Betting lines and race trends for the 2019 Belmont Stakes

War of Will picked up his fourth win over his last six races last month when he emerged victorious in the 144th running of the Preakness Stakes. With Tyler Gaffalione once again on the mount, War of Will looks to add to his legacy with a win in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

War of Will is going off at +225 on the Belmont Stakes odds in Elmont at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The three-year-old’s impressive performance in the Preakness left horse racing fans wondering what the Kentucky Derby might have looked like if Maximum Security hadn’t veered out of his lane and impeded War of Will’s path in that race. But while the Triple Crown won’t be up for grabs on Saturday, War of Will could become just the 31st horse in history to win both the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont.

Tacitus figures to be the biggest obstacle standing in War of Will’s way on Saturday going off as the betting favorite on the horse racing odds at +200. After finishing in fourth place in the Kentucky Derby (third via disqualification), Tacitus’s team opted to hold the horse out of the Preakness to keep him fresh for the Belmont. His 103 Beyer Speed Rating from April’s Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct is tied for the highest speed any horse in this race has ever run.

The batch of horses sitting closest behind the two clear favorites at betting sites are Master Fencer (+700 to win the Belmont Stakes), Bourbon War (+800) and Intrepid Heart (+800). The Japan native Master Fencer showed some good late kick in the Kentucky Derby to move up from 19th place to seventh, and that late kick should serve him well as early leaders lose steam in the closing stretches of the Belmont’s one and a half mile track.

Rounding out the 10-horse field in this year’s Belmont Stakes are Preakness Stakes runner up Everfast (+1000), Sir Winston (+1200), Spinoff (+1200), Tax (+1200), and Joevia (+3300). Tax is the other horse alongside Tacitus that has run a Beyer Speed of 103 before, but in the Kentucky Derby this horse didn’t show much finishing in 15th place with a speed rating of just 83.

Belmont Stakes Odds

Tacitus +200

War Of Will +225

Master Fencer +700

Bourbon War +800

Intrepid Heart +800

Everfast +1000

Sir Winston +1200

Spinoff +1200

Tax +1200

Joevia +3300

For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast. Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.