CURLIN

The likely favorite for Saturday’s 139th running of the Belmont Stakes, the Test of the Champion, is Curlin. Unraced as a two year old, Curlin burst on the racing scene with a 12-length victory at Gulfstream Park in February. The chestnut colt followed that with convincing wins in two stakes races at Oaklawn Park, the Rebel and Arkansas Derby. Despite his relative lack of experience, it was on to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby where Curlin finished third behind Street Sense and Hard Spun. Curlin’s connections were pleased with his Derby effort but the best was yet to come.

In the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, Curlin was passed by Street Sense at the top of the stretch but showed tremendous courage and, to the surprise of everyone watching, overtook the Derby winner just before the finish line to win by a head. Curlin will now attempt to become the 19th three year old to complete the Preakness-Belmont double, joining the likes of Man o’War, Native Dancer, Damascus, Point Given and Afleet Alex.

Curlin is trained by Steve Asmussen, who will be saddling his first Belmont starter on Saturday. His brother, Cash, was based in New York when he won the Eclipse Award in 1979 as top apprentice. Regular rider Robby Albarado, who was fourth on Steppenwolfer in last year’s Belmont Stakes, will be aboard Curlin.

HARD SPUN

Like starting pitchers in baseball who rarely throw complete games, it isn’t often in thoroughbred racing that a horse competes in all three Triple Crown races – the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. But on Saturday at Belmont Park, a pair of three year olds will complete the trifecta. Curlin, winner of the Preakness and third in the Derby, and Hard Spun, second in the Derby and third in the Preakness, will try to negotiate the mile and a half distance of the “Test of the Champion.”

Speed is always dangerous in racing and Hard Spun was put on the lead in the Kentucky Derby. He set all the fractions and defeated every opponent but one, Street Sense. In the Preakness Stakes, Hard Spun was a major factor again. He sat just off the pace, grabbed the lead on the far turn but faltered in the final furlong. Can he go the distance in the Belmont Stakes? No one knows for sure, but this we do know about Hard Spun. He has won five of eight career starts, including the Lanes End Stakes, and has competed successfully at seven different racetracks. Belmont Park will be number eight.

Hard Spun is trained by the colorful Larry Jones, who gallops many of his own horses in the morning and is easily recognized because of his trademark cowboy hats. Jones won the 2004 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park with Island Sand. Garrett Gomez, nicknamed Go-Go, is the new jockey for Hard Spun, replacing Mario Pino. Gomez has ridden regularly in New York the past two years and led the nation in purse money earned in 2006 with almost $22 million.

IMAWILDANDCRAZYGUY

Brooklyn-born Bill Kaplan will be coming home Saturday when he saddles Imawildandcrazyguy in the 139th renewal of the Belmont Stakes. Kaplan trains a small stable in Florida yet had two horses on the Triple Crown trail, “crazy” and Storm In May. The latter was 16th in the Kentucky Derby and is expected to return to the races in Friday’s Hill Prince Stakes on the turf at Belmont. Imawildandcrazyguy, meanwhile, had a wide trip in the “Run for the Roses” and rallied from 20th to finish fourth.

As a deep closer, Imawildandcrazyguy needs a fast pace to be totally effective so the small field in this year’s Belmont may work against him. As a gelding, history is working against him as well. Crème Fraiche became the first and only gelding to win the Belmont Stakes in 1985. On the positive side, “crazy” does not lack for racing experience. The Belmont Stakes will be the 13th start of his career, more than any other horse in Saturday’s big race. Both of his victories came at Calder Race Course in Florida.

Trainer Kaplan, a graduate of Long Island University, is a Vietnam War veteran and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He is genuinely looking forward to racing at Belmont Park in the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown. “This is actually more exciting for me than the Derby,” he said after arriving in the Big Apple last week. Kaplan and jockey Mark Guidry will be making their first appearance in the “Test of the Champion.”

TIAGO

Racing people have talked and written all spring about Curlin being a lightly-raced and inexperienced colt. And justifiably so. But the same can be said of Tiago. In fact, they have both run just five times in their respective careers. Curlin captured the Preakness Stakes in gut-wrenching style over Derby winner Street Sense. Meanwhile, Tiago was seventh in Kentucky, skipped the Preakness and now will look to pull off an upset in the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes on Saturday at beautiful Belmont Park.

Upset is a word that’s been used before when speaking of Tiago - and his relatives. This son of Pleasant Tap was 29-1 when he came from far back to capture the Santa Anita Derby in April under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. Tiago’s older half-brother, Giacomo, won the 2005 Kentucky Derby at odds of 50-1 with Smith riding. Giacomo ran 7th in that year’s Belmont Stakes after taking a brief lead at the quarter pole.

Early Sunday morning, trainer John Shirreffs sent Tiago out for his final workout before the “Test of the Champion.” Tiago was clocked in 1:14 4/5 for six furlongs. Giacomo is the only other three year old Shirreffs has started in the Belmont Stakes. In addition to his Derby win, Smith won the Preakness in 1993 aboard Prairie Bayou and will look to add the third leg of the Triple Crown to his long list of major stakes wins.

Tiago is named for the son of musician Sergio Mendes, a longtime friend of owners Jerry and Ann Moss.

SLEW’S TIZZY

Slew’s Tizzy had a disappointing start to his racing career last October at Belmont Park. He went off at odds of 46-1, was steadied after the start and finished seventh in a field of nine. The colt, by 2000 Horse of the Year Tiznow, returns to New York on Saturday for the 139th running of the Belmont Stakes.

No other horse in this year’s Belmont enters the race with consecutive stakes wins. Slew’s Tizzy took Keeneland’s Lexington Stakes at 40-1 odds on April 21 and followed that with a win in the Lone Star Derby as the favorite on a sloppy track three weeks later. Both victories came after trainer Greg Fox made an equipment change. He decided to remove the blinkers from his horse and the strategy worked. Now he’ll be tested for class in the “Test of the Champion.”

Greg Fox, a former racetrack veterinarian now based in Lexington, KY, will also be making a return to the Big Apple. Fox was born in New York City in 1951. The rider for Slew’s Tizzy is very familiar with New York and Belmont Park. John Velazquez, leading rider in New York from 2001-2004 and perennially the top jockey at Belmont Park, will be aboard Slew’s Tizzy for the very first time.

The Belmont Stakes has a purse of $1 million and is the longest of the Triple Crown races at 1 ½ miles.