Matuszak Turns in Final Prep for Belmont

George J. Prussin's Matuszak breezed five furlongs in 1:00.94 over the main track this morning in his final serious work for Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

The son of Bernardini went in company with fellow 3-year-old colt Maximus Mike for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. A maiden winner in April at Aqueduct, Maximus Mike was clocked in 1:02.14.

"He just needed some company, that's all; anything to get him started," Mott said. "It was great. He came home very well. I might be wrong, but I got him coming home in under 23 seconds. He went very well."

Sunday marked the fourth straight five-eighths work around Belmont's 1 ½-mile oval for Matuszak, who fired bullets of 59.88 on May 12 and 59.70 on May 19. He was also timed in 1:01.56 on May 26.

Mott has been thrilled with the late spring development of Matuszak, who the trainer said is not ordinarily an eye-catching work horse.

"He's been working quite well. The last three works have been pretty good," Mott said. "I realize we're kind of a long shot and we're reaching, but the horse is actually coming around at the right time, whatever that may mean."

Mott captured the 2010 Belmont with Drosselmeyer at odds of 13-1 and has had five previous starters in the race, including Vision and Verse, who finished sixth behind Lemon Drop Kid in 1999 when Charismatic was vying for a Triple Crown.

Stabled in the barn next to Mott is Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome, who will try to become the 12th Triple Crown champion and first since 1978 on Saturday.

"If California Chrome wins, I'll be excited just because we'll have another Triple Crown winner," Mott said. "In the meantime, we'll do our best to try and beat every horse in the race that we can."