Eight of the nine entrants in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 10, are Kentucky-breds, led by Preakness S. (G1) winner National Treasure and Grade 1 winners Forte and Tapit Trice. Forte, last year’s Champion 2-Year-Old Male, has been installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in The “Test of the Champion,” which is run at the endurance-testing 1 ½-mile distance.

A triumph in the Belmont would be a redeeming one for Forte, who was scratched just hours before the Kentucky Derby (G1) due to a bruised foot. A son of Violence, Forte enjoyed a championship campaign at two, rattling off three Grade 1 victories, including scores in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland. In his 3-year-old debut this season, he won the Fountain of Youth S. (G2) and the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park for owners Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable.

“He’s such a pleasure to train, so professional and straight forward,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “He’s one of those types of horses where if you feel like you need to do a little more with him like we have the last couple of works, he’s responsive. But if you want to go easy on him, he’ll do that too. He has a good mind to him, and I’m pleased with the way he seems to have maintained his fitness level. We’re happy with him.”

Bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm, and a $110,000 Keeneland September Sale graduate, Forte has won six of seven starts and has banked $2,409,830. He is produced from the multiple stakes-winning Blame mare Queen Caroline.

Pletcher will also send out Kentucky-bred Tapit Trice who enters the Belmont off a seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Owned by Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable, Tapit Trice is by Tapit, who has sired four Belmont Stakes winners. Tapit Trice captured the Blue Grass S. (G1) at Keeneland on April 8 and also annexed the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs.

“He’s got that playful attitude that comes with a lot of (Tapit progeny),” Pletcher said. “I love the way he gets over the ground. He’s got that big, long, efficient stride. I think the big sweeping turns here are going to be to his liking.”

Bred by co-owner Gainesway, Tapit Trice is out of the multiple graded stakes-placed Dunkirk mare Danzatrice. He was bought for $1.3 million at the 2021 Keeneland September Sale.

Kentucky-bred National Treasure will attempt to become the 19th horse to sweep the Preakness-Belmont double without a Derby victory. The son of Quality Road notched a front-running win in the Preakness, the middle jewel of the Triple Crown for trainer Bob Baffert. Third behind Forte in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), National Treasure entered the Preakness off a fourth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 8. The last horse to win both the Preakness and the Belmont without running in the Kentucky Derby was Pillory in 1922.

“We were really proud of the way he dug in. We figured the distance would help him the further they went,” Baffert said of National Treasure’s Preakness effort. “He’s a big, long-jumping horse and he has speed.”

Bred in Kentucky by Peter Blum Thoroughbreds, National Treasure is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan. He was purchased for $500,000 from the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale. He was won two of six outings and has amassed earnings of $1,335,000.

Trainer Brad Cox will attempt to win his second Belmont Stakes with a trio of starters, two of which hail from the Bluegrass in Hit Show and Tapit Shoes. Hit Show finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby and was runner-up to Lord Miles, losing by just a nose following a tough trip in the Wood Memorial S. (G2) April 8. Hit Show is a Kentucky homebred for Gary and Mary West.

Rounding out the Kentucky-bred contingent are Arcangelo, winner of the Peter Pan S. (G3) in his most recent start, Il Miracolo, and Red Route One, who finished fourth last time out in the Preakness S. (G1). Post time for the Belmont Stakes is 7:02 p.m. ET.