D. Wayne Lukas, right, and jockey Pat Day teamed to win their second Belmont.

Even perpetually optimistic trainer D. Wayne Lukas was hesitant to run him in Saturday's Belmont Stakes. One of the weakest Belmonts ever was won by one of the oddest winners ever.

Despite some very lackluster credentials, Commendable galloped away from the field at the top of the stretch and then held off a mild late bid from 9-5 favorite Aptitude to win the 132nd running of the Belmont Stakes by 1½ lengths before a stunned crowd of 67,810. It was another length back to Unshaded in third.

Why? Who knows?

"We had no grandiose ideas coming here or did we ever think we could overwhelm this field," Lukas said. "We didn't even think we could come in and do what we did, at least this easily."

Even Lukas was lukewarm on running Commendable. For most of the week, Lukas listed the horse's status as "50-50." Commendable had no apparent excuses in the Kentucky Derby and had never lived up to the promise he showed when galloping to an easy win in his debut last August. But Lukas, who has never seen a Triple Crown race he didn't want to run in, committed after Fusaichi Pegasus was withdrawn due to a minor injury.

The man must be a genius. Either that or he was very lucky yesterday.

"I never did lack any confidence in this horse," he said. "I knew if I got what I saw in the morning in the afternoon, we would win some races. I told (owners) Bob and Beverly (Lewis) this horse has some brilliance."

The only thing brilliant yesterday was his trip. Most felt Commendable needed a comfortable head start to win. He got the next best thing, a perfect trip. For him, the race unfolded beautifully as Pat Day rode a masterful race, taking advantage of a slow pace set by a horse who really had no chance.

Hugh Hefner, a 40-1 shot, crawled on the lead, going clear through fractions of 24.12 seconds, 49.29 seconds and 1:14.39. Day had Commendable settled comfortably into second, never expending much energy. Commendable glided past Hugh Hefner on the far turn and opened up by daylight at the top of the stretch. With the way the race unfolded, he had a huge tactical advantage on the rest, most of whom were trying to close into the slow pace.

"One thing Wayne told me was to try to have an energy-saving ride," Day said. "Try not to use him any more than we have to. The horse was very relaxed, coasting along very kindly all the way. At the head of the stretch, I hadn't asked him for anything."

Commendable opened up by 2½ lengths in mid-stretch and was never in any serious jeopardy of getting caught. The win went a long way toward erasing some painful Belmont memories for owner Bob and Beverly Lewis, who missed out on Triple Crown bids in the final leg of the series with Silver Charm (1997) and Charismatic (1999).

It was the fourth Belmont Stakes win for Lukas, who missed out on a Triple Crown sweep last year with Charismatic. It was also his 13th win in a Triple Crown race, tying him for first with Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons.

Somehow, when the big money is on the line, D. Wayne finds a way.

"All my life, when they say you can't do something, it drives our organization," Lukas said. "I feed off that. I motivate my help off that. I said to Bob and Beverly about an hour before the race, we do our best work when they don't expect it."

Lukas may be the man of the hour, but Commendable is going to have to do a lot more before receiving any sort of accolades. After all, it was not much of a Belmont Stakes. Not only did Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus and Preakness winner Red Bullet both pass, but the final time was an unimpressive 2:31.19 over a fast track. Not only was it the second slowest time in 30 years, but it barely bested the time put in by a group of starter handicap horses in the fourth race. With J.R. Holmes coming out on top, that group went in 2:31.53, about 1½ lengths slower than the Belmont.

But Lukas was issuing no apologies, going so far as to claim that Commendable would have beaten Red Bullet and Fusaichi Pegasus.

"I think we ran an awful good horse today," he said. "We would have beaten any of them."

Remarkably, Commendable paid just $39.60, perhaps showing how much respect the bettors have for Hall of Famer Lukas and Hall of Famer Day in Triple Crown events.

Aptitude ran well, but, with the way the race unfolded, he never had a chance. In a curious move, jockey Alex Solis had him last down the backstretch and left his mount with too much to do. The horse usually races mid-pack. Solis blamed his tardy beginning on the racing surface.

"Going into the first turn, (Aptitude) was really slipping and sliding," he said. "It was a real loose track. Going down the backstretch, he switched leads and finally got into the race."

Added Aptitude trainer Bobby Frankel: "I'm a little disappointed, to be honest with you. I thought he'd be a little closer to the pace. He let him relax too much. Once he got to the back of the pack, it was over."

Unshaded, the Peter Pan runner-up, also closed well to finish third. He collapsed after the race with heat exhaustion, but was reported to be well on his way to a full recovery.

Is Commendable for real? Probably not. He'll have other chances to prove himself, maybe as soon as the Aug. 6 Haskell at Monmouth Park, a race Red Bullet is pointing toward. In the meantime, he is a Belmont winner. They can't take that away from him.