HORSE RACING

REMARKS: The last jockey to win the Belmont Stakes without having previous experience in the race was Steve Cauthen, whose left-handed whipping helped hold off Alydar as Affirmed completed his Triple Crown sweep in 1978.

Since then, all other winning jockeys rode in at least one other Belmont before reaching the winner’s circle.

All but 2 of the 10 jockeys in Saturday’s 119th Belmont have ridden in the race before. The exceptions are Craig Perret, a veteran who is making his Belmont debut with Bet Twice, the second-place finisher to Alysheba in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and Alberto Del Gado, the rider for a last-minute entry, Manassa Jack.

Four of this year’s jockeys have won the Belmont, Alysheba’s Chris McCarron having scored with Danzig Connection last year, Cryptoclearance’s Laffit Pincay having won three straight for trainer Woody Stephens in 1982-84, Gone West’s Eddie Maple having won twice and Shawklit Won’s Angel Cordero, who has one victory to his credit.

With its sweeping turns, Belmont Park can be a different experience for a jockey, it being the only track in the country that is 1 1/2 miles long. And the Belmont Stakes, at 1 1/2 miles, is one of the few races that asks a jockey to ride that far.

“The rider plays an important role in the Belmont,” said Gulfstream Park’s Tommy Trotter, a former racing secretary in New York. “He needs the horse, of course, but he has to be a good judge of pace, too. It’s a race where a jockey has to be especially alert, because even the best can misjudge what’s going on in front of them.”

McCarron rode in only one Belmont before last year, finishing fourth on Fast Account in 1985. But he was a student of the stake long before that.

“Speed can be dangerous in this race,” McCarron said. “Going a mile and a half, you might think that it sets up for a horse running in the middle or someone coming from the back of the pack, but that’s not the case at all.

“I’m not going to change the style of my horse, but what we do will depend on the pace of the horses in front of us. One good thing about my horse is that he’s got good tactical speed.”

Some memorable winning rides in recent years include Cauthen’s on Affirmed; Cordero in 1976 with Bold Forbes, who was allowed to take a big early lead and then staggered to the wire, a neck better than McKenzie Bridge; and Pincay in 1983 with Caveat, who was pushed through a small hole, kamikaze-style, coming into the stretch, and then bounced off horses and wood before he got clear for a courageous victory.

Although the trainers of Templar Hill and November Tender are wisely skipping the Belmont, the field still grew to 10 Monday with the addition of Manassa Jack, a horse from Rockingham Park in the Boston area. Except for Manassa Jack and Gone West, it is a familiar cast, consisting of 8 of the first 11 finishers from the Derby, and 5 of those 8 being holdovers from the Preakness.

Although most of the Triple Crown horses haven’t changed, some of the jockeys have. Pincay has replaced Jose Santos on Cryptoclearance. Santos has moved to Leo Castelli, who was ridden by Jacinto Vasquez in the Derby. Gulch, who has been having a different rider almost every outing, now gets Pat Day, and Cordero, who has won only 1 Belmont in 16 tries, has landed on Shawklit Won.

Rounding out the field are Avies Copy, with Mickey Solomone in the saddle, and Conquistarose with Jerry Bailey.

Stephens, trying to win his sixth straight Belmont, has Gone West as his ace up, with Conquistarose in the hole. The trainer is saying once more that Conquistarose will run only if there is mud, but he’s been saying that all spring and he keeps running the colt on fast tracks.

Manassa Jack was second in a stake at Suffolk Downs. Like Avies Copy, Manassa Jack is a son of Lord Avie, the champion 2-year-old colt of 1980 who was injured before the Triple Crown and ran three more races the next year and had to be retired.

Manassa jack is owned by two Massachusetts men, stockbroker Richard Cavegnano and paint company executive Ron Yannetti. They are boxing fans and named the horse after Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler.

When the colt was being auctioned as a yearling, Cavegnano and Yannetti told their trainer, Mike Downing, that their limit was $17,000.

As a result, another buyer got the horse for $18,000. A couple of days later, however, Cavegnano and Yannetti went to the new owner and bought Manassa Jack for $23,000.

Now they have a Belmont horse at a bargain-basement price. He’ll go off at 50-1 or more Saturday, but they can still say he ran in the Belmont.

TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1. Alysheba 12 3 5 2 $1,585,226 2. Bet Twice 12 6 3 1 984,047 3. Cryptoclearance 12 5 2 2 580,750 4. Gone West 12 5 4 2 526,701 5. Leo Castelli 8 3 2 1 257,593 6. Gulch 14 8 1 1 335,450 7. Avies Copy 13 3 2 1 404,200 8. Shawklit Won 10 2 2 4 230,268 9. Conquistarose 14 4 3 1 487,055 10. Temperate Sil 8 4 0 1 853,625

Advisory panel for The Times’ Triple Crown Ratings: Lenny Hale, vice president for racing at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga; Frank (Jimmy) Kilroe, vice president for racing at Santa Anita; and Tommy Trotter, racing secretary at Gulfstream Park.