It’s really up for grabs

Triple Crown finale has no star power

NEW YORK - This year’s topsy-turvy Triple Crown trail comes to an end in a Belmont Stakes without the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners or the expected favorite who dropped out. It does come with questions about a Japanese horse with a sore foot.

No horse has dominated the 3-year-old ranks so far, leaving the 11⁄2-mile Belmont up for grabs among 12 horses that on Saturday will run the longest race of their lives.

The 7-2 early favorite Irish War Cry is only in the Belmont after trainer Graham Motion licked his wounds from the colt’s 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby five weeks ago.

“When you get beaten as one of the favorites in the Derby, it’s pretty discouraging and you just want to put it behind you,” he said. “My horse is doing well. As long as he’s doing well, he deserved a chance.”

Irish War Cry inherited the role of favorite after Classic Empire was forced out earlier in the week with an abscess in his hoof.

Speculation on the status of early 4-1 second choice Epicharis continued to swirl Friday after the colt didn’t train for a third straight day because of his sore right front hoof.

He was examined by veterinarians from the New York Racing Association and the Japan Racing Association, but no details on his condition were given. His trainer, Kiyoshi Hagiwara, didn’t speak to the media.

Epicharis received a treatment of the legal anti-inflammatory Phenylbutazone, or bute, on Wednesday for what was described as lameness in his right front leg.

The colt stood in ice to help his hoof and was fitted with a glue-on shoe, an alternative for horses with a damaged hoof. Instead of being nailed on, which could cause more soreness, the plastic-coated shoe is wrapped around the hoof wall.

Epicharis last trained on the track Tuesday. He hasn’t raced since finishing second in the UAE Derby on March 25.

Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming finished eighth in the Preakness, so he is skipping the Belmont. His trainer Todd Pletcher has two shots at winning the $1.5 million race on his home track: He will saddle 6-1 fourth choice Tapwrit and one-eyed Patch.

Tapwrit was sixth in the Derby and Patch was 14th.

“I think he ran a sneaky good race in the Derby,” Pletcher said of Tapwrit.