Belmont Stakes 2011: Derby Winner Animal Kingdom To Begin Workouts On Monday

Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom is taking a different approach when it comes to June 11th's Belmont Stakes.

Animal Kingdom will ship to Belmont Park about a week before the Belmont Stakes and is scheduled to start working out on Monday. That's a stark contract to the Preakness, where Kingdom arrived at Pimlico on the day of the race. In fact, the horse hasn't left Fair Hill at all other than to race the Preakness.

Daily Racing Form reported Tuesday that Animal Kingdom would most likely ship from trainer H. Graham Motion’s Fair Hill Training Center base in Northeast Maryland on Saturday, get his first feel for Belmont on Sunday, and start working Monday. Motion confirmed this but said the only variable to change that schedule would be weather.

The Belmont Stakes 2011 is on Saturday, June 11. Post time is 6:30 p.m. ET and the race will be aired on NBC.

Look back on our 2011 Preakness StoryStream to get up to speed To look back at the Derby, check out SB Nation's 2011 Kentucky Derby StoryStream. Also, our horse racing blog And Down The Stretch They Come has two must-read resources for Belmont fans: A Beginner's Guide To Following Horse Racing and a glossary of horse racing terms.