Summer Bird, sent off at +1100 to win, gave jockey Kent Desormeaux a Belmont victory he desperately wanted. The longshot won the Belmont in just his fifth career start.

Summer Bird, trained by the recently licensed Tim Ice, returned US$25.80, $9.30, and $4.70. Dunkirk paid $5.40 and $3.60, and Mine That Bird returned $2.60 to show.

Charitable Man was fourth Saturday, followed by Luv Gov, Flying Private, Brave Victory, Mr. Hot Stuff, Chocolate Candy, and Miner's Escape.

The Belmont remains a race usually reserved for longshots. The favorite has won only six of the last 30 runnings of the longest and most grueling of the Triple Crown races.

The Breeders' Cup is the next big race. Get all your online horse racing odds at the Bodog Racebook!

According to the Bodog Racebook, Mine That Bird is the favorite to win the 2009 Belmont Stakes at 4 to 3 odds.

The Belmont Stakes post time is approximately post time of 6:27 p.m. ET with a start time of 6:30 p.m. ET. Belmont Stakes television coverage begins at 5 p.m. ET on ABC. Be sure to visit the Bodog Racebook for all your last minute Belmont Stakes betting lines.

Borel won the Kentucky Derby on 50-1 long shot Mine That Bird. When Rachel Alexandra entered the Preakness, Borel switched horses to the filly he had ridden to five straight victories. Rachel Alexandra then edged Mine That Bird to thwart the gelding’s shot at a Triple Crown.

Now Rachel Alexandra is skipping the Belmont Stakes, and Borel is back aboard Mine That Bird.

That can only improve the odds for Mine That Bird, who is currently listed at +133, to cash in again. Be sure to head over to the Bodog Racebook for your Belmont Stakes betting before the race goes down today!

Dave Tuley was the Daily Racing Form's full-time Las Vegas correspondent from 2000 through May 2007 and now writes a weekly column for DRF. Here are his Belmont Picks.

Win: Brave Victory finished third in the Peter Pan over this track, but has legitimate excuses as he was too far back in that effort and should be more forwardly placed this time, plus jockey Rajiv Maragh lost his whip at the 3/16th pole yet Brave Victory still finished third. As a native New Yorker, Zito aims for this race as much as the Derby.

Place: Charitable Man has only run one bad race in four career starts and that was on the synthetic surface at Keeneland; he's 3-for-3 on dirt and is the son of 1999 Belmont winner Lemon Drop Kid. His jockey, Alan Garcia, won the Belmont last year in wire-to-wire fashion with Da'Tara to foil Big Brown's Triple Crown bid.

Show: Mine That Bird, who won the Derby at odds of 50-1, isn't flying under anyone's radar anymore. He has shown a very strong closing kick and as the son of 2004 Belmont winner Birdstone (who foiled Smarty Jones' Triple Crown bid) should be able to get the added distance. He might just have more trouble with fresher horses shooting at him.

A regular columnist for the Bodog Racebook, Steve Davidowitz has published two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing and is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus. Here are Steve's Belmont Stakes picks:

Win: Charitable Man, a long striding son of the 1999 Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid, is fresh and perfectly trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, who won it with Jazil in 2006. He should control the pace throughout.

Place: Chocolate Candy, a strong looking sort with several long workouts over the track seems set for improved try at good odds.

Show: Mine That Bird's extraordinary late kick was effective at 10 furlongs and 1-3/16 miles in Louisville and Baltimore. Can he sustain that form in a slower paced 12-furlong race? Can jockey Calvin Borel complete his personal Triple Crown sweep? Maybe, but at 6-5 or so, I'll pass. Dunkirk has trained well for this; might rebound.

Read more about Steve Davidowitz and Dave Turley's face-off here. Now armed with information, get your own set of Belmont Stakes picks in the Bodog Racebook today!

Mine That Bird, who runs from post position 7, had a successful work Thursday morning, galloping freely over the sloppy track.

"He gets over it so easy — that’s what I was hoping for,” said Woolley. “He carries it with him wherever he goes. He loped through the stretch real easy. If there’s a track he doesn’t like, we haven’t found it yet.”

Mine That Bird's biggest contenders are Flying Private, who runs from post position 8, (4th in the Preakness) and Dunkirk, from post position 2. They are the only two horses in the race with the speed comparable.

Think Mine That Bird will win the Belmont? Get your Belmont Stakes odds with the Bodog Racebook before tomorrow's race. Want more ways to bet? Have some spare time before the big race? The Bodog Casino is offering $50 in FREE Casino chips when you make a deposit of $50 or more.

Be sure to catch all the action, which goes down Saturday, June 6th at 6:30 p.m. ET with a post time of 6:27 p.m. ET.

The post positions and odds for the 2009 Belmont Stakes are: 1. Chocolate Candy (10/1); 2. Dunkirk (9/2); 3. Mr. Hot Stuff (15/1); 4. Summer Bird (12/1); 5. Luv Gov (25/1); 6. Charitable Man (10/3); 7. Mine That Bird (4/3); 8. Flying Private (15/1); 9. Miner’s Escape (20/1); 10. Brave Victory (20/1).

Think you can get lucky betting on the ponies? Get your 2009 Belmont Stakes odds in the Bodog Racebook now.

The post positions for the 2009 Belmont Stakes are: 1. Chocolate Candy; 2. Dunkirk; 3. Mr. Hot Stuff; 4. Summer Bird; 5. Luv Gov; 6. Charitable Man; 7. Mine That Bird; 8. Flying Private; 9. Miner’s Escape; 10. Brave Victory.

The 2009 Belmont Stakes goes down Saturday, June 6 at 6:30 p.m. ET at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Be sure to get your Belmont Stakes odds in the Bodog Racebook to make the race as exciting as possible! As we previously reported, favorite to win Mine That Bird will be ridden by Calvin Borel, the jockey who helped earn him the Kentucky Derby win – and also won aboard Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness Stakes.

Borel said, “Now that this decision is made, I am excited to come to New York and ride Mine That Bird in the Belmont Stakes. I would like to thank Chip Woolley, and [owners] Mark Allen and Dr. Leonard Blach for being so gracious and allowing us to wait for this decision. We also thank Mr. Jackson for letting everyone know earlier than anticipated about the decision whether to run Rachel Alexandra.”

On Friday, Rachel Alexandra's owner Jess Jackson ended speculation about her run in the Belmont by saying he believes the filly would benefit from more time between races.

"We know the media and many fans would have liked to see her run in the Belmont Stakes – we feel the same," Jackson said in a press release. "But all of us sincerely interested in the horse must agree that we only want to see her run when it is best for her. While she is in great shape, having strong works, and recovering well from her amazing performances, we feel Rachel deserves a well-earned vacation. Since March 14, Rachel has won four graded races with just two weeks' rest between her last two victories. We will always put her long-term well-being first. And, of course, we want to run her when she is fresh."

The Belmont Stakes 2009 Lineup is as follows: Mine That Bird, Brave Victory, Charitable Man, Chocolate Candy, Dunkirk, Flying Private, Luv Gov, Miner’s Escape, Mr. Hot Stuff, Summer Bird and tentatively, Nowhere To Hide.

Think you got a shot at picking the right ponies? Get all your Belmont Stakes odds now in the Bodog Racebook and watch as the horses take a stab at the $1 million purse on June 6.

Shaking their heads in disbelief, more than a few professional observers called it "just one of those days."

Well, maybe. Personally, I came away from the race with a handful of intriguing clues that suggest there was one key reason why Big Brown failed to produce anything close to his best form:

He was not fit enough for the task.

Let me explain: Big Brown's hoof was certainly well cared for and there was no doubt that he could walk, jog, gallop and run without fear of it coming apart. Yet he had been forced to miss several days of important gallops and had a crucial workout postponed from the weekend to Tuesday and it was shortened from the intended six or seven furlongs to a mere five with a moderate gallop out. I saw this work on video replay and reported that he looked good doing it; in retrospect, there were reasons for skepticism.

Consider: Since the Kentucky Derby on May 3rd, Big Brown had a short two-furlong workout on the morning of the Preakness to take the edge off his pent-up energy and on June 3rd he had his five-furlong workout in 1:00.03. That's a total of seven furlongs of serious work during the five weeks of the Triple Crown, and no horse in my lifetime that competed in all three races ever had a lighter training plan.

Sure Big Brown was 'fit' from having run in the 10-furlong Kentucky Derby on May 3rd and the 9 1/2-furlong Preakness on May 17th, but the first inkling that he needed more work came from his exercise rider Michelle Nevin who told reporters after she dismounted from the June 3rd drill that Big Brown "was a handful". . . "so full of himself." Because the hoof injury had kept him in the barn, Nevin acknowledged that the colt "needed to get his work in."

Sure Big Brown was 'fit' from having run in the 10-furlong Kentucky Derby on May 3rd and the 9 1/2-furlong Preakness on May 17th, but the first inkling that he needed more work came from his exercise rider Michelle Nevin who told reporters after she dismounted from the June 3rd drill that Big Brown "was a handful" and "so full of himself." Because the hoof injury had kept him in the barn, Nevin acknowledged that the colt "needed to get his work in."

But first, still another clue surfaced to suggest something was not quite right. On this uncomfortably hot and humid afternoon in which the majority of horses in every race were seen sweating profusely, Big Brown came out on the track for the post parade virtually bone dry, not sweating at all until he completed all his warm-ups. He sweated so little in comparison to the other Belmont horses that it instantly raised a red flag. It reminded me of the day I saw a talented boxer enter the ring completely dry – obviously dehydrated – before he got flattened in the first round.

Seconds into the actual race, the usually responsive Big Brown revealed just how much pent-up energy he had stored during his last few weeks of very light training: he was extremely rank, difficult to control while under extreme restraint during the run to the first turn, displaying nervous kidney sweat for the first time as he anxiously ran up on the heels of front running Da' Tara.

This was the first time Kent Desormeaux ever experienced an erratic response from Big Brown. On numerous occasions Desormeaux had pointed out that Big Brown was "the most intelligent, most responsive horse" he'd ever been on. That, however, was not the horse Desormeaux was dealing with in the 140th Belmont Stakes.

To avoid an early collision, Big Brown was yanked back and angled out sharply to bump into Anak Nakal securing some running room. The move may not have been Desormeaux at his best, but he did get Big Brown into a clear outside lane where he remained in third place from the clubhouse turn to the five-furlong pole approaching the far turn. It was at that point when the 97,000 in attendance and the millions more watching throughout the world expected Big Brown to accelerate past Da' Tara and Tale of Ekati, just as he had turned on his afterburners to score easy victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. But as soon as Desormeaux asked Big Brown to do his thing, the jockey instantly knew the game was over.

"I had no horse," Desormeaux said succinctly.

As this was unfolding, Big Brown was going nowhere, getting passed by most of the field before Desormeaux pulled back on the reins and eased him out of the race completely. While he was unsure if anything had gone physically wrong, Big Brown was already in next to last place and despite taking considerable criticism for not pushing on – including some misdirected by trainer Rick Dutrow – I believe Desormeaux's discretion on behalf of safety was a proper choice.

"Something was wrong," he explained later. "We were not going to be fifth and I did what I could to protect him."

While Da' Tara was clearly on the way to victory and Big Brown was on his way to a thousand questions, I also realized that I had bought into Rick Dutrow's brash pronouncements that Big Brown "couldn't lose this race," that the outcome was a "foregone conclusion."

"The horse is 'perfect'," Dutrow stated boldly the day before the Belmont. "I saw the horse," he added. "That's my reason to believe he's going to win; he's the simply the best horse, by a lot."

My mistake to allow my skeptical nature to slip out of range. Like many horseplayers, I had become a fan of this horse and wanted to see a worthy performer become the first to sweep the Triple Crown in 30 years. Having downplayed the clues, there still was no way I could make a case for Da' Tara, a colt whose best race was a second-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Barbaro on the Preakness undercard.

Da' Tara went wire to wire at 38-1 because he had trained forwardly for trainer Nick Zito, a master at preparing medium-grade horses for peak performances in Grade 1 Classics through extended gallops and a few well-defined workouts. Da' Tara was also aggressively ridden by promising Alan Garcia to take the lead, and he was unchallenged through moderate fractions while Big Brown was an empty saddle when he needed to be at his very best to complete one of the most difficult feats in all of sport. The winner also utilized strength he probably inherited from his sire Tiznow – a two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Second-place finisher Denis of Cork rallied some for a clear-cut second but was never any threat to win the race. Anak Nakal and Ready's Echo finished in a dead heat for third without anyone noticing until the parimutuel results were posted.

The final time for the race, 2:29.65, was one of the slowest clockings for this classic race in 50 years. The 99 Beyer Speed Figure was the slowest recorded in the Belmont since Beyer began to publish his figures in 1991.

The lesson learned from this?

We should have already learned it when Majestic Prince lost his 1969 Triple Crown bid to Arts and Letters because of physical issues. Or when Canonero II lost his 1971 Triple Crown when he suffered through hives during Belmont week. A case of hives also contributed to the sixth-place finish by Sunny's Halo in the 1983 Preakness. In 1996, Unbridled's Song finished out of the money in the Kentucky Derby after dealing with quarter crack problems during Derby week and in 2003 Empire Maker couldn't handle Funny Cide in the Kentucky Derby because a similar hoof issue cost him valuable training time. When healthy, Empire Maker defeated Funny Cide in the Wood Memorial and Belmont Stakes.

So, as good as Big Brown may have seemed after he won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the lessons of history strongly hint that the interruption of his training routine hampered his ability to reproduce the smooth, responsive form we had previously seen. It's also possible that the absence of the steroid drug Winstrol, which Dutrow legally gave Big Brown once per month up until April 15th, may have played a role in his apparent state of dehydration. I'm not an expert on the effects of this drug, but I do know what I saw on Saturday: The real Big Brown was nowhere to be found.

Added notes: Casino Drive, the undefeated horse from Japan who was seeking to become the third straight foal of the high-class mare Better Than Honor to win the Belmont Stakes, was judiciously scratched from the Belmont on Saturday morning due to a "stone bruise." Casino Drive's connections say they plan to return to America to run in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on October 25th and perhaps might even come for the $1 million Travers at Saratoga on August 23rd. Big Brown's connections are going to keep him in training and point for both races, provided that they don't find a reason to send this $50 million stud prospect to the farm. Right now the oft-repeated script that guides the handling of expensive horses suggests they will find such a reason whether it exists or not.

PLEASE NOTE: There were five nationally important stakes supporting the Belmont stakes on Saturday and they will be reviewed in next week's column.

Steve Davidowitz has published two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing and is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus. His columns appear in Bodog Racebook each week. Get all your horse betting action in the Bodog Racebook now.

Like Secretariat, Big Brown started from the inside, the shortest route to Belmont’s first sweeping turn and the starting position that has produced 23 previous winners of the historic race.

Secretariat’s break was clean and with no one in his path, jockey Ron Turcotte went right for the lead with the big colt. He assumed command almost immediately, getting the inside advantage on Sham, who went right up on his outside to try and pressure him. The two raced together around the first turn where Secretariat was given his head and drew away from his intimidated rival, soon increasing his lead to 10 lengths with Turcotte sitting still and letting his colt’s large stride increase the advantage. At the far turn, Secretariat’s gasping rivals had become discouraged and were now spinning their wheels. He turned into the homestretch at least 20 lengths ahead of the others and drew away to a 31 length victory in track record time.

Like his immortal predecessor, Big Brown broke with his field and had a clear run to take the rail and control of the race. This was the crossroads in history where the two colts’ races took different paths. Kent Desormeaux fought his mount to keep him off the slow pace and the outside horses quickly surrounded him. Longshot and eventual winner Da’ Tara, with Allan Garcia up, came from the outside and gained the rail in front of Big Brown. Robby Albarado guided Tale of Ekati into a position outside Big Brown that would force the long-striding colt into a trap. Desormeaux took the bait, hitting the breaks and wheeling Big Brown to the outside of Tale of Ekati where the colt appeared to lose focus.

It was soon obvious that Big Brown’s attempt at a Triple Crown wouldn’t duplicate that of Secretariat’s. Desormeaux eased his mount in the stretch when he was hopelessly beaten and the comparisons between the two Belmont favorites were now far from the minds of those witnessing the dramatic event.

The grand finale of the Triple Crown is over but you can still get your odds for the next race at the Bodog Racebook. Get your online horse betting action today. Why not get a jump-start on the Breeders' Cup?