Swamp Rat (10) should vie for favoritism with the filly Dragic (6), and they both make plenty of sense. Dragic ran very well against males in a stakes at Kentucky Downs, and she probably found the one-mile distance to be too far for her that day. She proved that she handles turf and she's fast enough to compete against these. Swamp Rat just couldn’t get the distance in the With Anticipation last time and he ran reasonably well in his prior start in the Skidmore. I’ve still yet to see him get back to the brilliance we saw in his debut, so maybe getting back to Belmont will help him. I’m using him, but I actually prefer the other horse exiting the With Anticipation.

JOYFUL HEART (2) was always going to be dubious around two turns and he just ran out of gas in the late stages that day. While he was defeated by Swamp Rat in his debut on June 17, I thought Joyful Heart ran a fantastic race after setting a very fast pace. He easily broke through next time out before trying stakes company. While there is other speed in this field, I think Joyful Heart is just faster than the rest of them, and he’s shown good gate speed in his races. The rail has been the place to be on the Widener course, and he figures to secure that coveted position in the early stages.

I would also use Veterans Beach (3) and Stole E (7), who both ran well in the Laurel Futurity while perhaps not racing on the best part of the track. Real Money (4) has a right to improve turning back, and he was meant to start in a sprint at Saratoga following an impressive 2-year-old sales workout. I think you also have to take the lone European shipper seriously, as Neverland Rock (1) has faced some classy horses in England. This is a wide-open race.

THE PLAY

Win: 2
Exacta Key Box: 2 with 1,3,4,6,10
Trifecta: 2 with 1,3,6 with 1,3,4,6,7,10,11