I’ll be blunt. ESPN/ABC should stick to televising the other “sports” and leave horseracing to the professional networks that broadcast it all the time.

The real horseracing networks, TVG and HRTV, were prohibited from showing races at Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes because of a contractual agreement the racetrack had with ESPN/ABC. Giving one network the “golden apple” at a sporting event is nothing new, but that network, i.e. ESPN/ABC, should show the racing that is going on and forget about all the mindless dribble and pabulum they are feeding the audience.

Once NBC’s “rights” began on Saturday, which was 4 p.m. EDT, TVG and HRTV could no longer show live racing from Belmont Park. The True North Handicap, the Betfair TVG Acorn Stakes and the Woodford Reserve Manhattan were never shown by ESPN/ABC. And we’re talking about a Grade 2 and two Grade 1 races.

What was ESPN/ABC showing? “Human-interest stories,” or at least that’s what they thought they were. I guess when you are paying at least six high-profile announcers; you had better get your money out of them.

One of the funniest things was Randy Moss and his touch-screen. Of course there were 12 horses in the field and the network had to cut to him for three segments (four horses each time). My racing form provided more information than Moss was able to impart about the horses.

If ESPN/ABC wants to broadcast this junk, then let TVG and HRTV at least show other races at the track on that day. None of the announcers for ESPN/ABC even said who won the Acorn, True North or Manhattan. That’s the least they could have done.

The biggest joke of the whole day was the broadcast of the Belmont Stakes. Look, I know the network has a blimp, but please save those shots for replays. Even the start of the race showed very little. They had a ground-level camera at the starting gate and that camera followed the field a sixteenth of a mile after the start and it showed very little of what was going on.

The network then jumped to a head-on shot, and if it had not been for track announcer Tom Durkin describing the action, I would not have known who was where. They finally went to a “normal” shot as the field rounded the clubhouse turn, but as soon as it reached the backstretch it was time for the “money” shot. Yep, you guessed it, the BLIMP.

This shot lasted for at least a quarter-of-a-mile, and then switched back to a normal shot. Of course, I could only see the top four horses. If the network wants to get “fancy,” they should at least pay attention to a track feed where they show a split screen. It never happened once in the 2:31 plus minutes that it took to run the race.

Even when the horses reached the top of the stretch the camera angle still was awkward and I had trouble telling who was in contention.

This is not ranting or griping from a guy who only watches horseracing three or four times a year. I watch between 50 and a100 races nearly every day. It’s my job, so I know what I’m talking about.

It’s too bad ESPN/ABC thinks splash tells a better story than just showing a race or races.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Ice Box, the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s 142nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, and stablemate Fly Down, the third choice at 9-2, arrived at Belmont Park Wednesday afternoon after an uneventful van ride from Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“They’re next to each other (Fly Down drew post position 5 and Ice Box drew post 6) so that’s good,” said the duo’s Hall of Fame trainer, Nick Zito. “We’re closers, so I like being pretty close inside. The jockeys can see the way the race develops.”

Zito, who has saddled 22 Belmont Stakes starters, winning with a pair of longshots in Birdstone (2004) and Da’ Tara (2008), finds himself in a different role this year.

there’s more pressure, anxiety, on the other hand, if they run well, you have to be content,” said Zito.

ELMONT, N.Y. –  Saturday’s 142nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, which marks the finish line for the 2010 Triple Crown, could be the starting point for racing’s next star.

Last year, Summer Bird, an unknown who had finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby, ran off with an upset victory in the 1½-mile Belmont and with subsequent wins in the Travers and the Jockey Club Gold Cup went onto divisional honors as the nation’s top 3-Year-Old colt.

This year, a dozen colts and geldings will enter the starting gate at BelmontPark at 6:32 p.m. EDT hoping to follow the same career path.

Supporting the Belmont Stakes, the oldest and longest leg of the Triple Crown, is a glittering 12-race undercard that includes the 80th running of the Betfair TVG Acorn for 3-year-old fillies; the 14th running of the Grade 1 Just a Game for fillies and mares on the turf; the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Manhattan on the turf; the Grade 2 Woody Stephens for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs and the Grade 2 True North at six furlongs.

The Belmont is the final leg of The New York Racing Association, Inc.’s (NYRA) Guaranteed $1 million All-Stakes Pick 4 and its Guaranteed $1 million All-Stakes Pick 6. Race coverage begins on ESPN at noon and goes until 5 p.m., with ABC televising the race from 5-7 p.m.

Brooklyn-born Nick Zito will be trying for a third career Belmont Stakes victory, and unlike his last two, which ended the 2004 and 2008 Triple Crown bids of Smarty Jones and Big Brown, the Hall of Fame trainer will be sending out a pair of favorites in Ice Box and Fly Down.

Owned by Robert LaPenta, Ice Box is one of two Grade 1 winners in the field, having closed from last to win the Florida Derby at 20-1. But it was his desperate run to make up almost 22 lengths in the Kentucky Derby to finish second to Super Saver that caught everyone’s attention, and with the son of Pulpit, Zito is sitting on his first Belmont favorite since Strike the Gold finished second in 1991.

Jose Lezcano has the mount on the 3-1 morning-line favorite from post position 6.

The second of Zito’s 1-2 Belmont punch has something on his resume that no other Belmont starter has – a win over the racetrack. Richard C. Pell’s Fly Down bounced back from a troubled ninth in the Louisiana Derby to win the Grade 2 Dwyer on May 8. The Mineshaft colt will be ridden by Belmont Stakes-winning jockey John Velazquez, who was aboard Fly Down when he finished third in his debut at Belmont last fall.

Velazquez, who piloted the filly Rags to Riches to her historic Belmont victory in 2007, and Fly Down break next to his stablemate from post position 5 at 9-2.

“It’s all been positive, and I want to keep it that way,” said Zito of his two entrants.

Fly Down also owns a pair of victories over the colt who’s been turning heads during the mornings at Belmont Park – Donald R. Dizney’s First Dude, the 17-hands-tall son of Stephen Got Even who finished second in the Preakness on May 15.

Second to Fly Down in a maiden race at Churchill Downs on November 28, First Dude (who is named after former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s husband, Todd) also couldn’t hold him off in an allowance at Gulfstream Park in February, beaten a head. Fifth in the Florida Derby behind Ice Box, First Dude was third after getting bounced around at the start of the Blue Grass before his game second to Lookin At Lucky.

“He’s a big, strong, long-striding colt, and this track should suit him,” said trainer Dale Romans. “It’s time to turn the tables.”

Ramon Dominguez, the leading rider in New York this year, has the mount on the 7-2 morning-line choice from post position 11.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who earned his first Kentucky Derby victory this year, and Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who notched his fifth Preakness just under three weeks ago, are both in the Belmont, but with different horses.

Pletcher, who until last week did not have a Belmont starter, called an audible and entered Alain and Gerard Wertheimer’s homebred Interactif, who will be making his first start on conventional dirt since finishing eighth in the Grade 2 Sanford at Saratoga as a 2-year-old. The last time Pletcher made a last-minute decision to run in the Belmont was three years ago, when he sent out Rags to Riches to become the first filly to win the race in 102 years.

Javier Castellano rides the son of Broken Vow, 12-1 on the morning line, from post position 12.

Like Pletcher, Baffert also owns a Belmont victory, having scored in 2001 with Point Given.  But, next to Woody Stephens’ five straight Belmont victories, Baffert’s Belmont legend looms large as he has thrice brought horses to the brink of the Triple Crown, only to be denied each time – Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998 and War Emblem in 2002.

The Baffert-trained Game On Dude, whose silks sport an orange basketball on a blue background, was purchased by Bernard Schiappa, the Lanni Family Trust, Mercedes Stable and Diamond Pride LLC with the intent of making one of the spring classics, and the gelding earned his way into the Belmont with a victory in the Grade 2 Lone Star Derby.

“I am looking forward to seeing what he will do going a distance of ground,” said Baffert. “That’s the key to the Belmont – having a horse who can go that far.”

Martin Garcia, who won the Preakness with Lookin At Lucky, is aboard Game On Dude in his first ride at BelmontPark. The gelding is 10-1 on the morning line from post position 8.

WinStar Farm already has a classic win this spring with Super Saver’s Derby victory and will be trying for a second with Drosselmeyer, a son of Distorted Humor who finished second in the Dwyer on May 8. Never off the board in eight lifetime starts, the chestnut colt will be Bill Mott’s first Belmont starter since Vision and Verse finished second in 1999 for the Hall of Fame trainer.

“I think he’s in there with a chance,” said Mott.

Mike Smith rides the 12-1 choice from post position 7.

A handful of trainers will be sending out their first Belmont Stakes starters, including Alexis Barba with Make Music for Me, Michael Maker with Stately Victor, and Steve Margolis with Stay Put.

Barba, 57, would become the first woman to saddle a winner in a Triple Crown event should Make Music for Me win. Twice second to 2-Year-Old champion Lookin At  Lucky – in the Del Mar Futurity and Best Pal – Make Music for Me, owned by Ellen and Peter Johnson, rallied from last to finish fourth in the Kentucky Derby in his first start on dirt.

Since 1984, eight women have sent out Belmont starters, the most recent of which was Linda Rice, whose Supervisor finished fifth in 2003.

Joel Rosario, who has never ridden at BelmontPark, has the mount on the 10-1 choice from post position 4.

F. Thomas and Jack Conway’s Stately Victor owns the distinction of being the only other Grade 1 winner in the field besides Ice Box, having won the Blue Grass over an artificial surface at odds of 41-1, highest in that race’s history.  Subsequently eighth in the Derby, the son of Ghostzapper, 15-1, will be ridden from post position 9 by Alan Garcia, who won the 2008 Belmont aboard Da’ Tara.

Richard, Bertram, and Elaine Klein’s Stay Put will be making his first start in Grade 1 company in the Belmont. Fifth in his only two graded stakes starts, the Grade 2 Risen Star and the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, the Broken Vow colt got his shot in the Belmont after a solid victory in an optional claimer on Derby Day at Churchill Downs.

Jockey Jamie Theriot makes his BelmontPark debut with Stay Put, 20-1 from post position 10.

The fourth trainer with a Belmont victory, and the one with the best batting average in the race, is Kiaran McLaughlin, who sends out Fantasy Lane Stable’s Uptowncharlybrown. McLaughlin won the Belmont in 2006 with his first starter, Jazil, in a race that, like this year, lacked both Derby and Preakness winners.

Winner of his first two starts at Tampa Bay Downs, the Limehouse colt was trained by the late Alan Seewald, who passed away on April 12, after which Uptowncharlybrown was transferred to McLaughlin. Third in the Grade 2 Lexington at Keeneland in his most recent start, Uptowncharlybrown will be ridden by Rajiv Maragh as the 10-1 choice from post 3.

“He’s been doing great since we got him, and I am excited about our chances,” said McLaughlin, who finished fourth in last year’s Belmont with CharitableMan. “I’m looking forward to running him.”

Ike and Dawn Thrash are hoping for a good conclusion to their Triple Crown experience with Dave in Dixie, as their promising Preakness prospect, Hurricane Ike, was withdrawn from consideration from that race with an injury. Dave in Dixie, who was second to Caracortado in the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis in his best performance of the year, will be ridden by Calvin Borel, appropriately enough, from the rail.

Rounding out the field is Lawrence Roman’s Spangled Star who in his stakes debut finished third to Afleet Again and Ibboyee in the Grade 3 Wither at Aqueduct on April 24. Trained by Richard Dutrow Jr. and ridden by Garrett Gomez, the Distorted Humor colt breaks from post position 2 at 30-1.

Parking gates open for the Belmont at 8:15 a.m., with post time for the first of 13 races set for 11:35 a.m.

The post positions for Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 5, with jockeys and morning-line odds.

1. Dave in Dixie, Jockey Calvin Borel, Odds – 20-1
2. Spangled Star,  Garrett Gomez,  30-1
3. Uptowncharlybrown, Rajiv Maragh,  10-1
4. Make Music for Me, Joel Rosario, 10-1
5. Fly Down, John Velazquez, 9-2
6. Ice Box, Jose Lezcano, 3-1
7. Drosselmeyer, Mike Smith, 12-1
8. Game On Dude, Martin Garcia, 10-1
9. Stately Victor, Alan Garcia, 15-1
10. Stay Put, Jamie Theriot,  20-1
11. First Dude, Ramon Dominguez, 7-2
12. Interactif, Javier Castellano, 12-1

The 142nd running of the Belmont will be the first time since 2006 neither Kentucky Derby or Preakness winners have run and only third since 1970.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Interactif will compete in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, trainer Todd Pletcher announced Monday morning. With the presence of Interactif, the Belmont is now expected to feature a field of 12.

Pletcher and owner Alain Wertheimer had originally planned to send Interactif to Friday’s Grade 3 Hill Prince on the turf, but began to consider the Belmont following a promising workout on May 22 when the son of Broken Vow covered six furlongs on the main track in 1:14.29.

“We decided to call an audible and send him to the Belmont,” said Pletcher. “Two works ago, we had it in our minds, and after surveying the field we decided to go.”

Javier Castellano will have the mount aboard Interactif, who will be making his first start on conventional dirt since an eighth in the Grade 2 Sanford at Saratoga in July. He closed his juvenile campaign with victories in the Grade 3 With Anticipation and Grade 3 Bourbon on the grass before finishing a close third in the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Second by a nose in the HallandaleBeach on the turf at Gulfstream in his sophomore debut, Interactif has competed over synthetic surfaces in his last two starts, finishing second to Sidney’s Candy in the Grade 2 San Felipe at Santa Anita and fourth in the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland.

“His second to Sidney’s Candy in the San Felipe was very good, although we were a little disappointed with his performance in the Blue Grass,” said Pletcher. “We had the Derby in mind after [the Blue Grass], but thought the three weeks might be a little fast back.”

· Working just after the break in preparation for Saturday’s 142nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, Drosselmeyer went five furlongs in 59.65 over the main track for Hall of Famer Bill Mott.

“The fact that it was that fast, I’m not disappointed,” said Mott. “He’s supposedly a good horse and I was looking for a decent work. I put some company with him, and I thought he would work a bit faster, which he did. He finished up well, and galloped out well seven furlongs in 1:26 and change. When you get in that range, you’re talking about racehorse times.”

· After breezing Make Music for Me over the main track eight days ago, trainer Alexis Barba called an audible and had her Belmont Stakes hopeful work over the training track Monday morning, drilling five furlongs in 1:01.21.

“On the main track he’s been off the bridle,” said Barba. “When I galloped him yesterday on the training track, he was a little more into it. And he was again today. He was a little sharper. He’s been on the main track since he arrived here. (Today’s workout) was just a little change up. Sometimes horses do better with that.”

· Trainer Mike Maker also changed plans Monday morning, moving Stately Victor’s work up one day. The Ghostzapper colt went a half-mile in 49.93 over the main track.

Belmont Stakes contender Stay Put worked five furlongs in 50.62 Sunday morning over the main track in preparation for Saturday’s 142nd running of the “Test of the Champion.” Exercise rider Loren Diego was aboard for the move, which took place promptly after the renovation break at 9 a.m.

At Saratoga, Hall of Famer Nick Zito put the finishing touches on the second of his two Belmont contenders as Grade 2 Dwyer winner Fly Down went a half-mile in a brisk 47.50, galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.15.

Scheduled to work Monday morning at BelmontPark are Belmont hopefuls Drosselmeyer and Make Music for Me, with Stately Victor slated to have his final tune-up on Tuesday morning.

ELMONT, N.Y. – First Dude tuned up for the 142nd running of next Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes this morning with a solid five-furlong work under exercise rider Tammy Fox.

After stopping numerous times on his way to the track and on the track to pose for photographers and videographers, the 17-hands-tall colt got down to business shortly after the renovation break on the main track, with NYRA clockers catching him in 1:01.12.

“It looked like he was just galloping,” said Dale Romans, who trains the Stephen Got Even colt for Donald R. Dizney. “Just getting a few trips over this track is good. He looked like he got a lot out of it, and I’m glad we came in early to train over this deeper track.”

With just three weeks between races, Romans said he was sticking with his normal program as he trains the Preakness runner-up into the 1½ mile Belmont. BelmontPark is the fifth track over which First Dude will have run, including traditional dirt tracks at GulfstreamPark, Churchill Downs and Pimlico and the synthetic surface at Keeneland, where he finished third to Stately Victor in the Grade 1 Blue Grass. 

“He’s a great, big horse and the big sweeping turns here I think will help him,” said Romans. “He’s a strong horse and he’s handled everything we’ve given him and bounced right back.”

* Uptowncharlybrown works toward Belmont

Fantasy Lane Stable’s Uptowncharlybrown also drilled for the Belmont Stakes Saturday morning, covering five furlongs in 1:01.34

“We were looking for :48 up in 1:01 and we got :48 and a couple, up in 1:01, so it went well,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “The distance is a question mark, but it’s a question mark for everybody. This horse has a big stride and gallops out strong, always. He’s had traffic trips [in his previous races], so hopefully things go a little better at a mile and a half. He came in here a pretty straightforward horse – he does everything right – and he came from good hands so we’re just training on.”

Previously trained by the late Alan Seewald, Uptowncharlybrown has two wins and two third place finishes from five starts. He was most recently third in the Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 17.

“I wish the Belmont were today instead of next week, but he’s doing great,” said McLaughlin. “He’s ready to go, so we’re happy.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Belmont hopeful Stately Victor arrived at Belmont Park a few hours behind schedule Thursday, but no worse for the trip.

“Everything went smoothly, but the plane was a little late,” trainer Mike Maker said at his Belmont barn Friday morning. “I think they had some mechanical issues. We got here at about 7:45 last night.”

Maker said that the son of Ghostzapper, owned by Thomas and Jack Conway, galloped an easy 1 ¼-miles Thursday morning before preparing to ship.

“He’ll gallop Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. and breeze Monday or Tuesday after the break,” Maker said. “Usually I prefer just to ship right on top of a race, but I thought that coming here, I would prefer to have a work over this track. Another positive on our side is that Alan Garcia (jockey) has won a Belmont, but more importantly, he fits the horse well.”

Garcia piloted Stately Victor to his improbable 40-1 win in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 10, as well as an eighth-place finish in the May 1 Kentucky Derby. In 2008, he rode longshot Da’ Tara to victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes.

Also stabled in Maker’s barn is Donald R. Dizney’s expected Belmont starter First Dude, who walked the shed row after training Friday, pausing briefly before Stately Victor’s stall during one of his circuits.

“Look, he’s scared of Stately Victor,” Maker joked. “Everything is fine. Our horse is happy and healthy, so here we are.” 

Arriving Thursday night on the same flight as Stately Victor was Stay Put, who also appears to be acclimating to his new surroundings, trainer Steve Margolis said by phone from Kentucky Friday morning.

“He shipped well and he’s getting settled,” said Margolis, who trains Stay Put for Richard, Bertram, and Elaine Klein. “He came up with my longtime assistant Loren Diego, who rides him in the mornings. He’ll gallop tomorrow after the break, then work a half-mile and gallop out five-eighths first thing after the break on Sunday.”

Stay Put enters the Belmont off an allowance victory on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. All three of the Broken Vow colt’s wins have come around two turns.

Margolis said he would join the horse on Tuesday morning, arriving in time for training hours.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The likely field for the 142nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes swelled to 11 Thursday with the announcement that Ike and Dawn Thrash’s Dave in Dixie is targeting the June 5 race.

Trained by John Sadler, the son of Dixie Union broke his maiden at first asking last summer at Del Mar and was sixth behind eventual Preakness winner Lookin at Lucky in the Grade 1 Norfolk in his only other start as a juvenile. Dave in Dixie began his 3-year-old campaign with a second-place effort in the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita, and followed that by finishing sixth in the Grade 2 San Felipe and fifth in the Grace 3 Illinois Derby, his first start on dirt, on April 3.

According to Thrash, the decision to join the Belmont field was finalized after Dave in Dixie worked a mile at HollywoodPark Thursday morning in 1:39.60.

“It’s worth a shot,” said Thrash, who was represented in the Kentucky Derby by Line of David, who finished 18th, but whose Derby Trial winner, Hurricane Ike, was withdrawn from Preakness consideration the morning of entry. “He worked for the last time (before the Belmont) this morning and we waited until afterward to make sure he was coming.”

According to Thrash, Calvin Borel will ride.

In addition to Dave in Dixie, the field for the Belmont includes Drosselmeyer, First Dude, Fly Down, Game On Dude, Ice Box, Make Music for Me, Spangled Star, Stately Victor, Stay Put, and Uptowncharlybrown.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Thursday at Churchill Downs that Dublin will not run in the 142nd Belmont Stakes on June 5. That means that  no horse will have run in all three Triple Crown races this year.

Lukas said that withdrawing the colt “wasn’t an easy decision, because he’s really doing good.”

Lukas said that the son of Afleet Alex ”has had five races in 12 weeks” and he wanted to give the colt “a little break” before gearing up for races this summer such as the Haskell, Jim Dandy or Travers and finally the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Churchill.