Zito in familiar spot with Frammento in Belmont

Nick Zito has a unique perspective on the Belmont Stakes, which will be run for the 147th time Saturday.

He’s won the race twice, both times with longshots who broke up Triple Crown bids. He has finished second an amazing seven times. And, having grown up a stone’s throw from Aqueduct, Zito sees the race through the eyes of a true New Yorker.

On Saturday, Zito will start Frammento, one of the longest-priced horses in what is expected to be an eight-horse field. Once again, a Triple Crown will be on the line. And just as in 2004, when Zito sent out Birdstone to run down Smarty Jones, or in 2008, when Da’ Tara went wire to wire as Big Brown was pulled up at the quarter pole, he feels his horse deserves a chance.

“I think we’re a live longshot,” Zito said. “He’s coming up to this race the right way. He’s holding good flesh, and that’s what you need to win the Belmont – a nice, strong horse. That’s the main thing. You need a strong horse.”

Zito should know. Now 67, he has been running horses in the Belmont Stakes since 1984, when he finished third with Morning Bob. His second Belmont starter came six years later, when Thirty Six Red finished second. Mike Smith rode for Zito that day, just as he will Saturday. Smith has won the Belmont twice himself – aboard Palace Malice two years ago and on Drosselmeyer in 2010.

“Nick and I had a lot of success together back in the day,” Smith said. “He’s always live in these types of races. He knows how to get a horse ready for them, how to point a horse for a race like this.”

By the time Birdstone won the Belmont, Zito had finished second in the race five times. At first, he was so glad to get that monkey off his back that he didn’t realize he had just popped the Triple Crown bubble.

“I really wanted to win that race,” he said. “I was really happy to win after so many seconds. But after I thought about it, I went up to John Servis and said I was sorry, and he said, ‘Why are you sorry? You did a good job.’ The Chapmans, who owned Smarty Jones, were gracious after the race, too.”

Prior to the Belmont, Birdstone had finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby and skipped the Preakness. Frammento is following a similar pattern. He closed from 17th to finish 11th in the Derby and has been pointed to the Belmont ever since.

Frammento almost didn’t get to run in the Derby because he had only 20 qualifying points – 10 for finishing third in the Fountain of Youth and 10 for being fourth in the Blue Grass. When the Derby was drawn, Frammento was placed on the also-eligible list. He got into the body of the race two days before the Derby when Stanford was declared. He started from post 18 and raced wearing the No. 21 saddle cloth.

“I was so uptight before the Derby because I wanted to get him in, and we had to wait on the points and everything,” Zito said. “The reason I wanted to get him in the Derby was so he would be ready for the Belmont. The Derby wasn’t a prep, but I needed that race to get him ready for this one.”

Zito thinks Frammento got what he needed out of the Derby.

“The Derby put him over the top,” he said. “I like where he is right now.”

Zito has great respect for Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah but pointed out that the 1 1/2 miles of the Belmont has caught up with many a horse.

“American Pharoah is extremely talented, but he’s had a lot of races this spring, and the thing about Belmont are those big, sweeping turns and that last quarter-mile,” Zito said. “I think he’s a great, great horse, but now he has to go 1 1/2 miles. Look at those poor horses who just fell short in the Derby, Firing Line and Dortmund. They’re off the trail. The Triple Crown is rigorous. That last eighth of a mile is tough. Am I right or wrong?”

Zito is hoping for a fast track Saturday and concedes that American Pharoah’s chances would improve if it rains.

“If it’s dry, I think it will be a fair fight,” he said. “But if it’s wet, I think American Pharoah is some kind of freak. He did it in the Rebel, and he did it in the Preakness. He was just hydroplaning over that track in Baltimore. If it’s wet, lord, help us all.”

Zito began working at the New York tracks as a teenager and went on to win almost every major race on the circuit, in addition to two Kentucky Derby victories – with Go for Gin (1994) and Strike the Gold (1991) – and a Preakness with Louis Quatorze (1996). He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

“If it wasn’t for racing, I don’t know where I would be,” he said. “I grew up right near Aqueduct, and when you grow up in those tough neighborhoods, you either find something in life you want to do or you end up in trouble. I went to Kentucky when I was young, and when I came back, I am so happy I started to rub horses, or I would have gotten into trouble. Everyone I knew was going to the clubs. I got lucky. I was very fortunate.”

Although he’s out to win Saturday, he knows how much the public will be rooting to see a Triple Crown winner for the first time since Affirmed beat Alydar by a head in 1978.

“When I look at all of the big stakes in New York, to me, the two key races are the Belmont and the Travers, especially the Belmont,” he said. “That’s not to take anything away from the Jockey Club or the Whitney or the Met Mile, but I believe the Belmont has become more significant over the last decade because of all the near misses. People are hungry for a Triple Crown.”

With that in mind, Zito will try to send the masses home scratching their heads in amazement Saturday, as Frammento, if successful, likely would pay in the same range as Birdstone ($74) and Da’ Tara ($79).