Union Rags Sprints to Win at Belmont Stakes Jockey John R. Velazquez celebrates after riding Union Rags to victory at the Belmont Stakes. Johnny V., as he is known, was recently named to the Hall of Fame. This 144th running of the Belmont Stakes was supposed to be about history, about a gritty colt named I'll Have Another's determined assault on a feat achieved by only 11 horses. But the colt's Triple Crown quest blew up on Friday when a sore tendon derailed the Kentucky Derby and Preakness champion and his connections decided I'll Have Another would not have another chance to run. Ever again. Instead, the Belmont Stakes was merely a horse race. A good enough one for more than a crowd of 85,811, largely New Yorkers, many of them in fedoras and madras jackets and blowing cigar smoke and returning this grand old racetrack on Long Island to its sepia heyday, when horse racing did not need government intervention and a sunny afternoon treading to the betting windows was just swell. The giveaway that this was a New York crowd, however, was the polite but reserved reception it gave I'll Have Another when a made-for-television send-off was staged for him in Belmont's winner's circle. They understood that he had been scratched for his own health, but after all, the whole country had been geared up to see if he would pass the Test of the Champion. When I'll Have Another returned to his barn and his trainer Doug O'Neill to his seats, the stage belonged to the 11 horses that were left and poised to try to endure Belmont's grueling mile-and-a-half marathon. The race is not for the faint of heart - human or horse - and there was a suspicion that one of the co-favorites, Union Rags, boasted better press clippings than speed figures. He had been the favorite in the Florida Derby as well as the Kentucky Derby and had lost in both when his jockey, Julien Leparoux, got him in stuck in traffic. Bad rides or trouble-prone colt was the debate among horseplayers. Union Rags's trainer, Michael Matz, knew his colt needed a change. On the Friday before the Kentucky Derby, Matz believed in his heart that Union Rags was going to be the horse here on Saturday trying to sweep the Triple Crown. On the Sunday after the Derby, Matz believed in his heart that Union Rags's seventh-place finish at Churchill Downs was not indicative of his talent. So Leparoux was fired and John Velazquez was hired. It was a no-brainer: Johnny V, as Velazquez is known, was recently named to the Hall of Fame, and he knows his home track, Belmont Park, like Stevie Wonder knows a keyboard. When he arrived in the paddock Saturday, Velazquez did not even let Matz open his mouth to offer instructions. "Break good, get in a rhythm and go from there," Velazquez said. In the Derby none of that happened. When the gates popped on the Belmont, Union Rags squirted out in stride like a 4-year-old too zealously squeezing toothpaste from a tube. Velazquez tucked Union Rags along the rail as Mike Smith gunned Paynter to the lead, much as he had another Bob Baffert-trained horse, Bodemeister, in the two previous legs of the Triple Crown. Matz, a man given to tight smiles, let the corners of his mouth twitch as he watched Velazquez lope Union Rags down that never-ending backstretch as Paynter beat back two pretenders, Optimizer and Unstoppable U. Long before Velazquez skimmed Union Rags around the far turn, his boots inches from taking rail scuffs, Matz understood he was watching something special. "A brilliant ride," Matz said afterward, a rare grin finding its way ear to ear. In truth, it was just starting to get good. Smith and Paynter led into the stretch and then some. On the outside, Leparoux, aboard a 20-1 long shot named Atigun, was angling at Smith with a big run. Smith switched to a left-hand whip, and Paynter shuffled to his right. It was the opening Velazquez was awaiting. Union Rags powered through a hint of daylight, and suddenly it was blue skies and the finish line ahead. Union Rags got a long, elegant neck in front of Paynter and stayed there. "I got lucky," Velazquez said. The horse did all the work. Really, Velazquez and Union Rags got good. Good enough that they might have beaten a healthy I'll Have Another and upended a Triple Crown bid for the 12th time since Affirmed was the last to earn his place among the sport's immortals 34 years ago? No one will ever know. Instead of O'Neill answering questions about the drug violations incurred by his horses or the 45-day suspension that awaits him, the winner's circle was host to Phyllis Wyeth, an old-school horsewoman, who was absolutely ebullient aboard her motorized scooter. She rarely keeps horses to race and sold Union Rags for $145,000 at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Yearling sale, but it did not make her happy. There was something inspirational about the colt, and she had been haunted by dreams troubling enough to buy the colt, a son of Dixie Union and her mare Tempo, back for $390,000 several months later. Her colt had just won the third leg of the Triple Crown, covering the mile and a half in 2 minutes 30.42 seconds and earning her a $600,000 first-place check and his backers $7.50 for a $2 bet. What mattered most now was that Union Rags had validated Wyeth's faith in him and showed he was not faint of heart at all. "It was my dream and he made it come through," she said. It was not history, but for horsemen and horse enthusiasts alike, it was a pretty good day at the track.