It was the wrong year and the wrong horse, but the feelings boiling up within trainer D. Wayne Lukas were all right.

Standing in the Belmont Park trustees' room, surrounded by a small group of people he did not know, Lukas stared intently at a television monitor, seeing his sleek chestnut charge Commendable gliding effortlessly to the lead as the field in the 132nd Belmont Stakes (G1) headed into the far turn. "Commendable is going to win the Belmont," Lukas declared matter of factly to a woman standing next to him.

Few others in the crowd of 67,810 who turned out in sultry heat and humidity for the grueling 1 1/2-mile classic contest on June 10 would have predicted that Commendable-who had earned only a maiden score from his previous seven career starts-would win. With not even a shrug of celebration, Lukas continued to watch the son of Gone West scamper down the stretch and across the finish line, defeating favored Aptitude, with Unshaded and Wheelaway in third and fourth, respectively.

"When they hit the wire, this woman said, 'How did you know he would win?' " Lukas recounted. "I said, 'Because I train him.' She just about fell over. She said, 'Oh my God, my God. You're kidding! You never even moved.'

"I didn't want to create a scene," Lukas said of his lack of an immediate reaction to the victory, which tied him with the late, legendary trainer James E. "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons for the most wins in Triple Crown races with 13, including four Belmont scores.

There was plenty of time for the rush of emotion later, especially when owners Bob and Beverly Lewis dashed down to the track to greet him. Just last year, Lukas and the Lewises had watched in helpless horror as their gallant Charismatic, who had won both the 1999 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1), broke bones in his left foreleg in the Belmont stretch and hobbled home third.

"Wayne!" Beverly Lewis shrieked happily before hugging Lukas.

"I had a good feeling in the paddock, Wayne," Bob Lewis exulted.

"I had a good feeling all day," Lukas replied before tossing some of the white victory carnations into a cheering cluster of fans.

All the "heartaches and trials of our previous runs in the Belmont with Silver Charm (trained by Bob Baffert) and Charismatic are erased by this victory," Bob Lewis reflected later, recalling the couple's New York disappointments of 1997 and '99.

"I would have much rather done this last year with the same people" and Charismatic, Lukas added with wry laugh. "We could have got $5-million (the Triple Crown bonus offered by series sponsor Visa U.S.A.) for it. But, you count your blessings, and we'll take this one, and we'll go to the bank on Monday smiling.

"I still think there's one of those (Triple Crowns) out there for us," he said, taking on the prophet's role again. "I told (Visa President) Carl Pascarella, 'Don't drop the bonus. I want it.' "

Odds and omens

No one but Lukas-who was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1999, the same year he elevated Charismatic from a $62,500 claimer to Horse of the Year and upset the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) with longshot Cat Thief-seemed to have any faith in Commendable. Bettors dismissed him at 18.80-to-1, the eighth choice in the field of 11 three-year-olds.

The Lewises questioned whether the colt, who finished a dismal 17th of 19 behind winner Fusaichi Pegasus in the Derby on May 6, should be entered in the Belmont. Jockey Pat Day, who had ridden two previous Belmont winners, also had his doubts.

"On Wednesday morning, prior to the (Belmont post position) draw, I called Coach Lukas and said, 'Hey, are you sure we're doing the right thing here?' I was getting a little weak-kneed," Bob Lewis said.

"He wasn't too weak," retorted Lukas, who was a basketball coach before training racehorses. "I said, 'Absolutely, we should run.' He said, 'Good, you're driving the bus, go on with it.' "

Day, who had piloted Commendable to his best finishes prior to the Belmont this year (fourth in the March 4 San Rafael Stakes [G2] at Santa Anita Park and in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes [G2] on April 22 at Keeneland Race Course), agreed to ride the colt again based solely on Lukas's confidence.

"One thing I've learned over the years is that you can't count Mr. Lukas out of these major fixtures," said Day, who now has ridden five of Lukas's 13 Triple Crown race winners.

Even his fellow trainers could not quite believe Lukas was going to run Commendable, who had won his first career race at Del Mar on August 14 and had not even placed since then.

The morning after entries for the Belmont were taken at a breakfast attended by many of the race participants, trainer Bobby Frankel, who conditions Aptitude, stood with Lukas on the Belmont Park apron, sipping coffee while watching horses working out. Frankel asked Lukas if he had decided to put Commendable in the race.

Lukas was somewhat taken aback by the query because the entries had been widely publicized but viewed it as a "hell of an omen. ... I said, 'Yeah, Bob, I'll make their hearts pound for a little while and then you (and Aptitude) can take over,' " he recalled with a chuckle.

The lack of attention and the doubts just made Lukas feel better and better. "I love it," he said of playing the underdog. "All my life, when they say you can't do something, it drives me. I feed off that. I said to Bob and Beverly about an hour before the race, 'We do our best work when they don't expect it.' "

Bacon and eggs

Arriving in the paddock just before the Belmont, there was another omen that at first appeared to be a bad one. Turning on the rubber bricks that line the walkways, Commendable yanked the shoe off his left front foot, which Lukas said was the first time in "all my 43 years of training" that one of his horses had pulled a shoe in the saddling area.

Lukas said he was not too concerned because the shoe came off cleanly without damaging the hoof, but the blacksmith who had to quickly put on a new plate "was a hell of a lot more worried. The (sweat) was pouring off him," Lukas said. New York Racing Association (NYRA) officials also suffered many anxious moments prior to the last jewel of the Triple Crown. Known as the Test of Champions, the Belmont was whittled down to a struggle headlined by Derby runner-up Aptitude and Impeachment, third in the Derby and Preakness. Both colts, like Commendable, sported only maiden wins on their career records.

After the defections of Preakness winner Red Bullet (in favor of a summer campaign) and Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus (for a minor foot injury), the 2000 Belmont was the first in 30 years that lacked either of the previous classic winners. There was not even one Grade 1 winner among the starters.

Red Bullet's owner, Frank Stronach, said he preferred to aim his colt at other races, and trainer Neil Drysdale opted not to run Fusaichi Pegasus after he said the colt scratched a dime-sized notch out of his right front foot when startled in his stall at Aqueduct a week before the Belmont.

That left NYRA without a classic star and few compelling story lines to promote, but with a wide-open betting affair. Fans made Juddmonte Farms' Aptitude, who did not contest the Preakness, the 1.75-to-1 Belmont favorite.

Unshaded, the Coolmore Lexington winner over Commendable who subsequently finished second in the Peter Pan Stakes (G2) on May 27 and had been supplemented to the Belmont by owner James Tafel for $100,000, was next at 5.50-to-1.

Wheelaway, who took the lead in the Derby before tiring to finish fifth, was 5.70-to-1, while Impeachment was 6.40-to-1.

With little pace in the race besides 40.25-to-1 longshot Hugh Hefner, who finished sixth of eight in the Preakness, Lukas told Day to stay close to the lead but to save Commendable's energy as much as possible. Day was the key to Lukas's decision to try Commend