When Charles Hatton, the Daily Racing Form columnist, began calling Gallant Fox’s 1930 run through the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes the Triple Crown, he was mining a term said to have originated in mid-19th century England when a horse named West Australia won the 2000 Guineas, the Derby, and the St. Leger.

ELMONT, N.Y. - I'll Have Another  will not move to the stakes barn, a detention barn for horses running in Saturday's Belmont Stakes, until Wednesday, just before the deadline, trainer Doug O'Neill said Tuesday at Belmont Park.

::BELMONT STAKES: Video updates, expected field, early odds

ELKTON, Md. – Going back to last summer, John Velazquez has long admired Union Rags from afar. On Sunday morning, he got up close and personal with the Grade 1-winning colt for the first time, and it served only to confirm his admiration.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The union representing approximately 130 to 150 maintenance crew workers for the New York Racing Association – including the starting gate crew – has authorized a strike that could impact Saturday’s Belmont Stakes in which I’ll Have Another will attempt to win the Triple Crown.

The members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 voted recently to authorize a strike at the three NYRA tracks, although no date was selected for that strike to begin, according to Vincent McElroen, financial secretary for the IBEW.

ELMONT, N.Y. – For a guy whose colt will try to end a 34-year drought in the Triple Crown on Saturday and whose professional life has been repeatedly picked over in the past month, trainer Doug O’Neill looked awfully calm Monday morning at Belmont Park, just days before I’ll Have Another tries to become the 12th Triple Crown winner in the 144th Belmont Stakes.

The reason? I’ll Have Another.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Guyana Star Dweej became the final prospective Belmont Stakes starter to work prior to the race when breezing an uninspiring half-mile in 49.30 seconds with new rider Kent Desormeaux aboard immediately after the renovation break Monday at Belmont Park.

The last time a horse won a Triple Crown, Tom Hammond had the best seat in the house. He stood next to announcer Chic Anderson as Affirmed outdueled Alydar down the stretch at Belmont Park in 1978.

“Maybe the greatest race I’ve ever seen,” said Hammond, the two-time Eclipse Award winner and host of NBC’s Triple Crown coverage. “Maybe second best, just behind Winning Colors losing to Personal Ensign in the ’88 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.”

As I’ll Have Another tries to become racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 34 years, plenty of casual fans will be asking: Why is this feat so difficult? Why is it more difficult than it was in the 1970s, when three different horses in a span of six years swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes?

ELMONT, N.Y. - Jockey Javier Castellano was walking Dullahan back to trainer Dale Romans's barn after having just worked the third-place finisher in this year’s Kentucky Derby a half-mile Sunday morning at Belmont Park when he stopped briefly to ask the gap attendant how fast he’d gone.

ELKTON, Md. - As John Velazquez galloped a strong Union Rags through the stretch of the near-empty Fair Hill training center dirt track Sunday morning, he thought to himself ‘Oh my God, what is this thing?’ ”

About a minute later he found out. Sitting on Union Rags for the first time, Velazquez guided the powerhouse 3-year-old through a five-furlong workout that Daily Racing Form timed in 58.50 seconds. Michael Matz, the trainer of Union Rags, caught him in 59 seconds. Matz was aboard a stable pony on the far turn.