Having trounced the field in Saturday afternoon’s 133rd Preakness, Big Brown comes to town on Saturday, June 7 in an attempt to become Thoroughbred racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner when he goes to post in the 140th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes (11th race, ABC-TV; 6:25 p.m.).

Actually, the Big Brown is scheduled to arrive at Belmont Park from Pimlico on Monday afternoon – he will depart at 10 a.m. -- to ready himself for the “Test of the Champion,” the 1 ½-mile Belmont Stakes, which is the oldest and longest leg of the Triple Crown. The Belmont Stakes has stopped 18 other horses in history from winning the Triple Crown, the most recent being Smarty Jones in 2004.

Big Brown, a son of Boundary, is now 5-0 and will seek to join Seattle Slew (1977) as the only undefeated Triple Crown winner. Seattle Slew was 9-0 after he won the Belmont Stakes. Big Brown won is first race on the turf at Saratoga last September 3 for trainer Patrick Reynolds. He then moved to trainer Richard Dutrow Jr.’s barn and won an allowance and the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park before winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

New York Racing Association Stakes Coordinator Andrew Byrnes will have his phone ringing and his hands full in the coming weeks. The 13-race live card on Belmont Stakes Day features four Grade 1 races and two Grade 2 events.

In addition to Big Brown and Grade 2 Peter Pan winner Casino Drive, Byrnes expects Anak Nakal, Denis of Cork, third in the Kentucky Derby, Tale of Ekati, fourth in the Kentucky Derby and Tomcito to run in the Belmont Stakes. Preakness runner-up Macho Again and third-place finisher Icabad Crane are now listed as questionable.

“Nothing is etched in stone,” Byrnes said. “A lot can change in three weeks.”

First race post on Belmont Stakes Day, Saturday, June 7, is noon. ESPN will provide live coverage of the earlier races on the day’s 13-race live card form noon – 5 p.m. ABC will then pick up the coverage from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Belmont Park will offer a $1 million-guaranteed Pick 6 on races 6-11 and a $1 million-guaranteed Pick 4 on races 8-12.

Gates will open at 8:30 a.m. on Belmont Stakes Day. General Admission is $10; Clubhouse is $20, and children under 12 free when accompanied by an adult. General Park is $10, Preferred is $25. There is no valet parking on Belmont Stakes Day.

Casino Drive had an easy morning on Belmont Park’s main track Sunday, “cantering about five furlongs,” according to Nobutaka Tada, managing director of Globe Equine Management Ltd., and spokesperson for owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto and trainer Kazuo Fujisawa.

Winner of the Grade 2 Peter Pan, the son of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft is out of the Deputy Minister mare, Better Than Honour. Better Than Honour is also the dam of 2006 Belmont Stakes winner Jazil and 2007 Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches.

“Big Brown was amazing yesterday, most impressive,” Tada said. “But the Belmont Stakes is the reason we are here, and Casino Drive loves it here.”

Casino Drive is hoping to join Algerine (1876) and Prince Eugene (1913) and horses that won the Belmont Stakes in only their third career start. Both Algerine and Prince Eugene broke their maidens in the Belmont Stakes.

Tada said Casino Drive will likely keep galloping and will generally go out around 7 a.m. He will likely breeze sometime in the days before the Belmont Stakes.

“It will depend on the weather; maybe some days we will go out after the harrowing,” Tada said. ‘We’ll have to see.”

Tada also said that he will know more in a few days as to who will ride Casino Drive in the Belmont Stakes. Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux had the mount for the Peter Pan, but he will be looking for the Triple Crown with Big Brown.

Likely to ride is Yutaka Take, whose father, Kunihiko was known as the “Magician on Turf” in Japan. Take was aboard Casino Drive when he broke his maiden at first asking at Kyoto on February 23.

Born March 15, 1969, Take is no stranger to New York. He is the first Japanese jockey to win a graded stakes overseas, that being the Grade 3 Seneca aboard El Senor in 1991 at Saratoga Race Course.

“We will wait a few days to see how Big Brown is doing and how we are doing,” Tada said.