Belmont

With no possibility of winning the Triple Crown, Street Sense will not be asked to take on the endurance test of the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of racing's Triple Crown. During a morning news conference at Churchill Downs yesterday, trainer Carl Nafzger said Street Sense's owner and breeder, Jim Tafel, had decided to skip the Belmont. Instead, the horse will be pointed toward a late-summer and fall campaign that could make the son of Street Cry the only horse in history to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the Kentucky Derby, the Travers and the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Silverbulletday, the country's top 3-year-old filly, will challenge the top 3-year-old colts -- including Triple Crown hopeful Charismatic -- June 5 in the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, trainer Bob Baffert said.By frequently changing his mind and misleading reporters about plans for his horses, Baffert has become one of racing's least reliable sources of information. But this time he seems definite about plans for Silverbulletday."We're in. Jerry Bailey's riding. Mark it down," Baffert told the Daily Racing Form.

Although Lemon Drop Kid won't run in the Preakness, look for him in the Belmont.Trainer Scotty Schulhofer and Maryland owners Jinny Vance and Laddie Dance say they haven't lost confidence in the colt. They just want to preserve him for races later this season."It's a long year," Schulhofer said from his barn at Belmont Park. "And he's a young horse."A May 26 foal, Lemon Drop Kid had a rough trip in the Blue Grass Stakes, finishing fifth, and an even rougher trip in the Kentucky Derby, finishing ninth.

Edgar Prado can merely shake his head."I thought I was dreaming," he said.On Monday, closing day at Saratoga, Prado won the last race aboard Olive Flu to edge Jorge Chavez for second place in the jockey standings. Prado won 36 races, one more than Chavez, New York's winningest rider the past five years. Jerry Bailey, a three-time Eclipse Award winner, finished on top with 47.After dominating Maryland racing for a decade, Prado moved his tack to Saratoga for the prestigious six-week meet billed as perhaps the toughest in the country.

On the face of D. Wayne Lukas' watch are the silk colors of all 11 Triple Crown winners, from Sir Barton to Affirmed, where the first 11 numbers ordinarily would be."I would sure like to get that 12 o'clock high filled in," Lukas said yesterday, minutes after winning the second of the three-race series.One of the most successful trainers in history, Lukas has been focused on -- some would say obsessed with -- the classic series and the prestige that winning it would bring. He came close in 1995, becoming the first trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes with two different horses (Thunder Gulch in the first and last and Timber Country in the Preakness)

ELMONT, N.Y. -- The horse deserved better. So much better.His jockey blew it. His trainer didn't help. His Triple Crown bid was foiled by tactical mistakes.Then, worst of all, his powerful body failed him.But none of that kept Charismatic from running with all his heart yesterday in the Belmont Stakes, running after the leaders down the stretch, running until he abruptly fractured two bones in his left front ankle, to the horror of a record crowd.No horse deserves to be vanned off the track with such an injury, as Charismatic was after finishing third in the Belmont yesterday and failing to become racing's 12th Triple Crown winner.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- On a hot and steamy morning at historic Belmont Park, Charismatic walked off a large, shiny van and stepped onto New York soil yesterday for the first time in his life.A striking chestnut one victory from history's embrace, Charismatic entered the unknown attempting to do the near-impossible. On Saturday, in the 131st Belmont Stakes here at Belmont Park, Charismatic will try to sweep the Triple Crown, winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont the same year."This is one of the greatest things in sports, the Triple Crown," said Alex Hassinger Jr., the trainer of Patience Game, one of the dozen Belmont entrants.

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- In his first start as a 4-year-old, Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop overwhelmed four opponents in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race yesterday at Gulfstream Park.Ridden by Jerry Bailey, the 3-10 Victory Gallop circled the field entering the stretch to win by 2 3/4 lengths in 1 minute, 43 4/5 seconds.His next start is to be March 28 in the $5 million Dubai World Cup.Pub Date: 3/04/99

Accusing fingers are going to get pointed when a horse breaks down at the end of his fifth race in 64 days, as Charismatic did Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.That's especially true when the horse's trainer is D. Wayne Lukas, who is renowned for having 3-year-old stars who quickly fade away, due either to injury or burnout.But in this case, a rush to judge Lukas is unfair.Yes, five races in 64 days is a lot -- more than any of the other 11 horses who ran in the Belmont, and, yes, probably too many for a 3-year-old.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- At 5: 55 a.m. yesterday, Charismatic stepped out from under the shedrow of D. Wayne Lukas' barn at Churchill Downs. With exercise rider Joanne McNamara on his back, the horse striving for a Triple Crown strode to the track for his final Belmont workout.Astride his pony, Lukas led Charismatic onto the dimly lighted track. The strong chestnut colt walked, then jogged, then finally broke into near-racing speed. He covered five-eighths of a mile in 1 minute, 2/5 seconds -- one of the fastest workouts of his 16-race career.

After five years of contention, Howard Community College is putting Belmont, its secluded 18th-century estate in Elkridge, up for sale. The unanimous decision by the college's board of trustees comes as college leaders confront a growing demand for money to expand the main campus in Columbia. With the state cutting operating funds, tuition increases are likely even as more students seek financial aid. "There is concern this might not be the end of cuts for the year," Howard Community College President Kate Hetherington told the board of trustees at a meeting Wednesday night.

College basketball Report: Memphis responding to alleged NCAA violations The University of Memphis is responding to an NCAA notice of allegations accusing the men's basketball program of major violations during the 2007-08 season under John Calipari, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The allegations include "knowing fraudulence or misconduct" on an SAT exam by a player on that season's team, which finished runner-up in the NCAA tournament, The Commercial Appeal reported on its Web site.

Howard Community College President Kate Hetherington promised this week to return $1.7 million in surplus public funds used without county government knowledge to help buy the historic Belmont Conference Center in Elkridge. The college was supposed to rely on donated cash for its half of the $4.4 million purchase. But sufficient contributions didn't materialize, and college officials disclosed earlier this month that they instead had used money left over from last year's budget to complete the transaction.

Jockey Mike Smith's second-place Preakness finish aboard Mine That Bird earned him another trip on the bay gelding from New Mexico. Trainer Chip Woolley Jr. said Sunday that Smith will ride Mine That Bird in the Belmont Stakes on June 6, even if Rachel Alexandra skips the race. Calvin Borel rode Mine That Bird to a huge upset in the Kentucky Derby, then switched to Rachel Alexandra for the Preakness. Woolley was pleased with Smith's ride in heavy traffic at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, when he came off the rail to challenge the filly down the stretch.

Conference center costing taxpayers I would like to express my concern that during a time of such great financial difficulties, taxpayers are funding a country club for the community college. County workers are facing a pay freeze and furloughs, countless other services are being cut - yet the college is spending $1 million a year on Belmont Conference Center in addition to the $10 million it has already spent. This all comes after the public was assured repeatedly that no tax dollars would be used for Belmont.

After years of controversy, Howard Community College owns the 18th-century Belmont Conference Center in Elkridge, but the transfer from the college's foundation does not resolve the thorny issue among residential neighbors of how the property should be used. The big question is whether the college can make the secluded estate pay for itself without uses objectionable to the public or damaging to the historic ambience. College President Kate Hetherington seems determined to do make it work, though she said Belmont still doesn't pay for itself.

Unless something comes up in scientific testing to explain Big Brown's sluggish run in the Belmont Stakes, the reasons the colt, who was a favorite to end the 30-year Triple Crown drought, couldn't deliver are likely to remain a mystery. Why did he run so poorly, finishing last, in the Belmont on Saturday? Why didn't he run as he had in the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness? Big Brown had won the first five races of his career, and none had been close. And, so, in the absence of some absolute determination, there will be theories and conjecture.

No mere horse has been able to challenge Big Brown's speed, but today at Belmont Park, the handsome, personable colt will attempt to outrun something bigger - history. If he succeeds, he'll become the 12th thoroughbred since 1919, and the first since Affirmed in 1978, to win the Triple Crown. The 30-year drought is the longest ever in the series. Many observers think Big Brown is the horse to overcome the turns of fate and the grueling 1 1/2-mile course that have stymied previous contenders.

It's a 6-inch swatch of chestnut horsehair, braided lovingly and tucked inside a glass display case at the Kentucky Horse Park. Remember the mane - and the colt it belonged to. Affirmed, racing's last Triple Crown winner, is memorialized in the museum in Lexington, Ky. Affirmed died in 2001 at age 26. But the stirring fashion in which he won those races 30 years ago makes visitors weep as they pass his permanent exhibit. "To diehard fans, this horse represents something special," said Bill Cooke, a museum director.

On May 31, 2008 BELMONT SODEN, JR. loving partner of Michael Prather. He is also survived by his loving mother Margaretta Soden and brothers Patrick and Jeffrey Soden and a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Friday after 9 where family will receive friends from 5-7. Family will also receive friends on Saturday at St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church, 114 W. Saratoga St. at 10 followed by Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30.