Invasor, the 2006 Horse of the Year, has begun preparing for the 121st running of the Grade 1, $400,000 Suburban Handicap at one mile and a quarter here on June 30th, a race he won during his championship season last year.

This morning, Invasor, with exercise rider Barry Downes aboard, breezed a half mile over Belmont Park’s main track in :50.84. It was his first timed workout since winning the Dubai World Cup on March 31st.

“We’re very happy to get him back on the work tab,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “He doesn’t require a lot of work, but we do need to get him going again. Everything’s going great and he’s good to go. He’ll have several more works but not every week because he doesn’t need it.”

“He travels really well, but he did lose a little weight coming back from Dubai; he was just a little dehydrated. He quickly came back around and put the weight back on.”

Invasor, who was bred in Argentina, spent the first half of his career in Uruguay and became a full fledged star there. After winning the Uruguay Triple Crown in 2005, he was purchased by Sheikh Hamden’s Shadwell Stable. Although Invasor finished fourth in his debut for Shadwell in the 2006 UAE Derby, the colt traveled to the United States with a vengeance and quickly reeled off a trio of Grade 1 victories in the Pimlico Special, Suburban and Whitney handicaps. Then in early November, Invasor clinched a more than worthy Horse of the Year campaign with his comfortable victory over Bernardini – who was later named three-year-old champion – in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

This season, Invasor has been as good as ever as a five-year-old, winning the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park in February and the aforementioned Dubai World Cup, the richest horse race on the planet. To date, Invasor has won 11 of 12 starts, while banking more than $7.8 million in the process. And Americans now know why the Uruguayans thought the world of Invasor.

“He’s just such a great horse to train,” said McLaughlin, a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. “I worked with some great horses when I was with Wayne, but I’ve always believed (Invasor) is as good if not better than all of them.”

McLaughlin added that Divine Park, who is unbeaten in three career starts after winning Aqueduct’s Withers a few weeks ago, will run next in Thistledown’s Grade 2 Ohio Derby June 2nd.

“We’re looking to go from Thistledown to the Dwyer to the Haskell,” McLaughlin said. “They’re a month apart. He’s a very, very nice horse. He’s never lost; it’s hard to fault him.

The 90th running of Belmont’s Grade 2, $150,000 Dwyer for three-year-olds at one mile and a sixteenth will be run July 4th. Monmouth’s Haskell is August 5th.

Finally, McLaughlin noted that Jazil, last year’s Belmont Stakes champion, could wind up in Churchill’s Grade 1 Stephen Foster on June 16th. Jazil recently finished last of 12 in Keeneland’s Elkhorn on the turf.

“He’s definitely going back to the dirt,” he said. “We’ll look at the Foster because I want to keep him and Invasor apart. I wouldn’t mind running in an allowance race before that.”

McLaughlin added that his barn will be receiving some promising two-year-olds and other horses from around the world in the coming weeks.

Champion trainer Todd Pletcher returned to Belmont Park earlier in the week, after going winless with five starters in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Pletcher, however, scored a big victory in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday with Rags to Riches, and in fact, completed his own exacta with Octave, who got up for second.

With the exception of Sam P., who finished ninth in the Derby and is being pointed to Churchill’s Northern Dancer June 16th, all of Pletcher’s Derby and Oaks starters have returned to Belmont Park. When and where each resurfaces, however, has not been determined. Pletcher did rule out any of his Derby runners returning in the 54th Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan on May 20th, Belmont’s key prep for the June 9th Belmont Stakes, although when nominations were released today, only King of the Roxy and Soaring By were nominated from Pletcher’s barn. Neither raced in the Kentucky Derby; in the Derby, Pletcher ran sixth with Circular Quay; eighth with Any Given Saturday; ninth with Sam P; 18th with Scat Daddy and 20th with Cowtown Cat.

“They’re all here and we haven’t made any decisions on where they’re going,” Pletcher said.

Surprisingly, Pletcher has saddled just one Preakness starter in his illustrious career, that being Impeachment, who was third in 2000. Pletcher will have a runner in this year’s Preakness with King of the Roxy, who last ran second to Tiago in the Santa Anita Derby April 7th.

“He’ll breeze here either Saturday or Sunday,” Pletcher said.

Jockey John Velazquez most likely will have the mount in the Preakness.

Rags to Riches, a dominating winner of the Kentucky Oaks, could run next in the 139th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes at 12 furlongs on June 9th. Rags to Riches certainly has the pedigree, being by the 1992 Belmont Stakes champ and Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, and a half sister to the aforementioned Jazil.

“We won’t make any decisions on what she’s going to do until after the Preakness,” Pletcher said.

The Pletcher-trained Lawyer Ron, recent winner of the Oaklawn Handicap, breezed a ‘bullet’ five furlongs over Belmont’s main track today in :59.87. He outworked four other horses at the distance.

Nominations for the prestigious Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap close in just three days on May 12th. Recent Westchester Handicap winner Utopia will be on the list.The Metropolitan – or Met Mile as it’s known to fans – will surely be a highlight of the spring/summer meet at Belmont Park. This year, the Met Mile will be run for the 114th time, carrying a $600,000 purse.

As for Utopia, this seven-year-old Japanese-bred son of Forty Niner, turned back numerous challengers in last Wednesday’s Westchester Handicap for a hard-fought victory. The effort is even more impressive considering it was Utopia’s first start in more than 13 months.

“Utopia is going to run in the Met Mile,” said Rick Mettee, who oversees Godolphin Racing’s New York string for trainer Saeed bin Suroor. “It’s going to be a tough spot, but he’s a seven-year-old and we’d really like to try to win a Grade 1 with him in this country. I wish I had a little more time with him, but he’s done well since the Westchester and there’s only one Met Mile.”

Saturday’s feature race will be the 32nd running of the Grade 3, $100,000-added Bold Ruler Handicap for three-year-olds and up at six furlongs. Likely to run are Anew; Dashboard Drummer; Executive Search; Pavo and Songster.

Sunday’s Mothers’ Day feature at Belmont Park is the 29th running of the $100,000-added Kingston Handicap for three-year-olds and up, New York-breds, at nine furlongs on the turf.

Bestowed; Certifiably Crazy; Chestertown Slew; Classic Fran; Classic Pack; Dreamin of Victory; Log Jam; Oedipus O’Neal and Red Zipper are expected.

Belmont Park will offer a special Mothers’ Day buffet in the Garden Terrace (fourth floor, clubhouse) on Sunday. Cost is $40 for adults; $26.50 for children ages 3 -12; and there is no charge for children under 3. For more information, call (516) 488-6000, ext. 4026.