Met Mile 2020 odds, field, predictions: Horse racing insider reveals surprising picks, best bets

Red-hot handicapper Bob Weir has nailed four Picks 4s at Belmont Park since June 18. Now he's locked in his picks for the 2020 Met Mile at Belmont Park on Saturday.

By CBS Sports Staff

Jul 4, 2020 at 1:40 pm ET • 3 min read

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The George Weaver-trained Vekoma will try to win a second straight Grade 1 race when he leaves the starting gate on Saturday in the 2020 Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap, better known as the 2020 Met Mile, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. This 4-year-old son of Candy Ride has five wins and one third in seven career starts. He is coming off a seven-plus length win in the Grade 1 Carter at Belmont on June 6 and is getting 5-2 in the 2020 Met Mile odds, the-second lowest in the field.

The Bob Baffert-trained McKinzie is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the 2020 Met Mile field. Post time for the Grade 1 race is 5:47 p.m. ET. With an elite and wide-open eight-horse field ready to enter the starting gate on Saturday, you'll want to see the horse racing predictions and best bets from what racing insider Bob Weir before making any 2020 Met Mile picks.

Based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Weir has been handicapping and following horse racing since reading Andy Beyer's landmark handicapping book "Picking Winners" in the late 1980s. Weir is highly invested in the Beyer Speed Figure, a number assigned to every race run by a horse that measures how fast the horse ran. He uses the figure as the backbone of his handicapping. In fact, thanks to his proficiency with speed figures and top-tier handicapping, he landed one of just eight spots on Beyer's figure-making team in 2017, a position he holds to this day.

Weir's methodology has produced multiple five-figure days. In 2014, he hit a $60,000 Pick 6 at Del Mar. The following year, he nailed a $31,000 Pick 6 at Gulfstream Park. In 2016 and 2017, Weir qualified for the prestigious National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas.

And this year, his first for SportsLine, Weir has been on fire with his horse racing picks. In January he crushed the Pegasus World Cup, giving out an $8 exacta and a $1 trifecta, winning $757.60. He nailed the late Pick 4 at Gulfstream Park on both April 9 and April 10, hitting for $827.65 and $394.65. On June 13 Weir hit a $2 superfecta in the Ogden Phipps Stakes that paid a whopping $1,039. And he hit the late Pick 4 at Belmont Park on June 18, 19, 25 and on Thursday, with last week's score returning a whopping $2,159.50. Those are just some of his hits this year. Anyone who has followed Weir this year has seen some huge returns.

Now, Weir has handicapped the 2020 Met Mile field, made his picks and constructed his bets. You can see them all over at SportsLine.

2020 Met Mile expert predictions

One shocker: Weir is fading Network Effect, a horse going off at 8-1. This 4-year-old son of Mark Valeski is trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. He has three wins and four seconds in eight career starts.

But in his last race he finished more than seven lengths behind Vekoma in the Carter Handicap, and he will need to make up that distance on Saturday. In addition, his career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 96 is well shy of his main rivals' best figures. Weir does not have Network Effect among his top six choices.

Weir is, however, high on Code of Honor, the 3-1 third choice. This 4-year-old son of Noble Mission has six wins in 11 starts. He is coming off a ½-length win in the Grade 3 Westchester on June 6.

That was his first start in more than seven months. "He should be tighter for this race, and if they go too fast, he may run them all down late," Weir tells SportsLine.

How to make 2020 Met Mile picks

Instead, Weir's top pick is a long shot. This horse "is clearly a player by any measure" and could light up the tote board on Saturday. Weir is including this long shot in all of his win bets, exactas, trifectas and superfectas, and so should you. He's sharing which horse to back only at SportsLine.

So what long shot is Weir picking to win the Met Mile 2020? And what other horses do you need to include in your exactas, trifectas and superfectas? Check out the latest Met Mile odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Weir's picks for the Met Mile.