LEXINGTON, Ky. - Dr. Greg Fox has filled many different roles in the racing industry since starting out as a neophyte veterinarian in central Virginia in 1989. Nearly two decades later, the 45-year-old Fox will do something he has never done in the business: saddle a horse for a Triple Crown event.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Belmont Stakes has gone from rags to riches.

That might be just a wee bit of hyperbole, being as Preakness Stakes winner Curlin and Triple Crown stalwart Hard Spun were already in the field. But the decision on Tuesday by trainer Todd Pletcher to race the nation's unquestioned leading 3-year-old filly, Rags to Riches, against the boys in the 139th Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park made the final leg of the Triple Crown far more interesting than one known in large part for missing Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.

ELMONT, N.Y. – C P West, who finished fourth in the Preakness Stakes three weeks ago, was added to the field for Saturday's 139th Belmont Stakes on Tuesday by trainer Nick Zito.

"As things went on, with no Street Sense and a very small field, and him having showed in the Preakness he belongs with these horses, it made sense," Zito said. "I heard the band, and the next thing I was marching."

Zito said Edgar Prado, who rode C P West in the Preakness, would retain the mount for the Belmont.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Even though Hard Spun has run well enough to finish second in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness, trainer Larry Jones marvels over how much unsolicited advice he continues to get on what to do with his talented 3-year-old colt.

"Most everyone in America apparently thinks they can [train him], and they sure don't mind calling and giving their opinion of what I did wrong," Jones said Sunday morning as he let Hard Spun graze following a five-furlong breeze in 1:03.15 in preparation for Saturday's $1 million Belmont Stakes.

ELMONT, N.Y. - It was raining so hard at Belmont Park on Monday morning that trainer Steve Asmussen said he could hear it over the phone when calling from Churchill Downs.

"I canceled the works I had scheduled up there," Asmussen said. "Then I went outside and let out a deep sigh of relief that I was still here."

Curlin, who won the Preakness Stakes and is expected to be a heavy favorite in the 139th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, worked a half-mile in 50.60 seconds on Monday morning at Churchill Downs in his final work for the Belmont.

Carmen Rosas, his regular exercise rider, was aboard for the drill.

"He went nice and smooth," Steve Asmussen, the trainer of Curlin, said from Churchill Downs. "For a horse who's going to be going a mile and a half, we want to keep him relaxed and fluid, and that's what he's showing us."

Time Squared, who was sixth in the Blue Grass Stakes in April before winning an allowance race most recently, will run on Saturday in the 139th Belmont Stakes, trainer Patrick Biancone said Sunday.

Biancone said he believed Time Squared ran well in the Blue Grass, in which he finished just three lengths behind the victorious Dominican. "It was a very good race in a funny race," he said of the Blue Grass, which had a slow pace and a furious finish.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Slew's Tizzy had his final workout for the Belmont Stakes when breezing a half-mile in 48.20 seconds over a fast surface early Saturday at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky.

Trainer Greg Fox said the work, under regular exercise rider Alejandro Contreras, "couldn't have gone better," and that Slew's Tizzy "went the exact same type of work" as he did before winning the May 12 Lone Star Derby in Texas.

"The breeze basically was the last half-mile of a two-mile gallop," said Fox. "It was perfect. He did it well within himself."

It was a race watched around the world, and it sent inquiries burning down the telephone lines: "How much do you want for Curlin?"

Immediately following the heartbreaking loss by Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense in the Preakness Stakes, trainer Carl Nafzger said he would not run in the Belmont Stakes on June 9. For the next week and a half, though, he wavered. But on Thursday, Nafzger fell back on his first thought. He announced, after consulting Wednesday night with owner Jim Tafel, that Street Sense would bypass the final and longest leg of the Triple Crown.