Mott and Smith have upset Belmont before

ELMONT, N.Y. - Hall of Famers Bill Mott and Mike Smith will team up with Belmont Stakes longshot Matuszak, but they are no strangers to surprising the racing world in the oldest and longest spring classic. In 2010, they scored their first Belmont victory together with longshot Drosselmeyer.

As with Drosselmeyer, the Belmont will mark the first time Smith will be aboard Matuszak, who has one win from eight starts, that being in his career debut last September at Churchill Downs.

“He’ll drop back and hopefully make a big run,” Mott said of Matuszak, who returned to the track Tuesday after turning in his final breeze Sunday. “Mike will have to do a lot of pedaling leaving the three-eighths pole.”

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A Belmont victory aboard Matuszak would be the third in five years for Smith, who also won last year’s edition with Palace Malice. He finished second on Paynter in 2012. Smith would become the third rider to capture three Belmonts in a five-year span, joining Eddie Arcaro (1941, 1942, 1945) and Laffit Pincay (1982-84). Arcaro is tied with Jim McLaughlin as the winningest Belmont rider, with six wins.

Smith and John Velazquez, who will be aboard Ride On Curlin, are the only riders in this year’s field who have won a Belmont. Like Smith, Velazquez is going for his third victory, having taken the race with the filly Rags to Riches (2007) and Union Rags (2012).