By all rights, the 112th running of the Grade 1 Gazelle on Saturday at Belmont Park should be a walk in the park for Rags to Riches. The last Grade 1 race she won, after all, was also at Belmont Park. That day she faced down 3-year-old colts to take the win money in the $1 million, 1 1 /2 mile Belmont Stakes. Going 1 1 /8 against fillies for $250,000? No problem, right? But it won’t be so cut and dry. She’s been in and out of training, she’s missed two of the races trainer Todd Pletcher was shooting for, and now she finds herself going to the post with something to prove. Will she do it again? Does she still have it in her?

First, she missed the Coaching Club American Oaks because she had a fever. More frightening was what came next: She was pulled up in a workout and rushed off to the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania. Tests were taken, and apparently they showed her fit as a fiddle. Because she was out of training, she missed the Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. Last week, she missed the Ruffian Stakes, because she had developed another fever.

The Ruffian was named after one of the best fillies to ever run, and she died tragically at Belmont trying to prove that she was one of the best horses to ever go out onto the track. That’s the pantheon that Rags to Riches is shooting for. And she might grow into it (minus the tragedy, knock on wood) if she proves herself still healthy, and still able to run. It’s certainly what the world wants of her. It’s one thing to win the Belmont and then flop, proving all those doubters who claimed that the colts were tired. It’s another thing entirely to beat the boys and then come back and keep on winning. She’ll always be the filly that won the Belmont, but she stands now at a fork in the road.

Her owner, Michael Tabor told the Daily Racing Form he was “unfazed” by her bad luck. “It’s been nothing that has been a disaster,” Tabor said. “Just minor sort of hiccups, nothing to say that she has a real problem. It hasn’t been ideal, obviously, as you’d like to have her run, but it’s nothing that’s going to affect her future.”

The Gazelle will be Rags to Riches’ prep for the Breeders’ Cup at Monmouth Park this October, where she’s pointed at the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Distaff. They hem and they haw, but one gets the feeling that they won’t start her in the Classic, against males, unless all of the good horses don’t show up.

“It would depend on how she ran in the Gazelle and who all shows up in the Classic,” said Pletcher.

Pletcher told Bloodhorse that Rags was “fit and ready.”

Horseracing is a game where optimism is like a disease endemic to all participants, from the bottom to the top. Every plunger on the rail knows that this next race is the one that sends him home a winner, and every owner knows that this horse is the best one he’s ever bought, and everyone in between keeps agreeing. Otherwise, no one would show up at the track. My fingers are crossed.

There are some fillies in this race that are tuned up and ready to go, and although the field is short, it’s strong.

Tough Tiz’s Sis will likely take the lead, just as she did in the Alabama last out on August 18. It didn’t work for her there — she faded to finish sixth — but it did work for her when she won the Hollywood Oaks. She’ll like that this race is a furlong shorter than the Alabama, and I think she’ll hold on for a piece of the money, especially since 1 1/8 mile at Belmont is a one-turn race.

Lear’s Princess will run along with Rags, rating off the pace. She’s made a move her last two outings and has only gotten as far as second. This will the test — if Rags is right, she’ll shut Lear’s Princess down, but will have to bring 100% to the game to do so. Lear’s Princess has never finished worse than second. In her last two races, which were her graded stakes starts, she’s either in over her head or knocking on the door. My gambling comes down to this: I think Rags is healthy. I also think she is by far the best filly in the race. There’s a possibility that they simply feel pressured, and

that this is the last chance to

get a race in her before the

Breeders’ Cup, but

you’ve got to put your money somewhere. Mine is that Rags wins it, Lear’s Princess chasing at her heels, with Tough Tiz’s Sis hanging on for the show.

I can’t believe it’s true, but the long anticipated track appearance of the Green Monkey, purchased for a record breaking $16 million year, on Saturday. It’s a 6-furlong race, world can’t wait to see what he does. mwatman @nysun.com