Ruth Freeman

Belmont 2017 Ruth Freeman

For every trainer lucky enough to have horses stabled at a racetrack, there are ten other men and women yearning for the chance to hear the roar of the crowd, the crash of the steel gates opening, the thunder of eager high-strung race horses charging down the track. Hope springs eternal for anyone associated with a feisty young thoroughbred colt. There is, after all, a Kentucky Derby winner crowned every year! Then there is the ephemeral Olympian prize: the elusive Triple Crown. This story is the tale of the horses, trainers, owners, riders and jockeys who have come to New York to run in the Belmont Stakes, the one-and-a-half mile race that is the last lap of the Triple Crown - and trainer John Certis' horse, Reardon, has already won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Now all the others are determined to take the Belmont and the win away from the favorite. Someone's dream will come true; but who will it be? And it's not just the players who have a stake in this race; the gods themselves are taking an interest and betting on their favorites.