The purse will be $750,000, but Churchill Downs is going to supplement it another $250,000, bringing it over a million dollars (as long as at least one other Grade 1 stakes winner runs in the race). Grade 1 winner nominees for the race include Student Council, Perfect Drift, Brass Hat, Great Hunter, and Einstein. The card will include six graded stakes races for a total purse of $2,025,000.

“We like where he’s at — he’s an awesome horse,” Asmussen said. “It’s all about Curlin now, the other things are out of your control. To not run him would be an injustice to him. But giving solid horses 15 pounds is a challenge. I guess they were happy the day they got Azeri beat here. When you look at it, you’re giving quality horses 15 pounds and that’s quite significant,” Asmussen said. “He must overcome. They didn’t put him back in training to debate weights.”

As a three-year old Curlin won the $5 Million Breeders’ Cup Classic, he came third in the Kentucky Derby, won the Preakness, and finished second in the Belmont. His earnings total over $8.8 million and his record is 8-1-2 in 11 races. He will be ridden by Robby Albarado in the Stephen Foster.

He seemed healthy during his Saturday morning workout, but began to favour his hind foot after returning to the stables. Trainer Kazuo Fujisawa noticed that Casino Drive wasn’t walking normally on Friday morning. He skipped Friday’s workout and was listed as questionable for the race.

“This morning we check and he is OK,” Nobutaka Tada, racing manager for Japanese owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto, told the Schenectady Gazette. “We send him to the main track and he had cantering, and he came back to the yard OK, no problem. Then, (again) he just (started) carrying his hind (leg). We checked again and it became warm.”

Casino Drive has the pedigree for distance running, being a half brother to the last two Belmont Stakes winners, Rags to Riches (2006) and Jazil (2007). He also has the potential to become a very good four-year-old. We’ll all be looking forward to seeing Casino Drive and Da’ Tara race each other at some point this summer.

With a last-place finish, Big Brown earned the dubious distinction of the worst BelmontStakes finish for a horse that won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Horse	Year	Finish
Big Brown	2008	9th
War Emblem	2002	8th
Carry Back	1961	7th
Alysheba	1987	4th
Canonero II	1971	4th
Kauai King	1966	4th

Racing manager Nobutaka Tada for Casino Drive’s Japanese connections said the horse was fine during a three-furlong jog early Saturday, but planned to scratch the Peter Pan Stakes winner as a precaution.

Tada classified the injury as minor, but didn’t want to take any chances during the grueling 1 1/2-mile race.

“It’s not serious, it’s just a matter of timing,” Tada said. “The horse is OK.”

Casino Drive developed symptoms on Friday, and was held out of his morning gallop. He was treated with ice overnight and showed no ill effects while on the track early Saturday.

Before being scratched, Kentucky-bred Casino Drive was the 9/2 second choice for the $1 million Belmont. The horse could return to the U.S. for this fall’s Breeders’ Cup.

June 7, 1941: Whirlaway won the 73rd running of the Belmont Stakes and became the fifth horse to win the Triple Crown.

June 7, 1947: Owner William Helis had three stakes wins in three different states. Rippey won the Carter Handicap at New York’s Aqueduct; Jobstown won the Absecon Handicap at New Jersey’s Atlantic City and Elpis won the New Castle Handicap at Delaware Park.

June 7, 1980: Genuine Risk became the first filly to compete in all three Triple Crown races. She won the Kentucky Derby and finished second in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

June 7, 1986: Trainer Woody Stephens saddled Danzig Connection to win his fifth consecutive Belmont Stakes. Stephens won the previous races with Conquistador Cielo (1982), Caveat (1983), Swale (1984) and Creme Fraiche (1985).

June 7, 1997: In his bid to become the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown, Silver Charm was outdueled during the stretch run of the Belmont Stakes by Touch Gold. Silver Charm held on for second and became the 13th horse to have lost the Triple Crown after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

June 7, 2003: Triple Crown hopeful Funny Cide lost his bid to become the twelfth Triple Crown winner finishing third to Empire Maker and Ten Most Wanted before 101,864 in the 135th Belmont Stakes. The NBC telecast of the Belmont generated the highest rating for any horse race since the 1990 Kentucky Derby. The final hour of the telecast earned the highest rating (10.7) of any prime-time program on television that week.

June 6, 1972: In preparation for his colt’s July 4 racing debut, trainer Lucien Laurin put blinkers on two-year-old Secretariat for the first time. Secretariat responded by working a half-mile at Belmont Park in :47 3/5, the fastest time he had ever worked up to that date.

June 6, 1987: Bet Twice became the first horse to receive a Triple Crown bonus after winning the Belmont Stakes over rival Alysheba. He earned $1 million in addition to the first-place money.

June 6, 1992: Jockey Carl Gambardella won his 6,000th career victory, aboard Nip of Gin, at Rockingham Park.

June 6, 1998: Real Quiet was denied the Triple Crown when Victory Gallop edged him at the wire in the Belmont Stakes before an audience of 80,162. The crowd was the second-largest in the track’s history and just shy of the mark set in 1971 when Canonero II failed in his Triple Crown bid before 82,694 spectators. Total handle on the Belmont Day card was a record of $55,613,482.

The champion horse had great seasons as a three-year-old and four-year-old, and he won stakes events every year except his fifth. He retires with 11 victories in 38 starts, with six places and eight shows. His wins include the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and the Excelsior Breeders’ Cup Handicap.

His racing awards include:
- New York Breeders’ Award for Champion Two-Year-Old (2002)
- U.S. Champion Three-Year-Old (2003)
- Champion New York Horse of the Year (2003 & 2004)

He earned over $3.5M in race winnings and only cost owner Tony Everard $22,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale. He recently won the Wadsworth Memorial at the age of seven, and his owners decided to retire him on a winning note. Tagg said “Funny Cide is so happy being at the track; they’re just going to keep riding him like a stable pony and let him go out with the sets each morning.”

Recapture the Glory finished fifth in the Derby, and co-owner Ronnie Lamarque has announced that “we’re there to win” when asked about Saturday’s $1M Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. “First of all we know that we belong,” said Lamarque “Of the 33,000 horses that were foaled three years ago, 20 of them made it to the Derby and we beat 15 of them. Big Brown is a bear but we’re not going to run in it to run second.”

Another contender for the Preakness is Kentucky Bear, who finished second in the Blue Grass Stakes. He has arrived at Pimlico and is already training with assistant trainer Cassie Garcia. “I’m super happy with how he settled in,” Garcia said. “We’re happy to be here. I know it’s supposed to rain, so if the track is okay we’ll gallop tomorrow, if not we’ll probably jog. Ever since he came into Kentucky (April 2) he’s built more muscle, he’s actually matured a little more. I think he’s got a great chance coming into this race. Everything’s just clicked perfectly with him.”

The Preakness will also see California Derby winner Yankee Bravo. The son of Yankee Gentleman also finished third behind Pyro at the Louisiana Derby and fourth behind Colonel John in the Santa Anita Derby. “He’ll work mid-week, sometime on Wednesday or Thursday,” said trainer Patrick Gallagher. “He didn’t have the earnings for the Derby so we decided to skip and take a close look at the Preakness.”

On Tuesday, animal rights protesters demonstrated in Lexington, Kentucky. They feel that Eight Belles’ jockey should have recognized that she was injured and pulled her back from finishing the race, instead of giving her the whip down the stretch. “I remain heartbroken over Eight Belles, and I want to let her many fans know that she never gave me the slightest indication before or during the race that there was anything bothering her,” said Saez in a written statement after the Derby.

Horse owners and trainers love the horses they’re involved with, and racing organizations have addressed dangers within the sport, like new synthetic racing surfaces, that have increased safety for horse and jockey.

As difficult as this tragedy was for everyone to experience, accidents do happen in all sports. Horse racing is a dangerous sport that dates back to a time when the treatment of animals was not as big of an issue in our society. Have we evolved to the point that the tradition of a 134-year-old event means less to us than the life of a farmed animal? This is, after all, still a billion-dollar industry.

There will always be that small percentage of people who have more compassion for animals than the average person, but their compassion usually leads to improvements to the industry.

Denis of Cork had won three straight races this past winter to emerge as one of the top 3-year-olds. But after a fifth at the Illinois Derby and third at Churchill, Denis of Cork needs a strong showing Saturday to re-establish himself.

Trainer David Carroll said Denis of Cork has really bloomed since the Derby. “He’s put on weight, his color is very good, he has a great pair of lungs.

“His last two weeks have been excellent,” Carroll said, describing the workouts as being “pre-Derby”-like. The final work was especially strong — four furlongs in 48 1/5 seconds under jockey Robby Albarado, with the final eighth of a mile in 11.1 seconds.

For the Belmont, Carroll replaced rider Calvin Borel, who won the Kentucky Derby last year on Street Sense, with Albarado, who has more experience riding at Belmont Park.

Albarado nearly won the Triple Crown finale on Curlin last year.

“Nothing against Calvin, but Robby is more tactical,” Carroll said. “We’re looking forward to running a big race in the Belmont.

“I’m going in with a lot of confidence,” Carroll said. “I’ve got the utmost respect for Big Brown, but we’re here to win.”

Carroll knows Belmont Park well. Carroll, 48, was the exercise rider for 1989 Belmont winner Easy Goer during a six-year stint under Shug McGaughey. Easy Goer derailed his archrival Sunday Silence’s Triple Crown bid, but Carroll isn’t predicting his colt can knock off Big Brown.

When asked what it would take to beat the undefeated superstar, Carroll said: “A minor miracle, I think. But my horse is doing well and he’s bred to get the distance. To win, it would take him running the race of his life and Big Brown running below his best.”

Owner William Warren thinks his colt has a legitimate shot at winning on Saturday. Warren noted that Denis of Cork - a Florida-bred son of Harlan’s Holiday - closed fast in the Kentucky Derby, passing 10 horses in the final quarter-mile to finish third behind Big Brown and Eight Belles.

Denis of Cork went off at 27-1 odds in the Derby and is 12-1 on the morning line for the Belmont.

“It’s a good thing the focus is on Big Brown,” Warren said. “… We think we’re going to take him. We like the additional quarter-mile. We closed strongly in the Kentucky Derby and we think we’ll do the same here at Belmont.

“I think we’re sitting on a big race.”