Almost all the 2012 Belmont Stakes talk heading into race week has been focused on I'll Have Another and that horse's Triple Crown chances, and whatever's left has of late been soaked up by Dullahan—that horse and his trainer have emerged, for oddsmakers and sportswriters, as the most credible claimant to the title of Triple Crown spoiler. So where does that leave Union Rags, a favorite entering the Kentucky Derby whose run as marquee horse seemed to vanish the moment that race ended?
Well, not nearly as far back as an easy glance at the media coverage would suggest. Early odds have him at 6-to-1—just behind Dullahan's 5-to-1 in back of I'll Have Another's 4-to-5. Like Dullahan, Union Rags avoided the Preakness to allow more time to prepare for a grueling morning at the Belmont Stakes—and like Dullahan, all the superlatives that followed the horse heading into Kentucky should still apply.
For more Belmont Stakes 2012 coverage ahead of Saturday's race, check out these SB Nation St. Louis stories:
- The regulators' overreach threatened to overshadow Triple Crown mania when word got out about their heavy-handed detention barn policy.
- Here's one way of handicapping the Belmont Stakes you probably haven't seen yet: Which horse has the most genetic links to Triple Crown royalty?