, leaving the sport without one for 35 year

NEW YORK -- Once again, the "Test of the Champion" proved otherwise. A day after Palace Malice pulled off an upset in the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, the race for a championship is wide open now that each of the classics has been won by a different 3-year-old. "Everyone goes into the rest of the summer and fall with similar resumes," trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday morning, declaring that his Belmont winner is "feeling very good. "I dont think theres a clear-cut leader." In a Belmont featuring a rematch between Kentucky Derby winner Orb and Preakness winner Oxbow, it was one of Pletchers record five entries that handled the 1 1/2-mile marathon the best. The son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin took the lead from Oxbow on the far turn and barrelled down the stretch for a 3 1/4-length victory Saturday. Orb made a run at the leaders from way back in the field of 14, but didnt come close and finished third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Oxbow. "To try to make up that much ground is almost impossible because its so tiring," Orbs trainer Shug McGaughey said. "Those horses shook loose and we couldnt catch them." The Belmont has been a heartbreaker for decades. This one prevented Orb or Oxbow from rising to the top of the 3-year-old class. Other Belmonts, though, have done in 11 horses who tried and failed to become a Triple Crown champion, leaving the sport without one for 35 years. Orb was feeling the effects of the Triple Crown grind of three races in five weeks at different tracks and different distances. "I went down and looked at him a little later (after the race), and he was kind of hanging his head," he said. "He was tired. Hell get a good month of rehab time and see where it takes us." Orb, Oxbow and Will Take Charge, who was 10th in the Belmont, ran in all three Triple Crown races. They will get their time off. Palace Malice, meanwhile, was full of energy and Pletcher said his colt would be back on the track in four days to resume training. Having a well-rested horse for the Belmont seems to have its benefits. Since 2000, there have been seven Belmont winners who ran in the Derby but skipped the Preakness. And, all four of the Triple Crown tries during that time were spoiled by horses who did not run in the Preakness. "Its not coincidental at all," said Pletcher, who also won the 2007 Belmont with Rags to Riches. "If you want to win the Belmont, it makes a lot of sense to sit out the middle one. The fresh horse is always going to have an edge, in my opinion." Which is exactly the way Pletcher played it this year. He sent out a record-tying five horses in the Derby, and his best finisher was third-place Revolutionary. Palace Malice ran 12th. He sat out the Preakness, and came back with a record five horses for the Belmont. Fortunately, one of them was Palace Malice, who finally came through with the big race Pletcher thought he was capable of producing. "If you look back at his races, he ran well in the allowance (to start the year). He almost got there in the Risen Star. The Louisiana Derby was a nightmare trip, and he came really close to winning the Blue Grass," Pletcher said of the colt he trains for Cot Campbells Dogwood Stable. "His Derby race wasnt that bad, he just went too fast. He was still right there at the eighth pole, so when he came back and trained like he did, there was never any consideration about not trying the Belmont." For now, the leading 3-year-old looks to be Orb, who won five in a row -- including the Fountain of Youth, Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby -- before finishing fourth in the Preakness and third in the Derby. Oxbow has two other wins to go with his Preakness, along with a sixth in the Derby and a second in the Belmont. Oxbow came out of the race in good shape, and was already on his way back to Kentucky, along with trainer D. Wayne Lukas. "Everyone was tickled with his performance," Lukas assistant Leigh Bentley. "He ran super and seemed to come back great. Everyone was quite pleased." A few more wins by Palace Malice, or soon to be returning 3-year-old Verrazano (also trained by Pletcher) could put them in the mix as well. "He is a remarkable horse," Pletcher said of Palace Malice. "He bounces out of his races really well. It was a tough race, a demanding race, and he surprises me how resilient he is." So let the summer season begin. The highlight is the Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 24, the next time the classic winners might meet again. And before that theres the Jim Dandy at the Spa on July 27 and the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 28. Asked if hell have five more horses for the Travers, Pletcher smiled. "Well see how it shakes out," he said. Unlimited Budget, the filly who finished sixth under Rosie Napravnik, came out of the race in good shape. Pletcher said her next start would be back against fillies in the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 20. Cheap Swingman Nuggets Jerseys . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Cheap Denver Nuggets Jerseys . -- Devin Hester is done returning kicks in Chicago. http://www.cheapnuggetsjerseys.com/ . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. Wholesale Nuggets Jerseys . "I was fortunate to play many years at this level with a great organization and unbelievable teammates," said Hejduk in a statement. Cheap Nuggets Jerseys Authentic . -- Ohio States Urban Meyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football. PRAGUE -- The Czech Republics David Krejci, Tomas Hertl and Radko Gudas are all out of the World Cup of Hockey due to injuries, the Czech Ice Hockey Association said on Saturday.Krejci, the Boston Bruins center, needs more time to recover from hip surgery and will be replaced by Roman Cervenka of Swiss club HC Fribourg-Gotteron for the tournament, which starts on Sept. 17 in Toronto.David Krejci was supposed to be one of our key players, but his (surgery) makes it impossible for him to participate, Czech Republic coach Josef Jandac said in a statement on Saturday. We have to respect that.Cervenka played at tthe 2010 and 2014 Olympics for the Czechs, and helped the team win gold at the 2010 world championship.dddddddddddd.The Czech association said Gudas, a Philadelphia Flyers defenseman, injured his wrist in training and wont be able to recover in time, while forward Hertl of the San Jose Sharks was still not fit enough to play after he injured his right knee in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final against Pittsburgh.It was not clear yet who will replace Gudas and Hertl on the Czech team. ' ' '