Victor Espinoza, the man who rides American Pharoah in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, is already on a list that includes Bill Hartack, Milo Valenzuela, and Kent Desormeaux, all of them in the Hall of Fame.

That’s pretty good company, but all the same, Espinoza would like to jump ship and join the club made up of Johnny Loftus, Earl Sande, Willie Saunders, Charlie Kurtsinger, Eddie Arcaro, John Longden, Warren Mehrtens, Ron Turcotte, Jean Cruguet, and Steve Cauthen.

When American Pharoah seeks to complete a sweep of the Triple Crown at Belmont Park Saturday, racing fans will hope to see a great race and perhaps a definitive confirmation that the winner has earned a lofty place in the sport’s history.

Beginning in 1987, when Jack Van Berg took Alysheba to the brink of winning the Triple Crown, I have been to Belmont Park for 10 tries and left there with a fistful of programs worth considerably less than they might have been. So, here we go again.

What lingers from that first disappointment was not necessarily the sight of Alysheba and Chris McCarron trailing home fourth, far down the track from the freakish performance of Bet Twice. It was the scene at the Garden City Hotel later that night, where McCarron had rented a special room downstairs for a victory party.

Del Mar officials say they talked to “key players” before proposing an overhaul to its pick six this summer. Key or not, those people must not be pick-six players: Those who actually make the bet appear overwhelmingly opposed to the changes.

Del Mar was concerned about a 25 percent decline in pick six wagering in recent years, most of that coming on non-carryover days. The solution the track has proposed, however, does absolutely nothing to encourage betting on days without carryovers and may well discourage even longtime pick-six players from participating at all.

While the clock ticks down to the Most Important Belmont Stakes Ever Run on June 6, let’s pause to go once around the horn for this Saturday’s more modest menu of very good racing. All posts noted in Eastern Daylight Time, which is only right:

4:18 p.m. – The $100,000 Aristides honors the memory of the horse who won a 1 1/2-mile race and a purse of $2,850 at a track in Louisville, Ky., on May 17, 1875. The track was later called Churchill Downs, and the race became known as the Kentucky Derby, which is, of course, why the Aristides is a sprint for older horses.

There is a tendency to think that there are only 3-year-old colts running around American racetracks right now and only one of them matters.

Fascinating as his training moves might be, however, American Pharoah has not raced since winning the Preakness on May 16 and will not run again until he goes for the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes on June 6. That has left a lot of time on idle hands, but there is at least one group of top-class Thoroughbreds willing and able to fill the competitive void whenever the need arises.

Worried about the future of racing? Yeah, me too. But there are a few silver linings that sparkle through the muck and the mire, and for the purposes of celebrating a holiday weekend rife with good sport, I figure it can’t hurt to shine a spotlight in a couple of special directions.

Ahmed Zayat, the man behind American Pharoah, likes to say that his homebred colt by a homebred stallion is a family production, “A to Z.” No argument here.

But while we’re on the subject, the Triple Crown challenge faced by American Pharoah in the 147th Belmont Stakes on June 6 deserves an A-to-Z treatment of its own. I lobbied hard to use the 13-character Hawaiian alphabet, but my editor insisted on the traditional 26. So, here goes:

Horseplayers are accustomed to dealing with tough losses and cruel tricks of fate, knowing that they’re an inescapable part of the game. But most bettors cannot abide a rule that was issued by the Treasury Department in 1978 and has tormented them ever since.

The clock was always ticking. From the moment he crossed the line in the Kentucky Derby, American Pharoah was on his way to stud sooner than later. It was only left to the who, where, and how much – Coolmore, Ashford, healthy eight figures – but as to the when ... ?