This year’s Belmont Stakes might not feature a storyline to engage the nation as Funny Cide and Smarty Jones did, but it offers a smorgasbord of intriguing possibilities for the ambitious gambler. Except for one big problem, of course: Afleet Alex.

Alex is the 6-5 morning-line favorite, and his price is only going to go down as the race approaches. His eye-popping acceleration in the Preakness, the near-fall, and the heroic recovery make him that much more attractive. Throw in a lemonade stand that attracts the sentimental money, and you have a very short price on a solid favorite.

Can he be beat? Of course: This is horse racing. But if you’re planning to gamble on a handful of exotic bets – let’s say 10 exacta boxes and five trifectas – don’t leave Alex out of them all. Put him on top of most of them. It’s the only way to bet him, since they’ll probably take money from you if you put your dollars on his nose and he comes home. (“Ladies and gentlemen, would everyone with a winning ticket on Afleet Alex please come to the mutual windows and deposit a dime.”)

Setting up those exotics is where the gambling gets interesting. The morning-line odds on these horses are separated into three distinct plateaus. First, you’ve got Afleet Alex looking like a foregone conclusion. Then you’ve got two second-tier horses, Giacomo (4-1) and Reverberate (6-1). Every other horse on the tote board is morning-lined at 12-1 or higher.

Beyond Alex, Reverberate and Giacomo are priced low simply because they have run in important stakes races. Giacomo looks better with every race, but he’s just not that fast. If the race is handed to him, he’ll take it, but he’s a plodder; while his Derby win was gutsy, it’s not impressive enough to warrant the second-favoritism at such a disparity. What’s more, he’ll draw a lot of money simply because people know his name. Regardless of how good he seems now, it’s worth remembering that he won the Derby at 50-1.

Reverberate, on the other hand, represents pretty good value. He’ll probably start the race well positioned behind Pinpoint and A.P. Arrow, pressing their pace. Once they fail, he’ll move when the movers come up at him. He should have the strength to stay on the board, though it would be a surprise if he kicked home to win it.

Beyond those three, the odds shoot to the sky. Think the trifecta will consist of Alex, Giacomo, and Reverberate? It is highly unlikely that all three of them will run their best race and show up on the board. We won’t necessarily get another freak-show exacta like the $9,814.80 payout on Derby day, but there’s some money to be made in a race with eight runners starting up in double-digit odds.

Southern Africa and Andromeda’s Hero seem like the two biggest overlays on the board. At 12-1 and 15-1, respectively, they offer outstanding value. The first is having a pretty good year, and the second is bred for this race.

Also bred to like the Belmont are the two A.P. Indy horses entered: Indy Storm and A.P. Arrow. A.P. Indy won the Belmont, after all, just like his daddy Seattle Slew did.

Don’t stop there. Much of this race can be bet negatively. Take Watchmon. It’s not like he has a better than 50-1 chance of winning the race, but the horses here are average enough that they don’t have better than a 50-1 chance of showing up and beating him.

I will make a lot of bets behind that idea. For instance, I’ll take an exacta with Andromeda’s Hero on top of Nolan’s Cat – a distance lover and a huge long shot, how can you not bet that? Or Southern Africa and Reverberate boxed under Afleet Alex. I’ll bet both of the A.P. Indy horses to place. And Nick Zito said at a Belmont luncheon the other day that he “wished Indy Storm had come into his own earlier, but he’s really coming into his own now.” That is as good a reason as any to put a little money on a horse likely to go off at 65-1 in a race with no clear second best.

Of course, it’s hard to bet against Afleet Alex. But isn’t this going to take a toll on him? Can he slog through the Derby, get knocked down in the Preakness, and come to Belmont to run a mile and a half? Can Jeremy Rose ride a mile and a half? If there’s a chink in this one, it’s right there.