By John Swenson

Everyone knows there are horses for courses, but there are also trainers for courses. And when it comes to the Belmont Stakes no trainer enjoys a greater home court advantage than Hall-of-Famer Nick Zito.

Zito, who saddled Da' Tara to win last year's Belmont, has two longshots in this year's race, Miner's Escape and Brave Victory. The odds (both are 15-1) say neither has a chance, but the smart bettors know better.

Zito has sent 20 horses to the gate in the Belmont Stakes over his career and eleven of them have finished in the money. Another pair completed the superfecta by finishing fourth, so if you like exotic bets it's easy to see that you toss Zito at your own peril.

In the past five years, Zito has wrested the reputation of horseracing's Giant Killer from Allen Jerkens, twice turning back Triple Crown bids from odds-on favorites.

In 2004, the undefeated Smarty Jones cruised through the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, then had a clear lead in the Belmont stretch only to be run down in the final furlong by a 40-1 Zito-trained longshot Birdstone. Zito upset the "Smarty Party," then surprised everyone in his post-race interviews by apologizing to trainer John Servis for beating him.

Last year, Big Brown trounced all comers in the first two legs of the Triple Crown and appeared to be such a lock in the Belmont that UPS sent a fleet of trucks loaded with promotional items to the track in anticipation of the namesake's victory. But Big Brown stopped running at the top of the stretch while Da' Tara stretched his lead en route to a five and a quarter length victory at 38-1 odds. Da' Tara was the longest shot in the race. The second-longest shot was another Zito runner, Anak Nakal, who finished in a dead heat for third.

This time Zito kissed the trophy in the winner's circle and offered no apologies.

"I've been second six times in this race and third a bunch of times," he said. "We have a history in the race.”

Indeed.

Zito has finished second in the Belmont with Thirty Six Red (1990), Strike the Gold (1991), Go for Gin (1994), Star Standard (1995), A P Valentine (2001) and Andromeda's Hero (2005). He finished third with Morning Bob (1984) and Royal Assault (2004) as well as last year with Anak Nakal. Zito's barn has brought home $2,606,184 in purse money from the Belmont Stakes over the years.

"We've done well in the Belmont," Zito noted this week as he prepared for the 141st running of the race. "Hopefully it will continue and they both will do well."

The key to Zito's success seems to be that he does not push his horses to reach a particular schedule of races, and several of his best Belmont performances came from fresh horses that had skipped the first two legs of the Triple Crown and were well prepped over Belmont's enormous 1 1-2 mile distance and sandy, tiring dirt surface.

Despite Belmont's unique characteristics, Zito thinks the home court advantage is not as pronounced as it once was.

"There used to be more of an edge," he said. "Over the years a lot of people have shipped in before the race to get used to the track. During Woody Stephens' day obviously there was an edge there -- look at all the races he won."

Stephens won five consecutive Belmonts from 1982-86.

"I watched Woody a lot," Zito noted.

There are plenty of reasons for handicappers to be skeptical of Zito's runners, but at least one compelling reason to use each of them.

Miner's Escape lost the first five races of his career, showing gradual improvement until he broke his maiden March 14 at Gulfstream Park. He followed that with a powerful score in the Federico Tesio Stakes May 2 at Pimlico. Some trainers use that as a Preakness prep but Zito elected to wait for the Belmont.

"He found himself late," explained Zito.

In each of those last two races Miner's Escape has shown an eagerness for the lead and the Belmont could well turn out to be a paceless race. It's not hard to imagine Zito's horse getting a similar trip to the one Da' Tara got last year.

Zito's other runner, Brave Victory, has failed in repeated attempts against graded stakes winners, but has turned in two of his best performances over the Belmont track, including a third place finish behind 3-1 Belmont second choice Charitable Man in his last start, the May 2 Peter Pan. Brave Victory closed dramatically in that race despite the fact that jockey Rajiv Maragh lost his whip at the 3/16th pole.

Now Zito finds himself in a familiar spot. Calvin Borel, jockey of Belmont favorite Mine That Bird, has guaranteed he will win Saturday's race. All the better for the Giant Killer to have a big target.

"We'll be all right," Zito said, but he was not ready to pick which of his horses he likes best.