In generations past, the Belmont Stakes was a key race to win for breeding purposes. It took a hickory horse to win the “Test of the Champion” at a mile and a half.

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If a breeder had a mare that was light on stamina, just breed her to a Belmont Stakes winner.

Now turn the pages a few decades. Today’s breeder is happy with a stallion that is a graded stakes winner at 1 1/8 miles much less 1 ½ miles.

So while the breeding industry may not put the same stock in a classic winner at 1 ½ miles, I hope the racing fans still do.

When you watch the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 8, just visualize the race going once around the massive main oval. The Belmont begins at the finish line and ends at the finish line.

Personally, the Belmont Stakes will always be near and dear to me.

In 1979, I was a student at St. John’s University majoring in Sports Administration. In your senior year, you did an internship with a sports organization within the tri-state for course credits. I did mine in the wintertime Aqueduct for the New York Racing Association.

My stint ended in early May. By then a colt named Spectacular Bid had won the Kentucky Derby for trainer Bud Delp and jockey Ronnie Franklin. The Bid had a good chance to join three Triple Crown winners in that decade in Secretariat, Affirmed, and Seattle Slew.

Spectacular Bid in 1978. (Milt Toby/BloodHorse)

Then Spectacular Bid won the Preakness even easier than the Derby. Now he looked like a cinch in the Belmont Stakes.

Meanwhile, I was an unemployed college graduate. I had family in Southern California so I went there to relax.

And here’s how The Bid changed my life. With another potential Triple Crown winner at hand, I was offered a full-time job in the publicity office at NYRA. I flew back home and started on Monday before the Belmont Stakes.

There were a lot of storylines that week. One of them was a dust up between Angel Cordero, Jr. and young Ronnie Franklin in the jock’s room. That tightened the screws even more in the lead up to the Belmont Stakes.

Long story short, The Bid got upset by Coastal. In fact, Spectacular Bid finished a tired third. You can read in the history books where Bud Delp claimed that The Bid stepped on a safety pin. Whether it was true or not, he may have been the most talented 3-year-old to just miss winning the Triple Crown.

Thus, the Belmont Stakes is an anniversary of sorts for me. This will mark my 40th year working in horse racing. And I’ll make a bet, probably on Tacitus, to have a rooting interest like I have in every Belmont Stakes since.

Richard Eng is the author of “Betting on Horse Racing for Dummies," an introductory book for newcomers to the sport of horse racing.  For two decades, he was the turf editor and handicapper for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He still handicaps the Southern California tracks and his picks are for sale at www.racedaylasvegas.com. You can email him at rich_eng@hotmail.com and follow him on Twitter @richeng4propick and on Facebook.com.