The week of the Belmont, Zito repeatedly commented on how well Da' Tara was training. But he had no illusions about beating Big Brown and jockey Kent Desormeaux.

"I knew how steep the competition was," Zito said. "But he was training sensationally."

Zito instructed jockey Alan Garcia to head to the lead, believing the pace would be slow and that Da' Tara was one of the few in the race who would thrive at 1 1/2 miles.

"When he got the lead, I thought, 'This is great,' " Zito said. "But when Kent took the big horse outside turning into the backstretch, I thought to myself, 'Well, he'll step on the gas now. Maybe we can be second.'

"But then I saw the big horse not doing anything. I started jumping up and down. 'We've got a shot here.' I knew the other horses weren't in Big Brown's category. He pulled it off. Right or wrong?"

The Belmont victory capped a tumultuous first half of the year for Zito with his 3-year-olds. In February, three months before the Kentucky Derby, Zito seemingly had the deepest lineup of any trainer. But War Pass, last year's champion 2-year-old colt, failed to handle his two tries this year around two turns, then came up with a fracture that has kept him out of action since. Fierce Wind won the Tampa Bay Derby, but also went to the sidelines. Anak Nakal was well beaten in three Derby preps, then was seventh in the Derby. Cool Coal Man won the Fountain of Youth, but was trounced in both the Blue Grass (ninth) and the Derby (15th).

Now, Zito is flush with 3-year-olds ready to run. In addition to Da' Tara, he will send out Anak Nakal, who dead-heated for third in the Belmont, in the Jim Dandy. Cool Coal Man just won the Spend a Buck Stakes at Monmouth and could come back in the Haskell. Truth Rules has won three straight at Monmouth and will go for four in a row in the Haskell. Amped and Chris Got Even could race in the $80,000 Henry Walton, an overnight stakes on Sunday's undercard here. Stevil and Web Gem are entered in an allowance race on Saturday. And Coal Play is also here, preparing for an upcoming race.

"I keep telling my peeps, 'You've got to play the game until the ninth inning,' " Zito said. 'Like Yogi Berra says, 'It's never over 'til it's over.' "

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