ELMONT, N.Y. - It was supposed to be a warm-up for jockey Mario Gutierrez. Friday’s Grade II Brooklyn Handicap would give Gutierrez a good look at the 1 1/2-mile track prior to Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, in which he would ride I’ll Have Another in a Triple Crown bid.

But when I’ll Have Another was scratched Friday morning, Gutierrez’s role changed. His Belmont experience was a seventh-place finish in the Brooklyn Handicap aboard Boxeur des Rues.