SHOWDOWN PROVIDES INTRIGUE AT BELMONT.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing

INGLEWOOD - No Triple Crown is on the line in the Belmont Stakes. But something almost as rare is happening Saturday in New York.

When Giacomo and Afleet Alex square off - along with nine lesser colts - it will mark only the 16th showdown between a Kentucky Derby winner and a Preakness winner in the Belmont.

The next Triple Crown sweep will be the 12th.

We'll know the sport's promoters are succeeding when the public gets as excited about choosing between two big-name horses matching talents at a new distance as it does about cheering a single horse chasing ghosts.

The Belmont morning line favors 6-5 Afleet Alex (third in the Derby, won the Preakness) over 4-1 Giacomo (won the Derby, a distant third in the Preakness).

So does history.

Of the 15 such showdowns since the races were locked into their current order in 1931, eight were won by the Preakness champion, most recently when Point Given left Monarchos back in third in 2001. Five were won by the Derby champion, not since Swale left Gate Dancer in sixth in 1984. And two were won by another horse, Avatar upsetting Foolish Pleasure and Master Derby in 1975 and Colonial Affair beating Sea Hero and the fatally injured Prairie Bayou in 1993.

Usually, if different horses win the Derby and Preakness, one or the other skips the final leg of the series.

This year's scenario has the potential to produce heated races, such as when Preakness winner Hansel and Jerry Bailey held off Strike the Gold and Chris Antley by a head in 1991; and Capot and Ted Atkinson beat Ponder and Steve Brooks by one-half length in 1949.

And these Triple Crown tiebreakers have produced at least one great horse.

In 1967, Damascus and Bill Shoemaker finished third to Proud Clarion and Bobby Ussery in the Derby before the order was reversed in the Preakness - precisely the way it happened with Afleet Alex and Giacomo. Damascus was odds-on in the Belmont and won by 2 1/2 lengths as Proud Clarion finished fourth.

Voted Horse of the Year at ages 3 and 4, Damascus was ranked No. 16 when The Blood-Horse magazine came out with its top 100 thoroughbreds of the 20th century.

Damascus ranked higher than all of the Triple Crown winners except Secretariat (No. 2 behind Man o' War), Citation (No. 3), Count Fleet (No. 5), Seattle Slew (No. 9) and War Admiral (No. 13).

--The weekend: Red Fort (Corey Nakatani riding), an English import going into his first Grade I start for trainer Neil Drysdale, is likely to be a narrow favorite in Saturday's Whittingham Memorial Handicap at Hollywood Park.

Drysdale-trained Sarafan (Victor Espinoza) and Donald Burke II-trained Pellegrino (David Flores), both owned by Gary A. Tanaka, will run as separate wagering interests after Hollywood Park got an OK from state authorities to run commonly owned horses uncoupled in Grade I races.

Apparently, the thinking behind the state's decision is that the incentive for an owner to win a Grade I event would be stronger than his incentive to stiff one horse to cash a bet on the other.

--Congrats (Tyler Baze), Santa Anita Handicap runner-up to Rock Hard Ten before a fifth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup, preps for the July 9 Hollywood Gold Cup under a race-high 121 pounds in Saturday's Ack Ack.

--Memorette (Alex Solis) comes out of her fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks to lead a small field of 3-year-old fillies in Sunday's Hollywood Oaks.

--A Prado pick-up: With Russell Baze out for at least two months after breaking his left collarbone, Edgar Prado was selected Thursday to ride unbeaten Lost in the Fog in the 7-furlong Riva Ridge Stakes on the Belmont Stakes undercard in New York.

Baze, 46, fell when Cowboy Badgett broke down in a race Wednesday at Golden Gate Fields. It happened six days after Baze rode his 9,000th winner, joining Laffit Pincay at that milestone.

This will be the seventh start but the first without Baze for Lost in the Fog, the 3-year-old star attraction of a Belmont undercard that includes one Grade I and four Grade II stakes.

--Closing thought: If you looked at the attendance and betting figures for U.S. tracks on Memorial Day, you'd hardly guess Hollywood Park is the one in danger of closing.

Hollywood Park had 17,011 fans and $3.6 million in handle on-site. Belmont Park had 15,066 and $2.2 million on the day Ghostzapper won the Metropolitan Handicap. Monmouth Park and Lone Star Park were next with crowds of 13,800-plus.

Churchill Downs Inc. is looking for a buyer for the Hollywood Park property in Inglewood.

Churchill Downs' own track in Louisville had 12,223 fans and $1.1 million in bets on-site Memorial Day.

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- Kevin Modesti