The 2012 Belmont Stakes, particular media coverage of it, will—until or unless someone else wins it—inevitably, and understandably, come down to one horse: I'll Have Another. Which is not to say it's not nice to see the occasional article about the race's biggest underdogs in the runup to its June 9 date with history or near-history. Example: This Daily Racing Form piece about Ravelo's Boy, whose jockey is apparently as much an underdog as his horse.
Ravelo's Boy joins Guyana Star Dweej—my vote for horse-as-science-fiction-TV-show name of the year—and Five Sixteen as 50-to-1 underdogs, all the way back from I'll Have Another in front at 4-to-5. None of them are likely winners, but all of them are running in a race that—if they lose in the right order—will have a few books written about it, down the line. Which is a very strange way to be a witness to history, if you think about it.
More Belmont Stakes 2012 coverage from SB Nation St. Louis:
- The people involved with Ravelo's Boy are likely more savory than I'll Have Another's owner, who runs a shady lending operation.
- In between I'll Have Another and the underdogs slipped My Adonis, a late entrant and a genuine contender.