Belmont Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. - For the fourth time in the past six springs, a horse has come to New York with a chance of winning the Belmont Stakes and becoming the 12th winner of racing's Triple Crown. The candidate for immortality this spring is War Emblem, a lanky, nearly black colt with overpowering speed and seemingly limitless stamina. That combination proved unbeatable in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Today, in the 134th Belmont at majestic Belmont Park on Long Island, War Emblem will likely face assault at every stage of the 1 1/2 -mile "Test of the Champion."

ELMONT, N.Y. - War Emblem arrived in New York amid great fanfare as the potential 12th winner of racing's Triple Crown. After winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with impressive front-running performances, he looked to the Belmont to make history. Instead, War Emblem stumbled at the break, and an unheralded colt who started his career in England made history of his own. Sarava, ridden by the former Maryland jockey Edgar Prado, captured the 134th Belmont Stakes yesterday at Belmont Park at odds of 70-1.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Belmont showdown between Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners lasted about two strides. That's how long it took Afleet Alex, who won the Preakness, to power past Giacomo, who won the Derby, in the Belmont Stakes yesterday at Belmont Park. After that brief confrontation around the final turn favored Afleet Alex so convincingly, Giacomo faded to seventh. Mike Smith, his jockey, said the colt suffered breathing problems. Smith said that can happen when a horse gets overexcited.

ELMONT, N.Y. - What did in Funny Cide yesterday in the Belmont Stakes? Some might think it was jockey Jose Santos' decision to take the lead early in the race rather than stalk other horses, as he did in winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. But that wasn't the problem. Others might point to the horse's blistering workout at Belmont Park earlier in the week, which could have left him with little gas in his tank. But that wasn't the problem either, according to his trainer, Barclay Tagg.

Before the Kentucky Derby, Empire Maker was widely regarded as the best 3-year-old thoroughbred in America and a potential Triple Crown winner. But, a funny thing happened to Empire Maker in Louisville. First, the New York-bred gelding Funny Cide reversed the result of the Wood Memorial with a gritty, 1 3/4 -length triumph in the Kentucky Derby while repelling Empire Maker's bid through the length of the Churchill Downs stretch. Two weeks later, as Empire Maker was kept out of the Preakness, Funny Cide took another leap forward with a dominating, 9 3/4 -length victory in the Preakness.

When trainer Rick Dutrow arrived at his Pimlico Race Course barn yesterday morning to see Preakness winner Big Brown, he was wearing a smile and a Triple Crown hat. "The hat?" he said. "It doesn't mean anything. It was just around." It was the smile that never seemed to leave his face that told the story. His 3-year-old colt had easily won the Preakness on Saturday, setting the stage for an assault on the Triple Crown at Belmont Park. If Dutrow and jockey Kent Desormeaux, who began their careers in Maryland, and Big Brown can get the job done June 7, they will become the first Triple Crown winners since Affirmed in 1978.

When Smarty Jones bids for a Triple Crown in tomorrow's Belmont Stakes, could his toughest opponent be Smarty Jones? The question doesn't seem to make sense, but it reflects doubts about the horse's pedigree, seen in the racing industry as his only potential flaw. Undefeated in eight starts, Smarty Jones appears far superior to his competition, but his pedigree, though respectable, suggests he might not be able to dominate the longer Belmont. His biggest threat, in other words, might be his genes rather than another horse.

Her first horse should have been dog food: a broken-down nag saved from the grinder by a 15-year-old with a soft spot for losers. Nancy Alberts rescued the animal, nurtured him and rode him regularly in point-to-point races. Such was the start of a lifelong equine reclamation project. Forty-one years later, Alberts continues to recycle racing rejects, combing through thoroughbred trash in search of would-be treasures. That's how she found Jazema, the crippled mare who bore Magic Weisner, her gelding who ran second in last month's Preakness Stakes and is a top contender in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

ELMONT, N.Y. - This was supposed to be different. This was going to be the one. Smarty Jones, the compact chestnut colt from Pennsylvania, had won all eight of his races. His story had captured the country's imagination. Although nine other horses since 1978 had come to the Belmont Stakes with a chance to win the Triple Crown - and failed - he was the one who would succeed. Instead, the rigors of the Triple Crown, especially its final 1 1/2 miles, thwarted another bid yesterday at Belmont Park.

Not a lot has changed in the jockey goggle business since 1947, when Israel Kroop first stitched trim around a molded sheet of plastic, added two brass vents from a mattress, and attached a strip of elastic. Kroop's design — a made-in-Maryland variation on miners' protective eyewear — was an instant hit with jockeys at the Laurel racetrack and at Pimlico. It didn't take long for the invention to catch on outside Maryland. Riders around the country swapped cumbersome motorcycle goggles for the wafer-thin, well-ventilated models.