Belmont Park

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...

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.

Sagamore Farm's Millionreasonswhy won the $150,000 Grade II Matron Stakes at Belmont Park on Sunday. Jockey John Velazquez rode the 2-year-old filly, a 6-1 shot, to a two-length victory over Say a Novena in the six-furlong race. Millionreasonswhy finished in 1 minute, 12.68 seconds, over the fast track that dulled after rain earlier in the day. Millionreasonswhy, trained by Ignacio Correas IV, pulled ahead of Say a Novena a little more than three furlongs into the race and pulled away for the win. "Sagamore is very proud of the tremendous effort put forth by Millioreasonswhy today," said Tom Mullikin, general manager of Sagamore Farm.

Due to potentially record-breaking heat, Belmont Park has canceled live racing for today. The heat wave is expected to break on Friday in time for the running of Saturday's Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown. On Wednesday, Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Animal Kingdom, who is based in Fair Hill under trainer Graham Motion, was made the morning-line favorite at 2-1 . Nehro, runner-up in the Derby, was made a surprising 4-1 second choice. Preakness winner Shackleford was the 9-2 third choice.

Preakness champion Shackleford arrived Monday at Belmont Park 12 days before a probable start in the Belmont Stakes. The 3-year-old colt got to the Elmont, N.Y., track shortly before 10 a.m. after an overnight van ride from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. "He looks good," said Scotty Everett , assistant trainer to Dale Romans . "We are excited to have him here at Belmont. " Shackleford, fourth in the Kentucky Derby, will go to the track Wednesday to become familiar with the 11/2-mile oval.

It's not often Bob Baffert makes it to the barn when the first number on the clock is a six, much less a five. But there was Baffert at 5:50 a.m. Sunday morning, looking bright-eyed, satisfied and downright elated the day after winning his fifth Preakness with Lookin At Lucky. He was in such a good mood, he said, that he bounced out of bed and wanted to go straight to the barn. He was having so much fun talking to a handful of bleary-eyed reporters, he decided to parody Robert Duvall's famous line from "Apocalypse Now."

ARCADIA, Calif. - -Rick Mettee used to spend weekends with his grandmother in the eclectic Baltimore rowhouse neighborhood of Hampden, not far from Pimlico. They took the bus to the track. First thing each morning, he checked the Orioles box score and the charts from whatever Maryland track was running. He used to ride his bike to Timonium, the little track north of Baltimore that operated during the Maryland State Fair. One day, he saw an ad in the Towson Times. "They wanted a girl over 18 with experience," Mettee said Wednesday morning while seated in the Santa Anita Park grandstand, overlooking one of the most glorious settings in sports.

Horse racing Dominguez sets Belmont Park record for victories with 93rd Jockey Ramon Dominguez set a modern-day record for victories at Belmont Park's spring/summer meet Friday when he guided Michael Dubb and Robert Joscelyn's I've Got Speed ($7.70) to win the fifth race, recording his 93rd win for the meet. Hall of Famer Angel Cordero Jr. had held the mark for most victories since records were kept, notching 92 victories during the 1982 spring/summer meet. "It's very, very exciting," Dominguez said.

Elmont, N.Y. -- At the start of this week, the Belmont Stakes was looking a bit bedraggled and seriously in need of some oomph. The oomph arrived in three-time Grade I-winning filly Rags to Riches, a femme fatale who will take on the biggest, strongest 3-year-olds in the country Saturday. Her trainer, Todd Pletcher, said she has everything she needs to do it, too, from an outstanding pedigree to a beautiful head and "keen, smart eye." "She's a really, really wonderful filly," said Pletcher, who was at Belmont Park yesterday for the post-position draw.