Orb will break from the 5 post in Saturday's 145th running of the Belmont (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com)

When Kentucky Derby hero Orb and Preakness victor Oxbow square off in Saturday's 145th running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, they'll have plenty of company.

A field of 14 was drawn Wednesday for the final jewel of racing's Triple Crown, the biggest field for the 1 1/2-mile race since 1996, when Editor's Note defeated 13 rivals.

Televised by NBC (5-7 p.m. [EDT]), with pre- and post-race coverage carried on the NBC Sports Network (3-5 p.m. and 7-7:30 p.m.), the Belmont will go postward at 6:36 p.m. as the 11th of 13 races on Saturday's card. Supporting the "Test of the Champion" are the Grade 1, $500,000 Manhattan Handicap; Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game; Grade 2, $400,000 True North Handicap; and Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens.

Bidding to become the first to complete the Derby-Belmont double since Thunder Gulch in 1995, Stuart S. Janney III and the Phipps Stable's Orb was installed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite, while Oxbow was listed at 5-1 on the morning line.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Orb finished fourth in the Preakness on a day when "nothing went right." Back at his home base of Belmont Park, Orb has been training forwardly and McGaughey is hoping a home field advantage will come into play for the horse and jockey Joel Rosario when they leave from post position 5.

"Any time you have a come-from-behind horse, you'd like to see a solid pace, but it's really going to be up to the rider," said McGaughey, who spoiled Sunday Silence's 1989 Triple Crown bid by saddling Easy Goer to an eight-length triumph in that year's Belmont.

"In a 1 1/2-mile race at Belmont, (the jockey) is really going to have to read the race, and I think that's what separates the top riders from some of those that aren't. If you turn down the backside at Belmont, it's not like turning down the backside at Churchill Downs. You've got a long way to go, and big open space down through there, and you better be patient. If you're not, it's going to get to you."

Lukas led his Preakness winner and Belmont contender Oxbow onto Belmont's track for a little exercise (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com)

"The old guys got it done," Lukas said with a laugh. "I think we're going to send a better-prepared horse, mentally, in the Belmont than we did in the Preakness. Whether he's a faster horse or a winning horse remains to be seen."

Lukas also will saddle Will Take Charge, most recently seventh in the Preakness.

Saturday's race, however, is far more than a rubber match between the winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown, which may partly account for the hefty field. Of the past 15 runnings of the Belmont, all but two -- Afleet Alex in 2005 and Point Given in 2001 -- have been taken by horses who won neither the Derby nor the Preakness.

After going 0-for-5 in this year's Derby, trainer Todd Pletcher went to the sidelines for the Preakness and now has returned with another quintet, led by Derby third-place finisher Revolutionary, the 9-2 second choice on the morning line.

In addition to the WinStar Farm colorbearer, Pletcher, who won the 2007 Belmont with the filly Rags to Riches, will send out Dogwood Stable's Palace Malice (15-1), and a trio from owner Mike Repole -- the filly Unlimited Budget (8-1), Overanalyze (12-1) and Midnight Taboo (30-1).

"I've been coming to Belmont for 30 years, and the Belmont is the No. 1 race I want to win," said Repole, a Queens, New York, native whose Stay Thirsty finished second by three-quarters of a length in the 2011 Belmont. "For some people it's the Derby, but the Belmont is the race I want to win."

Unlimited Budget will be ridden by Rosie Napravnik, who is looking to join Julie Krone, winner of the 1993 Belmont aboard Colonial Affair, and become the only women to ride the winner of a Triple Crown race. Fifth in the Derby aboard Mylute, who then was third in the Preakness, the 25-year-old Napravnik will have made history as the first female rider to compete in all three legs of the Triple Crown in the same year.