With a Triple Crown on the line in less than three weeks at Belmont Park, here are some Tuesday morning news and notes from the 2012 Belmont Stakes.
Belmont tickets sell out online in less than five minutes - Thoroughbred Times
Reserved seat tickets to the Belmont Stakes, fairly easy to get when no Triple Crown is on the line, sold out at a rapid pace as thousands of fans and undoubtedly scores of ticket brokers snapped them all up after Ticketmaster offered a group of seat tickets online starting at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday.
The New York Racing Association communications office and Jerry Davis, NYRA's director of admissions and parking, said the allotment of 3,000 tickets offered on Ticketmaster sold out in three minutes.
Desormeaux loses mount on Dullahan for Belmont - Thoroughbred Times
Racing Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux has lost his mount on Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Dullahan for the colt's expected start in the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 9, according to owner Jerry Crawford of Donegal Racing.
Crawford confirmed to the Des Moines Register on Monday that prominent New York-based jockey Javier Castellano will ride Dullahan in the Belmont. Desormeaux was replaced as the rider for eventual Preakness Stakes eighth-place finisher Tiger Walk last Friday after failing a Breathalyzer test at Belmont Park.
"We have loved our association with Kent Desormeaux and hope to use him again in the future," Crawford wrote to the Iowa paper.
"We are confident that Kent will address his issues and be back at the track better than ever, and we hope to ride him when that happens."
Belmont Stakes News » I'll Have Another Content at Belmont, Could Soon Resume Training
Triple Crown hopeful I’ll Have Another was reported to be doing well the morning after he arrived at Belmont Park by van and will soon begin training on the Belmont main track, according to Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill.
“He looks fantastic this morning,” said Sisterson. “He ate everything up last night and is a very happy horse. He walked the shedrow this morning. I have to speak with Doug, but it’s likely he will go to the main track at some point this week.”