More: Latest Belmont odds are here.
The 2012 Belmont Stakes is here, with race day in full effect and the race itself just hours away, but most of us watching NBC as casual fans are left with one deeply problematic issue: Now that I'll Have Another has been scratched, the rest of the horses, who haven't had campaign ads run all month on their behalf, are mostly mysteries. Dullahan and Union Rags are something, but the rest of the field? Even the expert scouting reports seem a little underfed. Take this My Adonis report from the great Matt Gardner.
Having read his work I'm sure Matt has all the information there is to have on this horse, a late entrant into the Belmont field, and there isn't much there—he's underperformed before, he has some speed, he's got a pedigree that suggests competence but not at the Belmont's length. If this horse had been in the Triple Crown running we'd know everything about him, his jockey, their family situation, and their owner's job, but now—it's a horse with a name and some odds.
Any of these names at the back—Street Life, Guyana Star Dweej, et al—could have stories just as interesting as I'll Have Another's, except for the one part where they don't win the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Which is the result, I guess, of a sport so ephemeral in the public consciousness and filled with so many athletes.