Rodriguez wasn’t an overwhelming favorite entering Triple Crown season, but the Bob Baffert horse figured to be a factor before a foot injury kept him out of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Due to the injury, Rodriguez hasn’t run since winning the Wood Memorial on April 5, but after strong workouts over recent weeks, Rodriguez is trending towards being in the 2025 Belmont Stakes field. The Belmont Stakes 2025 will run from Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, June 7, with Belmont Park on Long Island still undergoing construction, and Rodriguez will be well-rested in his first competition in two months.

Baffert’s horse is listed at 6-1 in the latest 2025 Belmont Stakes odds. Previous Triple Crown race winners Sovereignty (8-5) and Journalism (9-5) are closely priced to win among the 2025 Belmont Stakes horses. Before making any 2025 Belmont Stakes picks, be sure to see the horse racing predictions and futures bets from SportsLine’s elite horse racing expert Jody Demling.

A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling hit the top three finishers at the Kentucky Derby in the correct order and then nailed the exacta in this year’s Preakness Stakes. He also predicted the winner of the Belmont Stakes four of the last seven years, including an exacta in 2022 with Mo Donegal and Nest. Anyone who has followed him on those picks is up huge and first-time users can boost their bankroll with the latest FanDuel Racing promo code.

Now, with the 2025 Belmont Stakes around the corner, Demling is sharing his 2025 Belmont Stakes betting picks and 2025 Belmont Stakes predictions over at SportsLine. Go here to see them.

Top 2025 Belmont Stakes predictions

One of Demling’s surprising 2025 Belmont Stakes picks: He isn’t picking Sovereignty or Journalism to win, even though they each won a leg of this year’s Triple Crown and are the two favorites. Horse racing fans hoped to see these two go head-to-head throughout the Triple Crown season, but Sovereignty, the Kentucky Derby winner, was held out of the Preakness Stakes. Sovereignty has split his two Grade I stakes races though, finishing second at the Florida Derby, and no horse since Thunder Gulch in 1995 has won the Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby without completing the Triple Crown.

Journalism was the favorite in each of the first two legs of the Triple Crown and although he won as a near even-money favorite at the Preakness Stakes, it was a challenging run that almost resulted in him being stuck in the middle too long to make the late winning run he needed. The 2025 Belmont Stakes is gearing up to have a stronger field than the Preakness Stakes, and Demling sees better value in other options than the two horses all but guaranteed to take off with the two shortest odds at the Belmont Stakes 2025. See which other 2025 Belmont Stakes horses to target at SportsLine.

How to make 2025 Belmont Stakes picks, bets

Demling’s top pick is an underdog who could be “the best value in the race.” Demling is sharing which horse it is, along with his entire projected 2025 Belmont Stakes leaderboard, over at SportsLine.

Which horse wins the Belmont Stakes 2025, and which value longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2025 Belmont Stakes odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Demling’s picks for the Belmont Stakes, all from the expert who nailed the top three Kentucky Derby finishers in the correct order and the Preakness Stakes exacta.

2025 Belmont Stakes horses, odds