Trainer Ken McPeek will saddle a pair of 30-1 morning line long shots in the 2012 Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Atigun, owned by Shortleaf Stable, and Unstoppable U, owned by Magdelena Racing, won't be expected to challenge I'll Have Another in his Triple Crown bid. And McPeek knows it.
"We're in a good spot in that Unstoppable U is on the inside and the other horse is coming from behind, that works out well," said McPeek. "But these horses admittedly are not of the class level of I'll Have Another, Dullahan, Union Rags. They haven't proven it at that level. So I really kind of needed to run both of them to have a real shot. "
Neither of these two colts has run in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Atigun placed fifth in the Arkansas Derby in April and Unstoppable U broke his maiden over six furlongs at Aqueduct in March and won an optional claiming race at Belmont in April over a mile.
BelmontStakes.org says Atigun "could be a three-year-old reaching his prime just in time for this race." The web site is not so kind to Unstoppable U, who is making only his third career start, saying "hard to see how he'll be a factor."
Belmont Stakes: Post Position Draw Analysis, Triple Crown Odds (via sbnation)