ELMONT, N.Y. – When War Admiral won the Triple Crown in 1937, there were a total of 32 horses who ran against him in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. That remains a record, one I’ll Have Another will have to better if he is to become the 12th Triple Crown winner when he competes in the 144th Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – There appears to be plenty of experimenting going on when 11 older males start in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park.

While this year’s bulky field includes last year’s Brooklyn winner, Birdrun, and the 2009 Brooklyn winner, Eldaafer, none of the other nine starters has previously tried the 1 1/2 mile distance. Twelve were actually entered for the Brooklyn, but Balladry, part of a Darley Stable-owned entry along with Arthur’s Tale, will scratch to run in a race Friday at Hollywood Park.

There will be more stakes races than race dates during Retama Park’s meet for Quarter Horses that opens Friday night. The track will run 21 stakes during the course of the 20-date meet, led by the Grade 2, $100,000 TQHA Sales Futurity on July 28. The Grade 3, $75,000 Retama Park Derby is also July 28, while the meet’s first stakes, the $20,000 Selma, goes Friday.

Retama, which is located near San Antonio, will race through Aug. 11. The track will offer live cards every Friday and Saturday night, with first post set for 6:45 p.m. Central.

Gilbert Ciavaglia, a trainer for more than 45 years, died Tuesday night at a Houston hospital due to complications from leukemia, according to his wife, Nancy. He was 73. Ciavaglia had battled leukemia the past four years, but had been active at Lone Star this meet and won with his final starter as a trainer, Seeking West, on May 25. Overall, Ciavaglia was 5 for 12 this meet at Lone Star.

A turf sprint Friday night at Lone Star Park could produce two leading contenders for an upcoming dirt stakes at Evangeline Downs.

My Star Runner and Tortuga Straits, a pair of Louisiana-breds who have won 11 stakes races between them, could advance to the $100,000 Louisiana Legends Sprint at Evangeline on June 30 depending on their performance in the seventh race at Lone Star.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Whether they ran last weekend, are starting this Saturday, or are being prepared for late season comebacks, trainer Peter Eurton has a strong team of fillies and mares for 2012 with She’s Cheeky, My Gi Gi, and Weemissfrankie.

She’s Cheeky was third in the Grade 2 Vagrancy Handicap at Belmont Park last Saturday, the ninth time she has been second or third in a stakes.

She is a candidate for the $200,000 A Gleam Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park on July 14.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Leading trainer Troy Taylor’s options with Taylor Said improved considerably when the 4-year-old B.C.-bred gelding scored a convincing two-length win in the $50,000 Sir Winston Churchill at Hastings last Sunday.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Stately Victor rubbed shoulders with some of the big names in the sport last year. Winners of his last five starts include Wise Dan, St. Nicholas Abbey, and Acclamation, and excepting a dud in the Clark Handicap, Stately Victor did not embarrass himself against the high-end competition.

What he did not do, however, is win. Stately Victor’s last victory came in September 2010, and though he looks competitive in the featured fifth race Friday at Arlington, there are good reasons to wonder whether Stately Victor’s losing skein will drag on.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The show will go on uninterrupted.

A threatened strike by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 that could have threatened the running of Saturday’s Belmont Stakes was averted Wednesday when the two sides reached a tentative three-year agreement that runs through Feb. 28, 2014.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Right One already had three races under his belt when he rallied to a popular head victory over Yield Bogey in the 2011 edition of the $150,000 Jaipur at Belmont Park. But when Right One returns to defend his title Friday in the Grade 3 Jaipur, he’ll come into the race having run just once since November, a fact that is of some concern to his trainer, Christophe Clement.