Rags to Riches is in. Circular Quay is out.

This morning, champion trainer Todd Pletcher announced his superstar three-year-old filly, Rags to Riches, will compete in Saturday’s 139th Belmont Stakes against males.

The Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes at one mile and a half is the oldest and final race of the prestigious Triple Crown.

As for Rags to Riches, this filly has been superbly dominant in three straight Grade 1 victories over fillies this year. The Belmont Stakes will be her first start against males.

“She’s doing very well right now,” said Pletcher, who finished second and third in last year’s Belmont Stakes with Bluegrass Cat and Sunriver. “She came out of her last work well.”

Rags to Riches was purchased as a yearling for $1.9 million during Keeneland’s September sale of 2005. On Sunday, she breezed five furlongs over the main track here in 1:03 4/5.

“I loved her as soon as I saw her,” recalled Pletcher.

In addition to looks, Rags to Riches has got a monstrous pedigree. Her sire, A.P. Indy, won the Belmont Stakes in 1992 and was later named Horse of the Year that season. Her dam, Better Than Honour, by Deputy Minister, foaled last year’s Belmont Stakes champion, Jazil.

“Arguably, she’s got the best pedigree for this race and for any horse you could ever have,” Pletcher said. “She’s by a Belmont winner out of a Belmont producer and this isn’t a 20-horse field like the Derby.”

Rags to Riches will be the 22nd filly to ever race in the Belmont Stakes. And she is trying to buck some history.

Only two fillies have won the Belmont Stakes, the last being Tanya, who won it in 1905. Ruthless, the other female Belmont champion, took the 1867 edition.

In the last 11 years, two fillies have raced in the Belmont Stakes. My Flag finished third in 1996 and Silverbulletday – the last to attempt the feat – finished seventh in 1999.

“What we have to gain is, it hasn’t really been done in modern times,” Pletcher said. “She’s sort of accomplished everything a three-year-old filly could accomplish. From a historical perspective, it would place her at the highest level.”

Had Rags to Riches skipped the Belmont Stakes, she would have started as a heavy favorite in Belmont’s 51st running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Mother Goose versus fillies here on June 30th.

“Sometimes you gotta get lucky and back into something; you never know,” Pletcher said. “I said all along I would not run if the first three finishers from the first two legs ran. If there was a defection I would think about it. I needed to see the filly breeze and I needed to see how she came out of it. She’s been prepared for the last five weeks that she would run in the Belmont.”

Jockey John Velazquez, who had originally committed to ride Belmont contender Slew’s Tizzy, will pilot Rags to Riches instead.

As for Circular Quay, this son of 1995 Belmont winner Thunder Gulch will not compete in all three legs of the Triple Crown. Circular Quay finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby and fifth in the Preakness.

“I don’t know what’s next,” Pletcher said. “I felt he needed more time and haven’t ruled out the idea of trying him on the turf once. I might breeze him on the turf next week and see how that goes.”

Pletcher has also decided to run only one filly in Saturday’s 77th Acorn. That filly, Cotton Blossom, will take on a contentious field of three-year-old fillies in the Grade 1, $250,000 Acorn at one mile. The Pletcher-trained Octave, who would have been the favorite, is waiting for the June 30th Mother Goose.

“The mile and an eighth distance of the Mother Goose is the reason Octave is waiting for it,” Pletcher said.

With the addition of filly Rags to Riches to the 139th Belmont Stakes, trainer Patrick Biancone announced that Time Squared would not be running in the final leg of the Triple Crown.

Time Squared, a recent entry-level allowance winner over Polytrack at Arlington, breezed five furlongs at Keeneland this morning in 1:00 3/5.

“He worked well, but he’s not going to run,” Biancone said. “I had no problem running him if there were two horses to beat, but now there are three. We were going to run when the race fell apart, but now it’s rebuilding.”

Biancone will still be represented at Belmont Park Saturday with Cosmonaut in the Grade 1 Manhattan and Mauralakana in the Grade 2 Just a Game.

Larry Roman, owner of Digger, said this morning that he was going to reconsider running the Yonaguska gelding in the Belmont Stakes after learning of Rags to Riches’ addition.

Digger worked five furlongs in :59, handily, at Aqueduct this morning for trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. He will be the longest price on the board in the Belmont if he runs.

“We were never running with the intention of ruining the race,” Roman said. “I’ve been coming to Belmont Park since I was 16 and it’s a lifelong dream of mine to run in the Belmont Stakes. With the filly running, I may change my mind.”

Roman will be attending a luncheon at Gallagher’s Steak House in Manhattan this afternoon, and may make an announcement there regarding Digger’s Belmont status.

Fox Hill Farms’ Hard Spun, runner-up in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness, returned to the racetrack this morning for the first time since working five furlongs in 1:03 Sunday.

With trainer Larry Jones aboard, Hard Spun jogged and galloped a mile and three-eighths. On Monday, Hard Spun just walked the shedrow as rain pelted Belmont Park.

“The track was fine this morning,” Jones said. “His energy level seems great.”

After his work at the barn was done with Hard Spun this morning, Jones headed to Gallagher’s Steak House where he figures to be one of the more popular characters at the luncheon.

After trainer Todd Pletcher announced Rags to Riches would run in the Belmont and jockey John Velazquez decided to ride her, that left Joseph LaCombe’s Slew’s Tizzy without a rider. Fortunately Greg Fox, trainer of Slew’s Tizzy did not have to search hard for a new jock.

“Rafael Bejarano as been one of the riders that has consistently expressed interest in riding this horse,” Fox said. “He called me himself this morning and we’re thrilled to have him. He’s finished second or third in the Belmont the last two years.”

Fox said he had no hard feelings toward Velazquez, his agent Angel Cordero Jr., or Pletcher.

“That’s racing,” Fox said. “It doesn’t affect my enthusiasm or confidence in the horse. At the end of the day, it all comes down to having him ready to run the race of his life.”

Slew’s Tizzy is on his way to New York today from Kentucky. He left Lexington at 10:30 this morning to van to Louisville where he will board a plane to New York.

Preakness winner Curlin is scheduled to arrive in New York later this afternoon. His flight leaving Louisville departed at 12:30 p.m., an hour later than expected. He should arrive at Belmont around 4 p.m.

“The plane was a little late getting to Louisville from California,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “One nice thing about being in Louisville is that he didn’t have to leave his stall until we knew the plane had landed.”

Asmussen shared some of his thought on the decision to run Rags to Riches in the Belmont.

“She’s a very intriguing horse,” he said. “There are no comparisons to make because she has never run against males. She’s not going to be a pace factor, so her running is not really going to change how the race is run. She’s just another quality horse in the race and Curlin is going to have to run extremely well to win.”

Imawildandcrazyguy, the fourth-place Kentucky Derby finisher, walked the shedrow this morning and will return to the track Wednesday, according to trainer Bill Kaplan.

He breezed three furlongs in :37 Sunday and also walked the shedrow Monday morning.

Kaplan is heading back to New York today after checking on his string at Calder.

Santa Anita Derby winner Tiago also returned to the racetrack this morning after breezing six furlongs Sunday morning in 1:14 4/5. The seventh-place Kentucky Derby finisher jogged once around the main track with exercise rider Frank Herrarte aboard.

“The way he’s feeling, I don’t see why he wouldn’t run a big race,” Herrarte said.

Agent Bob Frieze confirmed that his jockey, Edgar Prado, would ride C P West in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. C P West, who finished fourth in the Preakness last time out, is trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito. Zito and Prado teamed up to win the 2004 Belmont Stakes with Birdstone, who denied Smarty Jones the Triple Crown.