Winning the Belmont with only 2 starts

[MO]

Has any horse ever won the Belmont with just 2 lifetime starts?

[richiebee]

Mo:

In 1876, Algerine won the Belmont after losing his only 2 previous starts, the
Preakness and the Withers.

It has also been reported that Prince Eugene, the 1913 winner, had only 2 starts
prior to his Belmont Stakes win, but research undertaken by staffers at the
National Museum of Racing shows that PE may have raced in England 3 times as a
2YO, in addition to making 2 starts as a 3YO prior to the Belmont.

These 2, by the way, the only maidens to win the Belmont.

[MO]

Thanks very much.

[albany]

How many starts did Stage Door Johnny have prior to the \'68 Belmont?

[jmetro]

Funny how there were pages written on here stating why Big Brown couldn\'t win the Derby with only 3 starts.  Casino Drive is trying to win the Belmont on only 2 starts and it\'s basically a non-issue.

[reboundman]

My question is, how many actually attempted the Belmont on only 2 starts? Guessing it\'s a minuscule number, which is probably why there aren\'t many winners.

[fkach]

That\'s a good question.

The only difference I see is that the Derby tends to be huge field and the environment a little tougher on green horses. That huge field causes a lot of rough trips that appear to put unseasoned horses at a disadvantage. The history of the Derby is that it produces a lot of subpar races from very good horses who then recover under more typical race circumstances. The same can also be said of the Belmont to some degree, but the Belmont is a unique distance. You can usually tell that the 12F was outside the range of some of the competitors.

I don\'t think having only two lifetime starts can be an advantage going into the Belmont, but I don\'t think it\'s as big a deal as if it was a 20 horse field and the horse was almost certain to find himself in a position he\'s never seen before.