Hard Spun group jockeying to win

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2007 | by Tom Pedulla

After placing second in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness Stakes with Hard Spun, owner Rick Porter and trainer Larry Jones can't be sure a jockey change will make a difference in Saturday's Belmont Stakes. They felt they owed it to themselves to find out.

Mario Pino, who was aboard the colt through his first eight career starts and was one of the keys to his development into a prominent 3-year-old, was dropped for the 11/2-mile final leg of the Triple Crown in favor of Garrett Gomez.

"It's a one-race deal. And it's not to say that Mario won't be back on Hard Spun later," Jones says of what was an extremely difficult decision for him because he is close to Pino. "We just feel like in the Belmont we're going to go with Garrett Gomez, and that's just...