It’s Giacomo, Afleet Alex and ... Who?

Belmont Park, 100 years old this year, is billing the Belmont Stakes as “hope” vs. “courage” -- Giacomo, the 50-1 winner of the Kentucky Derby, versus Afleet Alex, the stumbling, unbending winner of the Preakness.

Sorry, but there are no alternative story lines. It might be harsh to label the other nine entrants in the 137th Belmont as stiffs, but the truth is, the third-best 3-year-old running here Saturday might be Lost In The Fog, the undefeated sprinter from Northern California, who’ll be a heavy favorite in a stake on the undercard.

Longshots win the Belmont -- since 1999, Lemon Drop Kid, Commendable, Sarava and Birdstone won the race at 18-1 or more -- but the subtitle for this year’s running could be “Nine Nags Out.” The credentials for the horses trying to beat Afleet Alex and Giacomo are virtually nonexistent.

One of the so-called contenders, Nolan’s Cat, is winless in five starts. Three others have defeated maidens only. The record of the nine is 16 wins in 54 starts. The only graded stakes winner in the lot is Southern Africa, who won the Grade III Lone Star Derby in his last start.

When post positions were drawn Wednesday -- the streamlined old-fashioned way, rather than the contrived, hourlong TV extravaganzas that now precede the Derby and the Preakness -- Afleet Alex, drawing No. 9, was installed as the 6-5 favorite. Giacomo, who’ll break from the fifth stall, was listed as second choice at 4-1. Reverberate, second in the Peter Pan but devoid of a stakes win, was next at 6-1, prompting one reporter to ask: “How could that be?”

The short answer: Some horse has to be third choice.

Jose Santos, who rode Lemon Drop Kid in 1999 when he won the Belmont and put the quietus on Charismatic’s Triple Crown bid, rode Reverberate for the first time two weeks ago. Santos would need marked improvement from Reverberate to win the Belmont again. The colt was beaten by nearly five lengths in the Peter Pan, and Oratory, the horse who beat him, isn’t even around for Saturday’s race.

This year, it wouldn’t be a Triple Crown race without a multiple entry from Nick Zito, the newly elected Hall of Fame trainer. Zito, as he did in the Preakness, is starting three horses. He ran five in the Derby, none finishing better than seventh. His best Preakness finish was fourth.

Zito’s trio this time is Andromeda’s Hero, Pinpoint and Indy Storm. Andromeda’s Hero is 15-1, the others each 20-1 as they dive into the Triple Crown series for the first time. Zito likes to point out that Andromeda’s Hero finished eighth in the Derby. That’s where Zito’s Birdstone finished a year ago, five weeks before he won the Belmont and knocked off Smarty Jones, another Triple Crown wannabe

At the draw, the host, track announcer Tom Durkin, reminded Zito of the conversation they had at the same event last year.

“Don’t you remember, Nick?” Durkin said, “I asked if you’d be happy finishing second, and you said, ‘Where can I sign up?’ ”

Zito did remember, and he also recalled how he tried to buy Afleet Alex after he won his first start, by more than 11 lengths, at Delaware Park last June. Zito made a phone call, but he couldn’t make the deal. Now Afleet Alex has won seven of 11 and earned $2.1 million.

Of Zito’s horses, Pinpoint is the most distinguished, having won his last three starts, including the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico on Preakness day. Pinpoint races for his breeder, Kentuckian Arthur B. Hancock III, who has been a lively participant in the Triple Crown. Hancock was a partner in Gato Del Sol, the 1982 Derby winner; he raced Sunday Silence, who won two-thirds of the 1989 triple before finishing second to Easy Goer in the Belmont; and he bred Risen Star, a Preakness and Belmont winner in 1988, and Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the Derby in 2000.

“I’ve always been told,” Zito said, talking about Pinpoint, “that when a horse is doing good, you should run him.”

Indy Storm won his last race, an allowance, but overall he has been beaten five of seven times, and he was ninth in the Louisiana Derby, his only stakes start. Zito, noting that Andromeda’s Hero is a son of Fusaichi Pegasus, thinks that the colt is cut out for the 1 1/2 -mile Belmont distance.

“He wants to go long,” said Zito, who reminded himself of a hoary racetrack joke. “Sometimes they say a horse wants to go long, and then somebody else says, ‘Yeah, all the way to Suffolk Downs.’ With this horse, I hope that’s not the case.”

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The weather is hot and humid, which will require an adjustment for some horses. The temperature reached the 90s on Wednesday. It is expected to be muggy the rest of the week, but no rain is forecast. The temperature Saturday is expected to be in the high 80s.

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The Belmont draw

Post positions for the 137th running of the $1-million Belmont Stakes on Saturday after the draw Wednesday:

*--* PP Horse Trainer Jockey Odds 1. NOLAN’S CAT Dale L. Romans Norberto Arroyo Jr. 50-1 2. PINPOINT Nick Zito John Velazquez 20-1 3. A.P. ARROW Wayne Lukas Jerry Bailey 20-1 4. SOUTHERN AFRICA Michael Puhich Jon Court 12-1 5. GIACOMO John Shirreffs Mike Smith 4-1 6. WATCHMON Patrick Reynolds Javier Castellano 50-1 7. ANDROMEDA’S HERO Nick Zito Rafael Bejarano 15-1 8. REVERBERATE Sal Russo Jose Santos 6-1 9. AFLEET ALEX Tim Ritchey Jeremy Rose 6-5 10. INDY STORM Nick Zito Edgar Prado 20-1 11. CHEKHOV Patrick Biancone Gary Stevens 12-1

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