ELMONT, N.Y. - Perhaps the draw on Wednesday for the 140th Belmont Stakes on Saturday could be looked at as a metaphor for the story arc of Big Brown over the past five weeks.

Big Brown's trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr., and his ownership group were looked at as outsiders before the Kentucky Derby, in which Big Brown ended up in the far outside post, No. 20. Now that Big Brown has won the Derby and added the Preakness Stakes to stand on the doorstep of a Triple Crown, Dutrow and company have become the ultimate insiders, the focal point of everything having to do with racing.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Big Brown, seeking to become the 12th winner of the Triple Crown, was assigned post 1 among a field of 10 3-year-olds in the $1 million Belmont Stakes, which will be run Saturday for the 140th time at Belmont Park.

The rail post, "takes me a little out of control, but I’m well mounted, and I’m ready to make history," said jockey Kent Desormeaux, who will ride Big Brown for the IEAH Stables and trainer Rick Dutrow.

Post Horse Jockey Odds

1. Big Brown, K. Desormeaux, 2-5

ELMONT, N.Y. - Casino Drive has more than just the pedigree to be a legitimate Belmont Stakes contender. In Kazuo Fujisawa, Casino Drive has the top trainer in Japan calling the shots.

Fujisawa, 56, has been Japan's leading trainer in terms of wins 11 times since 1993, including last year, when he won 48 races. Fujisawa learned how to train horses by working for the highly respected English trainer Gavin Pritchard-Gordon in Newmarket. Fujisawa was an assistant trainer in Japan for 10 years before going out on his own in 1988.

ELMONT, N.Y. - When taking questions from the media outside Barn 2 after Big Brown breezed Tuesday morning at Belmont Park, trainer Rick Dutrow initially dealt at length with the minutiae of the workout and the colt's ongoing situation with his quarter crack.

Then came some other topics, such as the outlook for Big Brown from the perspective of the Ragozin sheets, the colt's tentative racing schedule beyond the Belmont, and how many new friends Dutrow seems to have made over the last few weeks.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Big Brown put his best foot forward on Tuesday morning at Belmont Park, turning in his final workout for the 140th Belmont Stakes in workmanlike fashion that had his connections breathing easier.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Big Brown, who has the most examined foot since Carrie Bradshaw first put on a pair of Manolo Blahniks, will not have an acrylic patch put on his injured quarter crack until Friday, the day before he is to go for the Triple Crown in the 140th Belmont Stakes, both trainer Rick Dutrow and Ian McKinlay, the foot specialist who has been treating Big Brown, said Monday at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Nick Zito and Kassem Masri, the owner of Anak Nakal, on Monday released jockey John Velazquez from his commitment to ride Anak Nakal in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday so Velazquez could ride Ready’s Echo.

Velazquez had committed to Anak Nakal before knowing definitively that Ready’s Echo would run. Ready’s Echo is trained by Velazquez’s main client, Todd Pletcher.

“We had a call and we released him,” Zito said. “Mr. Masri and I believe in good karma.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Denis of Cork, the likely third choice for the 140th Belmont Stakes, had his final prerace breeze when going a half-mile in 48.60 seconds over a fast track Monday morning at Churchill Downs.

With his Belmont jockey, Robby Albarado, in the saddle, Denis of Cork galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.60 in what trainer David Carroll had planned as a maintenance work. Denis of Cork had breezed five furlongs on the two previous Mondays at Churchill.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Longshots Tomcito and Spark Candle were both removed from consideration for next Saturday’s Belmont Stakes by their connections on Sunday, leaving a likely group of eight opponents for Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown.

Tomcito, third to Big Brown in the Florida Derby, had some congestion on Sunday morning and was declared from the race, trainer Dante Zanelli Jr. said. Zanelli said that the owner, Jet Set Racing Stable, was likely to move the horse to another New York-based trainer and Zanelli would return to his Lexington, Ky., base.

As the only jockey to have ridden Big Brown, attempted to beat him, and won the Belmont Stakes, Jeremy Rose is in a unique position heading into the 140th Belmont Stakes next Saturday at Belmont Park. Big Brown is going for the Triple Crown, but Rose will be a triple threat.

Rose picked up the mount on Big Brown when he made his debut Sept. 3 at Saratoga after Edgar Prado, who was scheduled to ride Big Brown, was injured two days earlier. Big Brown won by 11 1/4 lengths, though Rose knew he was just pinch-hitting that day.