Orb's chances of winning the Triple Crown might have been dashed at the Preakness Stakes, but oddsmakers in Vegas like the thoroughbred's odds to win Saturday's Belmont Stakes.
The odds give Orb, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, a 3-1 morning line favorite of the 14 horses entered in Saturday's 147th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Orb was on a roll until the Preakness last month, where the colt finished in fourth place.
However, Orb's trainer, Shug McGaughey, is confident that Orb can rebound from the loss at the Preakness to make it two out of three at the final leg of the Triple Crown.
"He's been here for three weeks, and I think it has to be a help not only mentally but being familiar with the footing as well," McGaughey told the Associated Press. "He's done well here and trained well here. . . . I'm going to strike a line through the Preakness. It wasn't his day. It was Wayne Lukas and Oxbow and Gary Stevens' day. We're going to regroup and hopefully you'll see the right horse here on Saturday."
Orb will be running in the No.5 post at Belmont, which will feature the largest field of competing horses, 14, at Belmont since 1996. Meanwhile, Oxbow,who ended Orb's bid for the Triple Crown thanks to his win at the Preakness, will be running two spots over at the No.7 post. Oxbow has a 5-to-1 odds to win, while Revolutionary, who finished third at the Derby, was slated at 9-2 odds to take the Belmont Stakes.
Oxbow and Orb will be running against a stacked field that includes Unlimited Budget, Overanalyze, Golden Soul, Palace Malice and Midnight Taboo.
Unlimited Budget has 8-1 odds while Palace Malice is sporting 15-1 odds, Midnight Taboo has 30-1 odds and Overanalyze is a 12-1 favorite in the race. Freedom Child, with 8-1 odds, is a newcomer to the race, having won the Peter Pan Stakes four weeks ago.
"It's going to be a case of catch him if you can," Terry Finley, whose West Point Thoroughbreds syndicate co-owns Freedom Child, told the New York Times. "He gets out there and gets in rhythm. It's the only way he knows to run."
Overall, the field is projected to look like this:
No.1 Frac Daddy (Alan Garcia, 30-1)
No.2 Freedom Child (Luis Saez, 8-1)
No.3 Overanalyze (John Velazquez, 12-1)
No.4 Giant Finish (Edgar Prado, 30-1)
No.5 Orb (Joel Rosario, 3-1)
No.6 Incognito (Irad Ortiz Jr., 20-1)
No.7 Oxbow (Gary Stevens, 5-1)
No.8 Midnight Taboo (Garrett Gomez, 30-1)
No.9 Revolutionary (Javier Castellano, 9-2)
No.10 Will Take Charge (Jon Court, 20-1)
No.11 Vyjack (Julien Leparoux, 20-1)
No.12 Palace Malice (Mike Smith, 15-1)
No.13 Unlimited Budget (Rosie Napravnik, 8-1)
No.14 Golden Soul (Robby Albarado, 10-1)
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