James graces “Your Lucky Times”TM once more for the final leg of the Triple Crown, casting his keen eye on the sky for what the Stars portend for the Venerable Belmont Stakes' 150th Brithday!
The Astrological Weather
This Saturday June 9th, 2018 marks the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes, the third and final leg of the Triple Crown, and rain could be a factor yet again! There might even be some thunder and lightning. Does the race get delayed — or cancelled?
I doubt very much there will be a cancellation, but there could easily be a delay. Not just because of the potential torrential rain during post time, but more likely because during the day other races get pushed out.
The Belmont Stakes is scheduled for 6:46 PM in New York. But with the potential of a delay, I am going to expand the range for race time up to 7:15 PM. The chart will still have a Sagittarius ascendant and a Virgo Midheaven. The Moon will be 27 degrees of Aries, approaching a conjunction to Uranus at 1 degree of Taurus.
Uranus May Provide the Lightening
Justify, born Mar 28th, 2015. has had transiting Uranus in orb to conjunct his Mars at 28 degrees of Aries since late April 2018. (Thus in orb and in effect for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.)
Uranus is now at 1-degree of Taurus, so it is separating from that beneficial conjunction. There were other horses in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with the same foal date, and even in this Belmont Stakes, Tenfold has the same foal date, Vino Rosso was born a day later, March 29th, and Noble Indy has a March 30th, 2015 foal date — In fact, Noble Indy has a 1-degree Taurus Mars for even a tighter Mars-Uranus conjunction on Saturday!
This is where the actual time of birth would be very helpful, so that we could see the astrological houses, since Justify’s Mars is obviously more predominant for him than for Noble Indy.
Let’s Justify Justify
At the time of the race, the Moon at 27 degrees of Aries will be conjunct Justify’ s Mars. This Saturday transiting Mars will be at 7 degrees of Aquarius, making a nice sextile to Justify’s Sun at 7 degrees of Aries.
Justify certainly has some astrological aspects for winning again this Saturday. In addition, Mike Smith, the jockey for Justify, will have his natal Pluto and Venus in Virgo conjunct the midheaven at the time of the race. This should be very helpful! Not only that, transiting Mercury will be conjunct his Jupiter: It’s very beneficial when the Planet of Racing conjuncts the Great Lucky Guy himself!!!
A Belmont Heartbreaker?
But the Belmont track is 1½ miles long, which is longer than both the 1¼ miles at the Kentucky Derby and 1 3/16 miles at the Preakness. Some are concerned about Justify “hitting the wall” at the 1¼ mile, coming off of just three weeks’ rest and a lot of racing since February. The Belmont Stakes could just be too much for him!
The Belmont Stakes is known as the “Maker of Champions,” but in this case, it could be a case of a “breaker of a champion” or of some broken hearts. This could especially be true if the “Big Sandy,” as the Belmont track is known, becomes the “Big Swamp” and leaves Justify wading from the 1 Post — known to be the worst draw of the race.
We Owe It to Ourselves
At Justify’s odds of 4-5, or worse as we approach post time, we owe it to ourselves to find some better bets. Let’s have an astrological look at some other horses in the race. Hofburg, Bravazo, Tenfold, and even Noble Indy all have some aspects that could see them take the Belmont Stakes. But I am going concentrate on two horses upsetting Justify: Gronkowski and Vino Rosso.
Gronkowski born on February 1st, 2015, has Mercury and Sun in Aquarius. Mars will be activating this conjunction. Chad Brown (trainer) and Jose Ortiz (jockey) also both have pretty good astrological aspects for the day. I like the aspects; I like the fact that Gronkowski’s Mercury and Sun will be activated by transiting Mars. I will be making a wager on Gronkowski.
Vino Rosso was born March 29th, 2015. As I mentioned, Justify, Tenfold, Vino Rosso and Noble Indy were all born around the same day. So, any of these horses have pretty much the same astrological aspects as Justify.
Red, Red Wine
But for Vino Rosso, the orbs will be a little tighter and probably a little stronger than for Justify. The Mars transit I mention above for Justify in fact will be approaching a conjunction with Vino Rosso’s Sun at 8 degrees of Aquarius.
Mars tends to work early and works better on approach. Will this be enough to make the difference for Vino Rosso to win?
It will a tall order indeed, but a horse like Vino Rosso just might be able to pull it off. His running style is perfectly suited to this longest of the Triple Crown races, as he usually saves his best running for late.
Whether or not he is good enough to catch Justify remains to be seen. But with a morning line of 10-1, I like those odds better than those for Justify.
Also, let's not forget, unlike America Pharoah (who easily won the Preakness when he won the Triple Crown), Justify only took the middle jewel at Pimlico by a half-length. And had the race been 1½ miles like the Belmont, he might have been passed not only by one horse, but perhaps by a few more! So I’ll take Vino Rosso to win, place, and show. Cheers!!!
And thank you, James!
Lucky Star