Belmont Stakes 2024 odds, picks, post draw: Mystik Dan, Seize the Grey, plus Sierra Leone predictions (2024)

The 2024 Belmont Stakes will run in Upstate New York at the legendary Saratoga Race Course. With the 2024 Belmont Stakes distance being modified to 10 furlongs from the usual 12, a whole new 2024 Belmont Stakes betting strategy is required. Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (5-1) is the only horse to compete in all three legs of the Triple Crown and will try to complete the exacta for the third time in the sequence. The 2024 Belmont Stakes favorite is the Chad Brown-trained Sierra Leone (9-5), who came up a nose short behind Mystik Dan in the Kentucky Derby.

The Todd Pletcher-trained Mindframe (7-2) is a worthy contender despite having only raced twice in his brief career. In those two races, he's combined for more than 21 lengths of victory. The 2024 Belmont Stakes post time is 6:41 p.m. ET. Before making any 2024 Belmont Stakes predictions, you'll want to see elite horse racing handicapper Jody Demling's 2024 Belmont Stakes picks and analysis.

A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling enters the 2024 Belmont Stakes having nailed the Derby-Oaks double 11 of the last 16 years. He also predicted the winner of the Belmont Stakes four of the last six years and called 10 of the last 20 Preakness winners, including 2023 when he hit the winner, exacta, trifecta and superfecta as well as the trifecta in 2024. Anybody following him in those races saw huge returns.

Now, with the Belmont Stakes 2024 approaching, Demling is sharing his picks and predictions over at SportsLine. Click here to see his picks for the third leg of the Triple Crown.

2024 Belmont Stakes predictions for Mystik Dan, Seize the Grey and Sierra Leone

Demling has locked in his picks for Seize the Grey, who just won the Preakness. The D. Wayne Lukas-trained colt won the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard and will try to close out a stellar five week stretch with another victory. In 10 lifetime starts, he has four wins, no second-place finishes, and three third-place results.

One unique aspect of Seize the Gray's style is that he can win as a frontrunner, as we saw in the Preakness, or from off the pace as he showed at Churchill Downs on May 4. He does have experience at Saratoga, breaking his maiden at the track last summer and finishing third in an ungraded stakes race last August.See Demling's prediction for Seize the Grey here.

Demling has also locked in his 2024 Belmont Stakes picks for Mystik Dan, who won the Kentucky Derby by a nose in an epic finish. Mystik Dan won the first leg of the Triple Crown in a stunning photo finish and continued his quest for the Triple Crown in the Preakness Stakes. He finished second behind Seize the Grey in that race, and now he will try to bounce back on Saturday.

Mystik Dan broke his maiden in a maiden special weight race last November before winning the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes in February. He followed that up with a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and his Kentucky Derby victory. Mystik Dan will become the first horse since War of Will (2019) to race in all three legs of the Triple Crown during its normal five-week stretch.See Demling's prediction for Mystik Dan here.

Sired by the legendary Gun Runner out of Malibu Moon mare Heavenly Love, Sierra Leone returns to the Triple Crown trail after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby and bypassing the Preakness. Gun Runner was a 10-time graded stakes winner during an illustrious racing career and Sierra Leone has shown promise, with three wins and two runner-up finishes in five career starts.

That includes graded stakes wins at the Risen Star Stakes and Blue Grass Stakes. He went off as second favorite behind Fierceness at Churchill Downs and lost a photo finish in a seesaw battle between Mystik Dan and Forever Young. Seize the Grey and Mystik Dan will be clear tests for the talented three-year-old, as will Mindframe, who won both of his starts by more than seven lengths, Resilience (10-1) and Peter Pan Stakes winner Antiquarian (12-1).See Demling's prediction for Sierra Leone here.

How to make 2024 Belmont Stakes picks, bets

Demling is also high on a double-digit longshot who will be "right there" in the end. Anyone who backs this horse could hit it big.Demling is sharing which horse it is, along with his entire projected leaderboard, over at SportsLine.

Who wins the Belmont Stakes 2024? And which huge double-digit longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2024 Belmont Stakes odds below, thenvisit SportsLine to see Demling's picks for the 2024 Belmont Stakes, all from the expert who nailed trifecta at the Preakness and called four of the last six Belmont winners.

2024 Belmont Stakes horses, odds