Mine That Bird 2-1 Belmont favorite

Mine That Bird has gone from 50-1 upset winner of the Kentucky Derby on May 2 to the 2-1 favorite for Saturday's 141st running of the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, N.Y. Ten horses were entered earlier today for the third jewel of racing's Triple Crown, with Peter Pan Stakes winner Charitable Man the 3-1 second choice.

Mine That Bird, who will be ridden by Calvin Borel, drew the No. 7 post position and will be next to perhaps his biggest threat, Charitable Man, who will start from the sixth hole in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont -- the longest of the Triple Crown races. Charitable Man will be ridden by Alan Garcia, who spoiled Big Brown's bid for the first Triple Crown in 30 years in last year's Belmont when he rode Da' Tara to victory at boxcar odds of 38-1.

Also entered, from the rail out, were Chocolate Candy, Dunkirk, Mr. Hot Stuff, Summer Bird, Luv Gov, Flying Private, Miner's Escape and Brave Victory.

Borel will be attempting to become the first jockey to win the Triple Crown with different horses after winning the Derby aboard Mine That Bird and then taking the Preakness two weeks later with the filly Rachel Alexandra, whose connections decided to skip the Belmont and give her a short vacation.

Charitable Man, who has the close-up racing style that seems to suit Belmont winners, did not race in the Derby or the Preakness as his trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin, pointed him toward the Belmont after shin surgery in late 2008 knocked him off the Derby trail. He's undefeated in three tries on dirt, including a pair of wins over Belmont's sometimes tricky surface, after making his 2009 debut with a seventh-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland over a Polytrack surface he did not seem to appreciate. There are some who think he's a big threat to go gate to wire.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas will try for his fifth Belmont victory, saddling Flying Private, fourth in the Preakness, and Luv Gov.