The Belmont Stakes field is down by one after trainer Kiaran McLaughlin confirmed that Alpha is out of the race. Fortunately, I’ll Have Another is still ready to go despite a big scare on the practice track that could have had serious consequences.

The news on Alpha is also generally good–he is suffering from a slight fever so he was pulled from the race as a precaution. I’ll Have Another’s incident could have been very serious but ended up being nothing–a training horse named Isleta lost its rider and got loose, nearly colliding with the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner. Fortunately, it was a near miss but that didn’t stop trainer Doug O’Neill from having a seriously anxious moment:

“I’m still a little twisted by it. I can’t think about it. If I had never seen one of those moments before I would be, ‘Oh those never happen,’ but I’ve seen accidents like that happen and they’re ugly.”

O’Neill is still nonplussed by the NYRA mandate that all Belmont contestants must be in the same barn with heightened security–the so called ‘detention barn’:

“I wish we could go over there today. It sounded like it was not a real organized thing, kind of a late decision. In hindsight I wish they could have decided that earlier and we all could have been settled into the detention barn, but that’s okay. It’s inconvenient for the horse and the staff. This horse is so just unbelievable, you could change stalls everyday between now and the Belmont and he’s going to be just fine.”

Dullahan’s trainer, Dale Romans, isn’t quite as understanding:

“They’re basically saying we’re all a bunch of crooks and they’re gonna make sure we’re not gonna do anything illegal. These decisions are made by people who probably never stepped foot on the backside.”

NYRA Vice President P.J. Campo just found out about the heightened security mandate midweek and now must implement it:

“We’ll fulfill the obligation we have to fulfill, they’re the regulator, that’s what they want us to do, so we’re going to do it to the fullest of our capability.”