Rosie Napravnik will seek to join Julie Krone as the only female jockeys to have won the Belmont Stakes. She will ride Code West in the Belmont on June 8, trainer Bob Baffert said Thursday.

Napravnik rode Code West to a runaway victory against older allowance horses Saturday at Pimlico in the race following the Preakness.

Napravnik became available for the Belmont when the connections of Mylute decided Wednesday night to skip the race. Napravnik rode Mylute in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, including a third-place finish in the Preakness.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Kentucky Derby winner Orb took a significant first step toward a possible start in the June 8 Belmont Stakes and a rematch with Preakness winner Oxbow with a strong one-mile gallop Thursday morning over a sealed, good Belmont Park main track.

The exercise was Orb's first since he finished fourth in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico last Saturday, and gave trainer Shug McGaughey encouragement that the horse could make the $1 million Belmont.

[BELMONT STAKES: Probable field and latest updates]

ELMONT, N.Y. – Tony Dutrow wasn’t necessarily on board when his owners, on the eve of entry day, decided to run their New York-bred Giant Finish in the Kentucky Derby.

“My clients wish to race and obviously I’m going to honor their decision,” Dutrow said at the time.

Dutrow said he was admittedly surprised when Giant Finish beat half the field in finishing 10th in the Run for the Roses.

Horses competing in the June 8 Belmont Stakes will be subject to out-of-competition blood testing and 24-hour security beginning three days before the race, but will be allowed to remain in their own barn as part of security measures announced Tuesday by racing authorities.

ELMONT, N.Y. – After running five horses in the Kentucky Derby and none in the Preakness, trainer Todd Pletcher is preparing another small army for the $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 8.

Pletcher is likely to run four horses in the Belmont and possibly more, depending on owner Mike Repole.

The upset victory by Oxbow in the Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico extinguished the Triple Crown chances of Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner.

[bc_video_id:292828:]BALTIMORE – Oxbow, the winner of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, left Pimlico Race Course early Sunday morning, and a couple of hours later, so too did Orb, who won the Kentucky Derby and was fourth in the Preakness.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Freedom Child had no chance to make the Kentucky Derby when he lost all chance at the start of the Wood Memorial. Given the way he ran in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, Freedom Child could have a big chance in the Belmont Stakes on June 8. Especially if the track is wet.

Despite an awkward start, Freedom Child quickly shot to the front under Luis Saez and turned the Peter Pan into his own personal training session, romping to a 13 1/4-length victory over a sloppy Belmont Park main track.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Absent from the Kentucky Derby for the first time in three years, Team Valor International holds out some hope for making the Belmont Stakes with recent acquisition Infinite Magic, who runs in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.

A Kentucky-bred son of More Than Ready, Infinite Magic raced exclusively on synthetic surfaces in Great Britain before winning a second-level allowance race on turf at Keeneland last month.

ELMONT, N.Y. – While trainer Chad Brown ponders whether to run Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Normandy Invasion back in the Preakness next Saturday, he hopes to find out this Saturday whether or not he has a contender for the Belmont Stakes.

At Belmont Park, Brown sends out Saint Vigeur in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, a wide-open race that could yield a starter or two for the $1 million Belmont on June 8.