I'll Have Another chases Triple Crown history

I'll Have Another, the chestnut colt who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness last month, will try to become only the 12th horse to sweep the US Triple Crown by winning Saturday's 144th Belmont Stakes. Not since Affirmed in 1978 has a horse completed the treble sweep, with 11 hopefuls in the 34 years since then thwarted by failure at the Belmont, the longest of the three races at 1 1/2 miles. I'll Have Another drew the 11th of 12 starting spots for the Belmont and was made the early oddsmakers' favorite at 4-5, the first time in his eight races that he has been favored. In both the Derby and Preakness, I'll Have Another chased down Bodemeister in the home stretch to claim victory. Bodemeister is not among Saturday's entries but expect I'll Have Another to let rivals set the early pace again. "We have no strategy set," I'll Have Another trainer Doug O'Neill said. "We'll put our heads together. But being in the 11 hole, we'll be able to see how the pace sets up and he'll be behind it whether it's crawling or flying." Oddsmakers made Dullahan, who starts in the fifth gate, the second choice at 5-1 with Union Rags at 6-1 starting third from the rail. The rest of the field has Paynter at 8-1, Street Life at 12-1, Optimizer and My Adonis at 20-1, Unstoppable U and Atigun at 30-1 and Guyana Star Dweej, Five Sixteen and Ravelo's Boy at 50-1. I'll Have Another jockey Mario Gutierrez will ride in five Friday races at Belmont to better understand a track with which he is unfamiliar. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who guides Optimizer, said Gutierrez "could be the fly in the ointment" of the Triple Crown effort. "I can't change the way people are going to think and I can't change what they're going to say," Gutierrez said. "If they say something, then they say it for a reason, right? And that will make me more prepared. "In the end, I'm just going to do my job. I'm committed to I'll Have Another, not all the expectations people have." As big as expectations are for I'll Have Another, Gutierrez is confident the colt can come through. "No horse is unbeatable. Anything can happen," he said. "But I have 100 percent confidence in him. He loves racing. He has a tremendous heart. He likes to be a winner. He likes to catch horses. That's where my confidence came from." Paynter owner Jerry Crawford kept his horse out of the Preakness to be fresh for the Belmont test. "I don't think I'll Have Another, even with all the attention he has been getting, has gotten his full due yet," Crawford said. "Bodemeister was spectacular in the Derby and Preakness and I'll Have Another ran him down both times. "We're going to try to keep him from getting the Triple Crown, but if I'll Have Another wins Saturday, he will have exceeded all expectations." Horses were moved into a special isolated barn for the Belmont field in the wake of controversy surrounding O'Neill, who has been fined or suspended 15 times over the past 14 years for medication or drug-related violations. O'Neill noted that in each case, the violations did not involve performance-enhancing substances. But on July 1 he will begin a 45-day suspension imposed by the California Horse Racing Board for a 2010 incident. "I've been cleared of any wrongdoing, but it's still been a little goofy," O'Neill said.