Weekend Winners Club

This year’s Belmont Stakes has plenty of chances to make history, as covered so nobly elsewhere. There are chances for the first female trainer win, for Zito to place in three 2010 Triple Crown races with three different horses, etc.

But the real story is that it will be the first Belmont Stakes, or any Triple Crown race for that matter, in history, to include two Dudes. That’s right, First Dude and Game On Dude will both take up their positions in the 1.5 mile battle this Saturday.

First Dude is fresh off setting some blistering fractions in the Preakness, only to lose in the final strides to Lookin at Lucky, who had his first lucky trip of the year.

Game on Dude comes off a Lone Star Derby win a week earlier, in which there was little competition and he won handily.

So these two dudes go to the racetrack, and this one dude says to the other dude,

“Dude, what happened to your Preakness?”
“Dude, I ran fast but got nailed at the wire. Where was your competition in the Lone Star, dude?”
“I don’t know dude, but I won it easy.”
“Dude, I ran faster in my Preakness loss than you did in your win.”
“Whatever dude, at least I have a graded victory.”
“Dude, I’m gonna kick your ass in the Belmont.”
“We’ll see, dude.”

And on and on they went as they galloped around the big sandy. The two dudes will now have to settle it on the track. But there are more than just the two dudes. There are ten other horses in the race, two of which are trained by Nick Zito.

Zito enters Ice Box, winner of the Florida Derby and runner-up in the Kentucky Derby, and Fly Down, an impressive winner of the Dwyer, in which there was little competition.

When asked what his chances are against the dudes, Zito said, “Dude, I’m not worried about them. This is New York. I own this track. You can put up as many dudes against me as you want, I’ll still win it. The dudes better hope they don’t get caught with their fly down.”

Bob Baffert, the California based trainer of Game On Dude, was asked to respond to Zito’s jokes. “Dude, this is no game. This is the Belmont, and none of the horses have run this far in a race before. Nick is a cool dude, but if he thinks the dudes are gonna roll over for him just because we’re in NY, he’s got another thing coming. Game on, dude.”

John Sadler, another Cali dude who coaches First Dude, was also asked to respond. “First of all, dude, this is the first dude to ever place in a Triple Crown race, much less run in two of them. This dude would have won if weren’t for Baffert’s #@$%@$#% (Lookin at) Lucky horse. First Dude is improving and wants to run all day. First Dude is gonna come in first, dude.”

Sadler also enters Dave in Dixie, who ran pretty well in Cali before stinking it up the last two races. He remarked, “We probably should have named him Dude in Dixie. That’s all I can think of.”

There are some other supposed contenders in the race, but dude: do you really think we need to cover them?

Post Horse Jockey Trainer Odds

1. Dave In Dixie Calvin Borel John Sadler 20-1

2. Spangled Star Garrett Gomez Richard Dutrow, Jr. 30-1

3. Uptowncharlybrown Rajiv Maragh Kiaran McLaughlin 10-1

4. Make Music for Me Joel Rosario Alexis Barba 10-1

5. Fly Down John Velazquez Nick Zito 9-2

6. Ice Box Jose Lezcano Nick Zito 3-1

7. Drosselmeyer Mike Smith Bill Mott 12-1

8. Game On Dude Martin Garcia Bob Baffert 10-1

9. Stately Victor Alan Garcia Mike Maker 15-1

10. Stay Put Jamie Theriot Steve Margolis 20-1

11. First Dude Ramon Dominguez Dale Romans 7-2

12. Interactif Javier Castellano Todd Pletcher 12-1
 

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