ELMONT, N.Y. – Ten years ago, trainer Ken McPeek pulled off the biggest upset in Belmont Stakes history with the 70-1 Sarava. On Saturday, McPeek will try to do it all over again by taking on the heavily favored I’ll Have Another with his two outsiders, Atigun and Unstoppable U.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Five of the 11 likely starters in next Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, including Dullahan and Union Rags, had their scheduled workouts postponed on Saturday due to heavy rains that moved up the East Coast and pelted Belmont Park Friday evening and into Saturday morning.

The Ken McPeek-trained duo of Atigun and Unstoppable U along with the Chad Brown-trained Street Life also had their works postponed on Saturday.  

In April 1991, in a cemetary not far from Santa Anita, the mortal remains of Lazaro Sosa Barrera were boxed in a casket and lowered to the bottom of deep grave flanked by a tall pine and a flowering magnolia. A concrete slab was placed on a rim of dirt a few inches above the casket to protect it from the earth shoveled from above. A brass plaque affixed to a rough-cut granite boulder was placed at the head of the grave. The only information included on the plaque was Barrera’s name and dates of birth and death, along with the name of his wife, Carmen, who would join him there someday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Despite a bevy of negative press – which included an erroneous report that there are separate rules for him than the other trainers competing in the Belmont Stakes – trainer Doug O’Neill is just rolling with the punches.

Maintaining an upbeat attitude, O’Neill said Friday morning, is made easier by how well his horse I’ll Have Another is doing leading up to his date with destiny in the June 9 Belmont Stakes, where he will attempt to become Thoroughbred racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner

Horses and hockey. Those were the two loves of Larry Jones when he was a growing up in tiny Stettler in Alberta, Canada. Jones longed to win the Stanley Cup, but a back injury short-circuited those dreams and led to a career change that has instead put him front and center with I’ll Have Another, who will try to win the Triple Crown in the 144th Belmont Stakes on June 9 at Belmont Park.

Countdown to the Crown returns for a seventh season online as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 6 through the Belmont Stakes, Countdown keeps you apprised of the rising stars of the 3-year-old class from the maiden ranks through the Grade 1 stakes. You can access daily updates and interactive features at Countdowntothecrown.com as well.

3 things you won’t read anywhere else

For all their battle-scarred cynicism about an often unpredictable game, horse-racing fans can also be romantically credulous about the justice of the racetrack when it comes to the Triple Crown. The very difficulty of achieving the sport’s greatest prize, which has now gone unclaimed for 34 years, is widely believed to reflect a harsh but fair verdict. We haven’t had a Triple Crown winner since Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed in the 1970’s, the thinking goes, because we have not seen their equal, and the racing gods will not allow pretenders to join the pantheon.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Belmont Stakes lost one starter on Thursday morning. Then it nearly lost its star.

Alpha, one of four graded stakes winners in the prospective field for the Belmont Stakes was withdrawn from consideration because of a fever, according to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.

Meanwhile, the race could have lost its marquee player - Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another - when the 3-year-old filly Isleta, trained by Carl Domino, dumped her rider and got loose shortly after I'll Have Another came on the track for training around 8:45 a.m.

According to the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, the only parimutuel horse race for the forseeable future that merits a heightened level of security in order to protect the investment of the public’s wagering dollars is the 11th race on Saturday, June 9, at Belmont Park.

Big Brown, the most recent to attempt the Crown, turned out to every bit as mortal as Sunday Silence or Spectacular Bid when it came to the fundamental vulnerability of a horse without perfect feet.