For the Belmont Stakes showdown between the winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, the track handicapper favored Preakness Stakes winner Journalism when the morning-line odds were set on Monday at the post-position draw for Saturday’s race.

The morning line made Journalism an 8-5 favorite. The betting public likes the colt even more. In wagering through Friday night, Journalism’s odds were down to 4-5.

At the Kentucky Derby on May 3, Sovereignty streaked through the mud to overtake Journalism in the stretch to win the Run for the Roses by 1.5 lengths.

Sovereignty’s handlers then pointed the colt toward the Belmont Stakes, skipping the Preakness Stakes. After losing at the Kentucky Derby as the betting favorite, Journalism won as the betting favorite at the Preakness Stakes on May 17 despite a rugged ride.

The morning-line odds were at 2-1 for Sovereignty for the Belmont Stakes, but bettors don’t see the Kentucky Derby winner as Journalism’s top challenger on Saturday. Live wagering had Baeza at 7-2 and Sovereignty at 9-2. Baeza finished a fast-closing third in the Kentucky Derby in the colt’s most recent race.

This is the seventh straight year that the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes had different winners, eliminating any Triple Crown drama for the Belmont Stakes. Since Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018, no horse has won two of the Triple Crown races.

Because of renovation work at Belmont Park, the horses will run 1.25 miles instead of the usual 1.5 miles in the 157th Belmont Stakes. The change was made to conform to the track. For the second straight year, the Belmont Stakes is being contested at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Post time for the Belmont Stakes is 6:04 p.m. CDT Saturday.

FOX Sports coverage of the Belmont Stakes will start at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on FS1. At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, the main coverage will shift to FOX.

This year’s race has a $2 million purse, with $1.2 million going to the winner.

The eight entries in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, listed by their post positions, with the morning-line odds/live-betting odds (through Friday night):

Post Position 1: Hill Road 10-1 / 17-1

The colt comes to the Belmont Stakes off a three-quarter-length victory in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes that required running past two horses in the stretch. Hill Road had finished a hard-charging third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 1, which made his distant third in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby on March 8 a disappointment. Trainer: Chad Brown. Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Belmont Stakes winners Creator in 2016 and Mo Donegal in 2022. Record: 5-2-0-2. Earnings: $336,496. Pedigree: Exotic Notion by Quality Road.

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Post Position 2: Sovereignty 2-1 / 9-2

After coming up 1.25 lengths short of winner Tappan Street in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 29, Sovereignty ran the race of his life to win the Kentucky Derby by 1.25 lengths over Journalism on May 3. Sovereignty slogged from way back to take the lead in the stretch in the Run for the Roses. The colt had come from ninth over the final 2.5 furlongs to win the Grade 3 Street Sense Stakes by 5 lengths to close his 2-year-old campaign. As a 3-year-old, Sovereignty won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes by a neck with another big stretch run on March 1. Trainer: William Mott, who saddled Belmont Stakes winner Drosselmeyer in 2010. Jockey: Junior Alvarado. Record: 6-3-2-0. Earnings: $3,672,800. Pedigree: Crowned by Into Mischief.

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Post Position 3: Rodriguez 6-1 / 8-1

The colt finally will get to run on the Triple Crown trail after a hoof injury sidelined him for the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. After breaking his maiden in the first outing of his 3-year-old campaign at Santa Anita, Rodriguez had in-the-money finishes in graded-stakes races at the track – second in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 1 and third (11.25 lengths behind winner Journalism) in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 1. The colt came east and scored a wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial on April 5 at Aqueduct in his most recent outing. Trainer: Bob Baffert, who saddled Belmont Stakes winners Point Given in 2001, American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. Jockey: Mike Smith, who rode Preakness Stakes winners Drosselmeyer in 2010, Palace Malice in 2013 and Justify in 2018. Record: 5-2-2-1. Earnings: $522,800. Pedigree: Cayala by Authentic.

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Post Position 4: Uncaged 30-1 / 24-1

The colt won his first time out at Saratoga on Aug. 3 and again at Aqueduct on April 6 by running strong at the end. But in between Uncaged ran fourth as the favorite at Gulfstream on March 2, and last time out in his only graded-stakes race, he was a non-factor in a sixth-place showing at the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes on May 10. Trainer: Todd Pletcher. Jockey: Luis Saez, who rode Belmont Stakes winners Essential Quality in 2021 and Dornoch in 2024. Record: 4-2-0-0. Earnings: $105,450. Pedigree: Dark Nile by Curlin.

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Post Position 5: Crudo 16-1 / 16-1

Unraced as a 2-year-old, the colt led in the stretch before a fourth-place finish at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 8 in his first race. Crudo came back with a wire-to-wire win by 7.25 lengths at Keeneland on April 19. Crudo produced another wire-to-wire victory with a winning margin of 7.5 lengths in the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico on May 17. Trainer: Todd Pletcher, who saddled Belmont Stakes winners Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013, Tapwrit in 2017 and Mo Donegal in 2022. Jockey: John Velazquez, who rode Belmont Stakes winners Rags to Riches in 2007 and Union Rags in 2012. Record: 3-2-0-0. Earnings: $130,148. Pedigree: Blossomed by Justify, which won the Belmont Stakes in 2018.

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Post Position 6: Baeza 4-1 / 7-2

Baeza did not earn enough points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby to make the original field, but the scatch of Rodriguez opened a spot for the colt, and he made the most of it by finishing a neck behind second-place Journalism. Baeza found his speed in his third race, winning by 4.75 lengths over 1 mile at Santa Anita on Feb. 14. The next time out, Baeza couldn’t hold off Journalism down the stretch for a second-place finish by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 5. Trainer: John A. Shirreffs. Jockey: Flavien Prat. Record: 5-1-2-1. Earnings: $648,500. Pedigree: Puca by McKinzie.

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Post Position 7: Journalism 8-5 / 4-5

The betting favorite at the Kentucky Derby, Journalism came home second by 1.5 lengths to Sovereignty in the Run for the Roses, then got back to winning by banging through the stretch for a 1-length victory in the Preakness Stakes. The California colt had arrived at Churchill Downs on a four-race winning streak, including two this year – the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 1 and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 5. Trainer: Michael W. McCarthy. Jockey: Umberto Rispoli. Record: 7-5-1-1. Earnings: $2,838,880. Pedigree: Mopotism by Curlin.

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Post Position 8: Heart of Honor 30-1 / 22-1

The British-bred colt made his United States debut with a fifth-place run at the Preakness Stakes on May 17. Heart of Honor’s previous five races had come in Dubai, and he arrived at Pimlico off three straight runner-up finishes – by 1.5 lengths in the UAE 2,000 Guineas, a head in the Al Bastakiya and by a nose in the UAE Derby. Trainer: Jamie Osborne. Jockey: Saffie Osborne. Record: 7-2-4-0. Earnings: $400,919. Pedigree: Ruby Love by Honor A.P.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.