Cut off by the owner of his establishment.

What a disappointing weekend for fans of horse-racing: Ticket holders were at an all-time high for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday when it was announced the day before that the potential Triple Crown winner, I’ll Have Another, wouldn’t actually be going for another round. The horse was officially retired, according to owner J. Paul Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill during Friday’s press conference, thanks to a case of front-leg tendinitis. Ouch. (Luckily, they don’t shoot horses—do they?)

Suddenly, most of the 100,000 patrons planning to storm the Belmont were less than interested in making the trek out to Saturday’s races. We heard rumors of ticket prices dropping to $1 as people tried to unload their seats quicker than their bids on a lame mare. In the end, all that anticipation—post-Preakness and Kentucky Derby—turned out to be an All-or-Another affair. Does anyone even know which horse wiped up the winnings?

Well, one crippled horse doesn’t have to ruin the whole weekend. There were plenty of other games afoot: Chris Brown and Rihanna circling each other at Jay-Z’s 40/40 club, watching the Heat beat the Celtics; the soccer match between Croatia and Ireland that had New York Giants lineman David Diehl so intoxicated that he had a fender bender with his BMW—and then tried to lie his way of the accident to the police; and the Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley boxing match, of course.

Still, none of these games could hold a candle to the Belmont Stakes we had imagined in our minds: One in which the climatic scene involved I’ll Have Another winning by a horse’s hair, and the film right’s immediately optioned by the Weinstein Brothers.

I'll Have Another washing off for the big show.

It’s June, and yet we’re still wearing our London Fog raincoats and carrying around our Brollys. It’s almost as if New York’s weather gods didn’t get the memo that it’s Hamptons season, and some of us don’t like getting soaked waiting for the Jitney.

Another thing seasonal annoyance for New Yorkers is traffic created by out-of-towners, and this week’s double-whammy of President Barack Obama’s visit on Monday and that of his wife, Michelle Obama, later this week has the city grumbling about how to get crosstown. A little respect for our POTUS? Not during 6 p.m. rush hour, darling. Your cab ride will end up costing you more than a private trip on Air Force One.

Of course the sniping about this dilemma was the loudest—where else—at Serafina, during a party for Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan. This week was the premiere of the fifth season of The Real Housewives of New York City, and after several tours around the charity circuit, we’re inclined to believe that these ladies might be offering us the most “real” reality television on offer, which is to say that there are is a vast amount of white wine spilled in their wake, no matter what the occasion. Now that the show has Aviva Drescher, Heather Thompson and Caroline Radziwill, the claws have come out: Ms. Drescher has one leg! Ms. Thompson talks too much! Ms. Radziwill is a Kennedy by marriage! This can only foretell tragedy and pathos. We can almost hear Andy Cohen gleefully rubbing his hands together and laughing.

Speaking of ladies on bad behavior, Gwyneth Paltrow, that shining beacon of all that is good and urbane in the world, managed to slip the n-word into a tweet yesterday. Just confirming our suspicions that celebrities shouldn’t tweet without running it by their publicity team first, Ms. Paltrow put up a picture of Jay-Z and Kanye West performing in France under the caption “Ni**as in paris for real.” Ms. Paltrow was somewhat saved by record producer The Dream tweeting from his personal account that he was the one who had made the inflammatory remark from Ms. Paltrow’s phone. That’s why friends don’t let friends tweet for them! Or another possible lesson: Don’t tweet out the names of songs that have the n-word in them, even if you think you are being complimentary. Perhaps she believed she had immunity from racial slur blowback because she happens to be making an album with her “good friend” Jay-Z. But we don’t think it works that way.

But one thing this week we won’t be complaining about: the Belmont Stakes, where I’ll Have Another will attempt to become the first Triple Crown winner since the late ’70s. After winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, I’ll Have Another is on course to become the next Seabiscuit. Or perhaps SeaTriscuit, since this chestnut horse has lower doses of sodium and at least half the calorie count as the original. Of course, you never know what goes into these horses ... especially right before the races. (Something that HBO’s Luck tried to expose in its drama about horse racing before it fell victim to a severe case of dramatic irony and was shut down over the mistreatment and death of at least of three its own horses.) I’ll Have Another’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, has been found guilty of drugging his horses with carbon dioxide in 2010, and he’ll be facing a 45-day suspension from the racetracks. But of course, this won’t go into effect until after the Belmont.

On the other hand, I’ll Have Another’s jockey, Mario Gutierrez, is a real underdog hero, the type Hollywood and Stephen Spielberg would love to get their hands on. Starting as a jockey in Mexico City, Mr. Gutierrez made his way up to Vancouver, winning titles for racing along the way. His first reaction to seeing his champion partner? Well, that varies. He’s told the BBC, “From the first time I met him, I knew he was the one.” Other stories have the introduction less glamorous, with Mr. Gutierrez saying, “I don’t even know who that horse is, but he’s a freak.”
Harsh words, Mr. Gutierrez. Maybe you should audition for next season of Real Housewives?

This Saturday, Belmont Park is expecting a record crowd to witness Big Brown's attempt to become the 12th winner of the elusive Triple Crown. It's been thirty years since Affirmed won it.

Like all right-thinking New Yorkers, I’ll be pulling for Big Brown.

The field for The Test Of Champions looks like this:

No .8 -- Ann Nakal: Would have to improve many lengths to be a factor.

No. 1 -- Big Brown: Another blockbuster performance will make him a Triple Crown winner.

No. 5 -- Casino Drive: Won first start in the United States. Bred to run all day. Workouts have been on the slow side.

No. 6 -- Da'Tara: Does not belong in the race.

No .4 --Denis Of Cork: Finished third to Big Brown in the Derby.Working well. A contender.

No. 2 -- Guadalcanal: Has not won a race. Pass.

No. 10 -- Icabad Crane: Finished third in the Preakness. Will be running at the finish.

No. 3 -- Macho Again: Second to Brown in Preakness. Should be able to get the one-mile-and-a-half distance.

No. 9 -- Ready's Eco: Improving colt. Third to Casino Drive in the Peter Pan stakes. Will have no problem with the distance.

No. 7 -- Tale Of Ekati: He's two for two at Belmont Park. Working great for this start. Ran fourth in the Kentucky Derby.

My top five selections:

No .1 -- Big Brown

No. 4 -- Denis Of Cork

No. 9 -- Ready's Eco

No. 7 -- Tale Of Ekati

No.10 -- Icabad Crane

Safe trip to all the riders and horses in the 140th Belmont Stakes.

He received a 110 speed rating—one point lower than Barbaro's in last year’s Derby—and received the perfect trip on the rail with Calvin Borel. It was a classic ride.

This Saturday we’ll have a chance to witness a repeat performance, as the top three Derby finishers meet again in Baltimore’s Pimlico to run in the 132^nd Preakness Stakes.

The catch, though, is that the Preakness is the shortest of the three Triple Crown Races, making it a very different race than the Derby.

The facts to keep in mind: Speed horses run very well over the Pimlico track. In 131 runnings, the favorite has won 68 times. And, not incidentally, Derby winners are 9-19 there over the last twenty years.

With that, let's take a look at the field for this year’s Preakness:

Street Sense (#8) - Has had good workouts after the Derby. Will have to get into the race sooner than he did at the Derby performance. He’s the one to beat.

Curlin (#4) - Will run a better race in the Preakness. Will be in it from the start. Had a half-mile workout on Monday. Expect a strong performance.

Hard Spun (#7) - Ran his heart out in the Derby and finished second. Will try and take this on the front end again. Has the all time winningest rider in Maryland history, Marino Pino, in the saddle. He is another colt that came out of the Derby in good shape.

Circular Quay (#3) - Finished sixth in the Derby after an eight-week layoff. Will need a sizzling pace to close, but will be coming at the end. Has Johnny Velasquez in the saddle.

King Of Roxy (#5) - Finished a well-beaten eighth in the Breeders Cup Juvenile last year. Has Garrett Gomez in the irons.

Xchanger (#2) - Won the Federico Tesio Stakes in last over the track. Lost to Curlin in the Rebel Stakes. Has one of the top Maryland trainers, Mark Shuman, in his corner.

C P West (#9)- Good to see Nick Zito back in the Preakness. He won it in 1996 with Louis Quatorze. This young colt ran a good second in the Withers in April at Belmont Park.

Flying First Class (#6) - Mr. Lukas is back to looking for his sixth winner. This colt won the Derby Trail in his last start. Has been beaten by Curlin twice.

Mint Slewlep (#1) - Has only one win.

I'm making a Superfecta bet this time. I’ll take 4-7-8 with 4-7-8 with 4-7-8 with 1-2-3-5-6-9. This bet for one dollar will cost $36.00. I'm also taking 4-7-8 in a one-dollar exacta box and triple box. The whole thing will cost $48.00.

If you boxed my Triple Pick in the Derby for two dollars you would have made a $428 profit on a $12 investment.

Safe trips to all riders and horses.

Hope to see you at the windows.

Jerome Keel, who works part-time at the track, has been writing tip-sheets for in-house consumption for several years. Last year, he correctly predicted the exacta in the Kentucky Derby and the triple in the Belmont Stakes.