posted May 29, 2008 at 14:29 EST in Triple Crown Betting Trends

In the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile a horse by the name of Macho Uno stamped himself as a legitimate contender in the 2001 Triple Crown races. Macho Uno, sired by Holy Bull, appeared to be the best chance of breaking the Juvenile winner/Kentucky Derby winner curse that had been in place since the very first Breeders’ Cup Juvenile race. Unfortunately, Macho Uno never got a chance to be the first Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner to win the Kentucky Derby. He was retired to stud before his three-year old season and since then; he has produced okay horses but not great horses. Not great enough, at any rate, to do what he did or what his daddy did on the racetrack.

That could all change come June 7th when Macho Uno’s son, the slowly developing Macho Again, takes his game to the 2008 Belmont Stakes and challenges undefeated Triple Crown threat Big Brown in the Test of Champions.

Macho Again was a fast closing second in the Preakness Stakes. Big Brown was absolutely stunning but Macho Again wasn’t that bad himself. He had to go five wide around the turn, was behind seven lengths at the top of the stretch, steadied at the quarter pole and still finished only 5 and ¾ lengths behind Big Brown.

Sure, Kent Desormeaux was taking it easy on Big Brown in the stretch drive of the Preakness, but that shouldn’t take anything away from the fact that Macho Again had a terrible trip but found a way to get himself into the money.

Good horses can do that. The fact that superman jockey Garret Gomez takes the call on Macho Again in the Belmont Stakes only makes the horse more alluring. He will be going off at double-digit odds in the Belmont, I can almost guarantee that, but if there is another horse in the 2008 Belmont Stakes besides Casino Drive that could challenge Big Brown’s dominance, it’s Macho Again.

Besides Garret Gomez, there are a number of other reasons to like Macho Again.

For starters, he was the only horse that appeared to be making up ground on Big Brown in the Preakness Stakes. Again, a lot of that had to do with Kent Desormeaux not wanting to hurt Big Brown in the stretch and just letting the horse gallop out before the finish line, but if that was just the case, and Macho Again weren’t better then his other Preakness rivals, then why didn’t any other horse make up ground on Big Brown?

Macho Again also has enough bottom to get the Belmont Stakes distance of 1 ½ miles. The 2008 Belmont Stakes will be his tenth lifetime start. That means that he should have enough in the tank to challenge either Big Brown or Casino Drive when the real racing starts.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that he will challenge Big Brown or Casino Drive. It just means that he definitely could if things go his way in the race.

The BetUS online racebook odds on Macho Again to win the 2008 Belmont Stakes are currently 46 to 1.

If you liked the horse before, then get on him right now. Yes, Big Brown looks unbeatable, but there have been a lot of horses that have looked unbeatable going into the Belmont Stakes. At 46 to 1, with the best jockey in the world on his back, Macho Again has that upset feel about him.

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