2024 Belmont Stakes Contenders: RESILIENCE

The 156th Belmont Stakes (G1) is Saturday, June 8, at Saratoga Race Course. The 1 ¼-mile race, shortened from 1 ½ miles due to the change of venue as the Belmont Park rebuild continues, is the final leg of the Triple Crown. usracing.com is publishing profiles of the contenders.

RESILIENCE

Bill Mott is pretty cautious when making decisions, so one would have to believe the Hall of Fame trainer is confident Resilience can rebound from his sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

Resilience

 Resilience skipped the Preakness Stakes to run in the Belmont Stakes

Resilience, winner of the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in April, posted a solid 4-furlong work in 48.00 on Sunday (June 2) at the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga, and is set to go in the Belmont.

In the Kentucky Derby, Resilience was in second place with a quarter-mile to go, but could not catch Mystik Dan, and yielded in deep stretch.

Resilience took four tries to break his maiden, accomplishing that feat on New Year’s Day at Gulfstream Park, under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. Riding the colt for the second time six weeks later in the Risen Star at the Fair Grounds, in which he finished fourth, Velazquez noticed a hesitation to pass horses and suggested outfitting the bay colt with blinkers for his next start in the Wood.

“I thought blinkers [would] keep him smart and focused and running,” Velazquez said.

It worked in the Wood. In the Derby, however, Velazquez was aboard the beaten favorite Fierceness, while Junior Alvarado rode Resilience for the first time. In his most recent work, Resilience was blinkers on.

Keith McCalmont of the NYRA press office posted a quote from Mott on X that read: “It was very, very good. The time was good, and he did it the right way. We intentionally wanted him to go out a bit around the turn after the work, which he did.”

2024 Preakness Stakes Contenders, Odds, and Post Positions: Resilience

Belmont Stakes Betting advice: Other than a win in the Wood, Resilience is 1-for-6. Pass.

Post position: 2

Odds: 10-1

Jockey: Junior Alvarado

Trainer: Bill Mott

Owner: Emily Bushnell, Ric Waldman

Career record:  7-2-1-1

Career earnings: $494,630

Top Equibase speed figure: 103

Pedigree: Into Mischief-Meadowsweet, by Smart Strike

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker

Notes: Mott has one victory in the Belmont, with Drosselmeyer in 2010 ... Pam and Marty Wygod bred Resilience and he is co-owned by their daughter, Emily Bushnell, and Ric Waldman, who oversaw the career of influential stallion Storm Cat at Overbrook Farm … Resilience’s debut at Saratoga was an eventful one, hitting the gate at the start, going six-wide on the first turn, getting bounced around at the five-sixteenth pole and having nothing left and finishing sixth.

2024 Belmont Stakes Contenders & Odds
PPHorseJockeyTrainerOwnerOdds
1SEIZE THE GREYJaime TorresD. Wayne LukasMyRacehorse8-1
2RESILIENCEJunior AlvaradoBill MottEmily Bushnell & Ric Waldman10-1
3MYSTIK DANBrian Hernandez, Jr.Kenneth McPeekLance Gasaway, 4 G Racing LLC & Daniel Hamby III5-1
4THE WINE STEWARDManny FrancoMike MakerParadise Farms Corp. and Staudacher, David15-1
5ANTIQUARIANJohn VelazquezTodd PletcherCentennial Farms12-1
6DORNOCHLuis SaezDanny GarganWest Paces Racing LLC, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding LLC, Two Eight Racing LLC & Pine Racing Stable15-1
7PROTECTIVETyler GaffalioneTodd PletcherRepole Stable20-1
8HONOR MARIEFlorent GerouxWhit BeckmanRibble Farms LLC12-1
9SIERRA LEONEFlavien PratChad BrownMagnier, Mrs. John, Tabor, Michael B., Smith, Derrick, Westerberg, Rocket Ship Racing, LLC and Brant, Peter M.9-5
10MINDFRAMEIrad Ortiz, Jr.Todd PletcherRepole Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC7-2

 

Proudly featured on:
up