ELMONT, N.Y. – Should Justify win Saturday’s Belmont Stakes and capture the Triple Crown, his connections will be the first recipients of a new-look trophy.

Following American Pharoah’s Triple Crown sweep in 2015, Chris Kay, the president and chief executive of the New York Racing Association, wanted to redesign the Triple Crown trophy. The previous version, Kay said, was only seven inches tall “and didn’t have any distinctive nature to it.”

FLUSHING, N.Y. – There will be truth in advertising on Saturday at Belmont Park, as Justify, the number one 3-year-old in the land, will wear saddle cloth number one when he breaks from the rail in the Belmont Stakes in his bid to sweep the Triple Crown.

Justify, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and unbeaten in five starts, drew the rail when posts were drawn Tuesday night at Citi Field for the 150th Belmont Stakes. Nine others were entered in the race, but all eyes will be in Justify as he attempts to become the 13th Triple Crown winner.

CARLSBAD, Calif. – In some ways, Julie Krone’s life today is just as it was 25 years ago, when she helped mold youngsters over a period of months, in concert with others who had the same goal, to see it pay off with a brilliant performance when it counted most.

It used to be with horses. Krone won 3,704 races, none more significant than her 1993 Belmont Stakes victory aboard Colonial Affair, to this day the only Triple Crown race won by a female jockey.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Blended Citizen has taken a circuitous route to the Belmont Stakes that includes three starts on turf, two on synthetic tracks, and being stranded on the also-eligible list for the Kentucky Derby.

His trainer, Doug O’Neill, who will be saddling his first Belmont Stakes starter, has taken an even more unusual path to the race.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Several horses entered for stakes races at Belmont Park on Friday were re-entered for stakes on Saturday, including Limousine Liberal, who is expected to try a mile for the first time in his career in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Lucullan will miss an intended start Saturday in the Grade 1 Manhattan on the Belmont Stakes undercard and likely the rest of the summer after coming out of a breeze last week with an undisclosed injury.

Lucullan worked June 1 at the Greentree training track at Saratoga in what was supposed to be his final Manhattan breeze, but instead has been sent to Kentucky for further evaluation.

“We were planning on running, but we had to send him home for a break,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “The timing is really bad.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Not the mile and a half, not the pressure of the Belmont Stakes. No, for jockeys who have swept the Triple Crown, the waiting for that final leg is the hardest part.

“You count down the days, the hours, the minutes,” Victor Espinoza, who was aboard American Pharoah in 2015, said on a national teleconference earlier this week.

“After the Preakness, those were the longest three weeks of my riding career,” said Steve Cauthen, who piloted Affirmed in 1978.

SOUTHLAKE, Texas – Mike and Mickala Sisk have made significant inroads in racing since getting into the sport in November 2016. The couple, which competes as M and M Racing, won the Oaklawn Park owners title in April, and through Monday ranked among the leading stables at the Belmont Park spring meet.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Four measly starts.

That’s the entire racing career for both Hofburg and Tenfold, two Belmont Stakes starters with many supporters who believe one of them might derail Justify’s bid to become America’s 13th Triple Crown winner.

One would think the marathon 1 1/2-mile Belmont rewards experience, seasoning, an extensive racing history. It doesn’t.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Finley’sluckycharm, the standout sprinter who was not entered in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses on Friday at Belmont Park, is being considered for the $75,000 Roxelana on June 23 at Churchill.

“It’ll probably either be that or just wait for the Honorable Miss” on July 25 at Saratoga, said trainer Bret Calhoun. “The mare’s doing very well. All we’re doing is working backward from the Breeders’ Cup” Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 3 at Churchill.