Optimizer racing in Belmont Stakes to avoid dubious distinction - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

I'll Have Another is running for a place in history in Saturday's Belmont Stakes, trying to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978.

Optimizer is running to avoid another distinction: the worst performance in years by a horse that has run all three Triple Crown races.

Optimizer, who finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby (beaten by 12 lengths) and sixth in the Preakness (15-and-a-half lengths behind I'll Have Another), is a 20-1 longshot in the Belmont.

Optimizer's trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who has won 13 Triple Crown races including four Belmonts, doesn't think his colt is outclassed.

"We wanted to complete the Triple Crown. He has the pedigree," Lukas said Wednesday.

Since 2003, a total of 13 horses ran in all three races, with only four never making it to the winner's circle.

Only Flying Private in 2009, another Lukas trainee, failed to at least finish in the top three.

Read more: The Wall Street Journal