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Tough field Belmont more than a two-horse race
NEW YORK (AP) -- Quality, not quantity, will be on display in the $1 million Belmont Stakes. Only nine 3-year-olds will break from the gate in Saturday's Belmont, but any one of them appears capable of finishing first, from Preakness winner and favorite Point Given to 30-1 long shots Buckle Down Ben and the Irish-bred Dr Greenfield. And then there's Kentucky Derby winner and second-choice Monarchos, as well as the runners-up in the first two legs of the Triple Crown -- Invisible Ink in the Derby, A P Valentine in the Preakness. "The field is tough, one of the toughest," Nick Zito, who trains A P Valentine, said Thursday morning. Todd Pletcher, who saddles expected pacesetter Balto Star and Invisible Ink, sees talent everywhere. "Everyone's got pretty solid credentials," Pletcher said. "You look down the line. ... Everyone has run races good enough to belong here." Chimes in D. Wayne Lukas, who enters the 2001 Triple Crown scene for the first time with Buckle Down Ben: "This Belmont is one of the better ones. The winner coming out of this one is a legitimate Belmont winner." The field has combined for six Grade I wins, four Grade IIs and two Grade IIIs, with Point Given leading the way with his Grade I victories in the Preakness, Santa Anita Derby and Hollywood Futurity. It's also the first time since 1994 the Belmont features the Derby winner vs. the Preakness winner. Nonetheless, the long shot connections are confident, even though they are just now joining the Triple Crown fray. "I have no reservations about the mile-and-a-half," Lukas said in preparing to send out his 80th starter in his 52nd Triple Crown race. "He's a big, long-striding raw-bone thing and he handles any kind of surface." In his last race, Buckle Down Ben won an allowance at Churchill Downs on May 27. Barry Irwin, who heads the Team Valor syndicate that owns Dr Greenfield, said his English-based colt is primed to test America's best 3-year-olds. "We've trained him for 5 1/2 months for this race," Irwin said. "He's a big horse who can run all day. We're very confident." In 1992, Team Valor shipped My Memoirs to the Belmont from England and he finished second behind A.P. Indy. Only John Ward, who trains Monarchos, has been hesitant to pump up his colt's chances despite several weeks of solid training. He simply says: "We're just going to let him go out and run his race and see what it gets us." Bob Baffert, Point Given's trainer, expects another big race from his big colt. "If he shows up, we'll have no excuses," Baffert said. "This horse is doing so well, I wish there were a Triple Crown on the line this year." At 1 1/2 miles, the Belmont distance is longer than any race these horses have run, so there's a bit of mystery. How will even the favorites handle the extra distance, combined with the wide, sweeping turns of Belmont Park? Zito, a New York-trainer who is 0-for-10 in Belmonts with four seconds, can't wait for the race to start. "He's a tiger," Zito said. "He should run big." Point Given, Monarchos, A P Valentine and Dollar Bill have made it to all three Triple Crown races, while Balto Star, Invisible Ink and Thunder Blitz are back after running in the Derby and skipping the Preakness. Ward said the Triple Crown trail has taken its toll on Monarchos, and he expects the horses that skipped the Preakness to be well rested. "It's not that I have less respect for my horse, but rather I have more respect for Joe Orseno's horse [Thunder Blitz] and others who are fresh," Ward said. "Point Given is in the same position I am." The nine-horse field is the smallest since seven went to post in the '97 Belmont. "I like this field size, not too big, not too small," Zito said. "Every horse in the race deserves to be here." Expect Balto Star, with Chris McCarron aboard, to set the early fractions, most likely a bit slower than the blazing Derby pace set by Songandaprayer. "The pace scenario should be a lot different from the Derby," Pletcher said. "I'd like to see him [Balto Star] going the half in 46 or 47 [seconds] in that rhythmic stride of his. If he does that, he's got a big shot at winning this." Dollar Bill, who had four horrendous trips in his last four starts under Pat Day, is back for another try. "I think this race sets up nice for him," Stewart said. And don't count out Thunder Blitz, who was fourth in the Derby. "We're really high on this horse," Orseno, who won the Preakness last year with Red Bullet, said. "The longer he runs the better." And when the field hits the top of the stretch? "I think they get around and look down that long stretch and say, 'Wow, are you serious?' " Baffert said.
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