Mark Lennihan/AP

Late Friday morning, a cluster of photographers was gathered inside the rail at Belmont Park, staking out positions for the hundreds of cameras that would be put in place to capture horse racing history a day later. In the parking lots surrounding the big racetrack, portable lighting towers were in place to illuminate the acres of parking lots that surround the oval. Inside workers applied paint and polish to the grandstand and clubhouse, readying for what would surely approach the record crowd of 120,000, as I'll Have Another would attempt to become the first horse in 34 years to win the Triple Crown.

As this happened, I stood on the apron of the track with Billy Turner, 72, the tall, slender man who trained the great Seattle Slew to the Triple Crown in 1977, a year...

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Related Topics: horse racing, Belmont Stakes