Macho Again, the runner-up behind Big Brown in the Preakness, will be ridden by Garrett Gomez in the June 7 Belmont Stakes, it was announced Saturday by the colt’s owners, the West Point Thoroughbreds syndicate.

Gomez, the Eclipse Award-winning jockey of 2007, will replace Julien Leparoux, who had ridden Macho Again in four of his last five races, including the Preakness.

“Julien has done a great job with him,” said trainer Dallas Stewart, adding the decision to change was “based more on a home-court advantage for the rider.”

Sunday Silence vs. Easy Goer. Real Quiet vs. Victory Gallop. Alysheba vs. Bet Twice. Some of the most compelling Triple Crown chases in the past three decades were classic East vs. West confrontations, the best being the last time the Triple Crown was swept, 30 years ago, when Affirmed beat Alydar in three straight thrillers.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Between the racetrack and the farm, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. estimates he has about 175 horses in his care. But for the last month and a half, and definitely for the next 2 1/2 weeks, Dutrow's primary focus has been and will be on one.

The roles have reversed this year for trainer Barclay Tagg and his assistant, Robin Smullen, going from the hunted to the hunters. In 2003, they tried to sweep the Triple Crown with Funny Cide, but were denied in the Belmont Stakes by Empire Maker, who had finished second to Funny Cide in the Kentucky Derby, skipped the Preakness, and came into the Belmont fresh, fit, and dangerous.

ELMONT, N.Y. - With cameras from eight television stations and several still photographers chronicling his every step, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, Big Brown, arrived safely at Belmont Park at 2:25 p.m. on Monday.

Big Brown will attempt to become the sport's 12th Triple Crown winner when he runs in the $1 million Belmont Stakes here on June 7. The sport has not had a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. Big Brown is the 11th horse since then to win the first two legs.

With a victory on Saturday in the Preakness Stakes to go along with a similar runaway two weeks earlier in the Kentucky Derby, Big Brown now stands just one race away from becoming racing's 12th Triple Crown winner, and the first since Affirmed in 1978. Monday, he left Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore and, a little more than four hours later, arrived at Belmont Park in New York, where on June 7 he will attempt to add the 140th Belmont Stakes to his resume, and thus complete the Triple Crown.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Garrett Gomez enjoyed the best year of his career in 2006, in part due to the misfortune of John Velazquez. On Saturday, Velazquez enjoyed arguably the best day of his career at the expense of Gomez.

Though Gomez had won four consecutive races on the filly Rags to Riches this year, it was Velazquez who was aboard for her crowning achievement, Saturday's stirring head victory over Preakness winner Curlin in the $1 million Belmont Stakes. Meanwhile, Gomez trudged home fourth aboard Hard Spun, the Kentucky Derby runner-up.

After a historic Triple Crown that began with the first Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner to capture the Kentucky Derby and concluded with the first filly to beat the boys in the Belmont Stakes in 102 years, more history figures to be made by this compelling crop of 3-year-olds during the second half of the year.

Rags to Riches, who became the talk of racing with her victory over Preakness Stakes winner Curlin in the Belmont on Saturday, could face the boys again this year, perhaps as soon as the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25, according to her trainer, Todd Pletcher.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Start spreading the news. Trainer Todd Pletcher has won his first Triple Crown race, on a day when it was ladies first at Belmont Park.

Rags to Riches, the lone filly in the 139th Belmont Stakes, overcame a significant stumble at the start and beat six boys, including Preakness Stakes winner Curlin, to end two inglorious streaks, one for fillies in the Belmont, and one for Pletcher in Triple Crown races, on Saturday at Belmont Park.

An important note to remember when looking at the Preakness pace figures:

The published points of call at 1 3/16 miles in Daily Racing Form past performance lines begin with the quarter-mile call. But at the 1 1-4 miles of the Kentucky Derby, the first published point of call is after the opening half-mile.

Thus be careful not to conclude that Hard Spun ran an 85 opening quarter pace figure in the Derby and slowed to a 71 in the Preakness. That would be comparing apples to oranges, or in this instance, the half to the quarter.