Belmont Park

Horse racing fans talk about their sport not having a Triple Crown winner in nearly 35 years much the way baseball fans lament the fact that their favorite game has gone more than twice as long without a .400 hitter. Undoubtedly, in the days leading up to the 138th Preakness at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, there will plenty of discussion about Orb's chances to repeat what he did at the Kentucky Derby and, if victorious in Baltimore, what he might do next month in New York at the Belmont Stakes.

Horse racing fans talk about their sport not having a Triple Crown winner in nearly 35 years much the way baseball fans lament the fact that their favorite game has gone more than twice as long without a .400 hitter. Undoubtedly, in the days leading up to the 138th Preakness at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, there will plenty of discussion about Orb's chances to repeat what he did at the Kentucky Derby and, if victorious in Baltimore, what he might do next month in New York at the Belmont Stakes.

Stuart Janney III, co-owner of Kentucky Derby winner Orb, has not even been able to see his colt since the historic run at Churchill Downs. The chairman of the Bessemer Trust spent the early part of this week in Texas for meetings, then convened with board members early Wednesday and Thursday in New York for discussions that prevented him from slipping away to the Belmont Park barns. Not that Janney has been lacking for updates on Orb, who took the mile-and-a-quarter Kentucky Derby by 2 1/2 lengths with a stretch run through the muck.

Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner who will be the favorite to win Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness, rarely enters his stall until he has had time to graze. On Monday afternoon, the strapping colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III, had his first taste of Maryland's turf. He walked off a large transport van at about 3:20 p.m., striding past the assembled media toward Pimlico Race Course's Barn E. There, he has been assigned stall number 40, which housed all three Triple Crown winners of the 1970s during their trips to Baltimore.

Last year's chase for the Triple Crown ended when trainer Doug O'Neill stepped to a microphone stand in a patch of fenced-in grass next to a barn near the Belmont Park track. Brushing back tears, he announced that a tendon injury would prevent I'll Have Another - the 12th horse to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown since Affirmed last completed the trifecta in 1978 - from going to post the next day. On Saturday, a full field of 20 is expected for the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby and to begin the quest anew.

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Trainer Shug McGaughey came to his barn Sunday morning before the sun had cleared the horizon, as he has done most days for more than 35 years. Dozens of people were gathered there, under the roof, dodging the rain and trying to get a look at Orb, who won the 139th Kentucky Derby on Saturday. The colt munched on hay and observed the scene. He let some girls come pet him and get their picture taken. Orb came out of the mile-and-a-quarter Derby, run over a drenched Churchill Downs track, with no signs of injury or fatigue and will officially begin preparing for a run in the 138th Preakness Stakes on May 18. McGaughey was shuffled from interview to interview, often saying that he still had trouble describing the feeling of winning his first Derby.

Security at Pimlico's historic Preakness barn will be heightened this year, a move that comes amid renewed concern about doping and horse safety in the sport. All visitors, including veterinarians, who want to spend time with horses scheduled to run in this year's Preakness will have to sign in at the barn off Winner Avenue, which will have just one entrance. Those new measures, adopted by the Maryland Racing Commission and Pimlico ownership, come in addition to surveillance measures and syringe-collection practices already in place for the second leg of the Triple Crown, scheduled to be run May 18 this year.

Hard-hearted Manhattan went to sleep with tears trickling down her pillow. And when she awakened her nightmare had become reality. Ruffian, thoroughbred racing's black beauty, was part of the past.-- Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1975.ON THE EVE of Belmont Park's great match race between the undefeated 3-year-old filly Ruffian and 1975 Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure, the story line seemed an exercise in simplicity.It was a battle of the sexes.But this story line never found its way into print.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- With most of the racing world and a significant number of others watching either here or on TV, the great filly Go For Wand fell and lost her life yesterday, as she approached the finish line of what would have been her finest triumph.Winner of 10 races in 12 starts and headed for No. 11 in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Distaff, the filly from Mrs. Jane Lunger's Christiana Stable had reached the 16th pole at Belmont Park when tragedy struck.With the crowd of 51,236 roaring its approval of a battle with Bayakoa, Go For Wand, perhaps a head in front, suddenly fell as the result of a breakdown in her right front ankle.

Chasing the Triple Crown THE PREAKNESS Pimlico Race Course Date: May 21 Distance: 1 3/16 miles. BELMONT STAKES Belmont Park Elmont, N.Y. Date: June 11 Distance: 1 1/2 miles

Stuart Janney III, co-owner of Kentucky Derby winner Orb, has not even been able to see his colt since the historic run at Churchill Downs. The chairman of the Bessemer Trust spent the early part of this week in Texas for meetings, then convened with board members early Wednesday and Thursday in New York for discussions that prevented him from slipping away to the Belmont Park barns. Not that Janney has been lacking for updates on Orb, who took the mile-and-a-quarter Kentucky Derby by 2 1/2 lengths with a stretch run through the muck.

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Trainer Shug McGaughey came to his barn Sunday morning before the sun had cleared the horizon, as he has done most days for more than 35 years. Dozens of people were gathered there, under the roof, dodging the rain and trying to get a look at Orb, who won the 139th Kentucky Derby on Saturday. The colt munched on hay and observed the scene. He let some girls come pet him and get their picture taken. Orb came out of the mile-and-a-quarter Derby, run over a drenched Churchill Downs track, with no signs of injury or fatigue and will officially begin preparing for a run in the 138th Preakness Stakes on May 18. McGaughey was shuffled from interview to interview, often saying that he still had trouble describing the feeling of winning his first Derby.

Last year's chase for the Triple Crown ended when trainer Doug O'Neill stepped to a microphone stand in a patch of fenced-in grass next to a barn near the Belmont Park track. Brushing back tears, he announced that a tendon injury would prevent I'll Have Another - the 12th horse to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown since Affirmed last completed the trifecta in 1978 - from going to post the next day. On Saturday, a full field of 20 is expected for the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby and to begin the quest anew.

Security at Pimlico's historic Preakness barn will be heightened this year, a move that comes amid renewed concern about doping and horse safety in the sport. All visitors, including veterinarians, who want to spend time with horses scheduled to run in this year's Preakness will have to sign in at the barn off Winner Avenue, which will have just one entrance. Those new measures, adopted by the Maryland Racing Commission and Pimlico ownership, come in addition to surveillance measures and syringe-collection practices already in place for the second leg of the Triple Crown, scheduled to be run May 18 this year.

When I'll Have Another narrowly dodged being clipped by a rider-less horse who had gotten loose on the Belmont Park track last week, he avoided the sort of complication nobody had been talking about. Who could worry about something like that when there are so many other things that could go wrong? The final leg of the Triple Crown has proved, for almost a century, to be difficult enough without factoring in unruly horses. Eleven of the 30 colts who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness managed to win the Belmont Stakes.

Only 30 horses have made it to the Belmont Stakes with a chance to win the Triple Crown. Eleven have succeeded. This is whyI'll Have Another's quest to become the 12th at Belmont Park on June 9 will captivate a nation that long ago stopped paying close attention to the way thoroughbred horses run. Every contender vying to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 is a Cinderella - a term not commonly used to describe...

Moves Baseball ROYALS: Purchased contract of C Dusty Wathan from Triple-A Omaha. Horse racing NEW YORK RACING ASSOCIATION: Suspended jockey Jose Espinoza 10 days for careless riding during first race at Belmont Park on Saturday. Espinoza has appealed the suspension, and a stay has been granted.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Charles Town Races will present its traditional 13-race Labor Day card tomorrow afternoon, post time 1 p.m.Heading the card will be simulcasts of Belmont Park's $200,000 Jerome Handicap, a mile test for 3-year-olds, and Philadelphia Park's $150,000 Pennsylvania Derby, 1 1/8 miles for 3-year-olds.

Kent Desormeaux will not ride Dullahan in the Belmont Stakes June 9, the Des Moines Register reported Monday . Javier Castellano, who leads all jockeys with $7.9 million in earnings this year, will replace the three-time Kentucky Derby winner. Desormeaux has struggled with alcohol problems in the past and failed a breathalyzer test last Friday at Belmont Park. He was pulled off Tiger Walk for the Preakness Stakes. “We are confident that Kent will address his issues and be back at the track better than ever and we hope to ride him when that happens,” Donegal president Jerry Crawford told the Register.

Start spreading the news if you want, but it won't be necessary. Doug O'Neill is about to take New York. If you thought the trainer of Triple Crown candidateI'll Have Another had fun in Louisville and Baltimore, imagine what it's going to be like when he waltzes into the Big Apple with a chance to make horse racing history. That was just a warmup ceremonial pitch he threw at Oriole Park last week. Wait until you see him at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium. Wait until he does a little sit-down standup on Late Night with David Letterman.