This is not the Belmont Stakes that was to be expected just a few months ago.
The COVID-19 pandemic carries a large responsibility for that as horse racing's schedule has been upended. But injuries also have impacted the expected field for Saturday's 152nd running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes, now the first leg of the Triple Crown rather than the last.
"There was a point in time where it was going to be an all-star field," said NBC Sports analyst Jerry Bailey, a Hall of Fame jockey, on a media teleconference this week. "Nadal was going to be in there. There was a good chance Charlatan was going to be in there. A horse called Maxfield was going to be in there. Those were probably in the top four horses in the country, 3-year-olds. It's like any sport. Injuries happen."
