.

The Belmont Stakes is usually a place where history happens: we either see a Triple Crown winner or a monumental upset. As such, there have been more big money winners here than its two predecessors.

Belmont Stakes Betting history

Since its inception in 1867, over 150 years ago, the Belmont Stakes has seen its fair share of records and record breaking. It is notable among the three jewels as having seen the biggest and most frequent upsets by betting odds.

This may be due to Belmont Park having the longest track and being the third race where favourites may be worn down. Belmont Park is 1 mile and 1/2 long (11 furlongs or 2,414 meters) on a dirt track.It is the longest of the three Triple Crown races. Qualified colts and geldings weigh 126 lbs (57.2 kilos) while fillies are 121 lbs (55 kilos).

The total purse is usually $1.5 million with $800,000 going to the first-placed winner.

Here are some Belmont Stakes’s notable records:

• Speed record (1 1/2 miles): 2:24 – Secretariat (1973)
• Biggest underdog to win: Sarava, 70-1 (2002)
• Largest margin of victory: 31 lengths – Secretariat (1973)
• Most wins by a jockey: 6 – Jim McLaughlin (1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888), Eddie Arcaro (1941, 1942, 1945, 1948, 1952, 1955)
• Most wins by a trainer: 8 – James G. Rowe Sr. (1893, 1894, 1901, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1913)
• Most wins by an owner: 6 – Belair Stud (1930, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1939, 1955), James R. Keene (1879, 1901, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1910)
• Most money bet on the Belmont Stakes card: $150 million (2014)

Our take-aways

Use multiple sportsbooks and bet the best betting odds

Opening accounts in multiple sportsbooks has a bevy of benefits. Firstly, you can take advantage of multiple sign-up offers. Next, you’ll be able to shop for better betting odds. Different books have different odds and some have props that others don’t. When it comes to the Belmont Stakes, some books are better and you’ll only know by comparing each one.

Weigh the risks of betting favorites or underdogs

When it comes to the Belmont Stakes, sometimes you either side with the majority betting on the favourite or you go rogue and stick up for an underdog. Your odds of winning may be higher by betting the favourite but the risk and the payout may not even worth it. Betting on underdogs is always risky, but it can set you good for the next ten horse races if you nail it.

The most difficult of the three jewels

It’s named “Test of the Champion” for a reason. The Belmont Stakes is the longest of the three races and many horses, including the favourites, can be worn down from all of the training from the previous five weeks. When the favourite falters, it’s anyone’s race to win making it a rich day for underdogs.