UPDATE: Thoroughbred I’ll Have Another was scrapped from the Belmont Stakes Friday because of an injury.

For a jockey and a thoroughbred to win the Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont – is a pinnacle seldom reached in horse racing.

Legendary jockey agent Ivan Puhich Jr., a 1945 graduate of Renton High School, will watch and cheer Saturday as jockey Mario Gutierrez races I’ll Have Another in the 1.5-mile Belmont Stakes in New York.

Puhich brought together this winning combination of horse and rider, who have already won the first two legs of the Triple Crown.

There hasn’t been a Triple Crown winner since 1978 when Steve Cauthen and Affirmed won the prize.

“It’s a fairytale ending is what it really is,” said Mike Puhich, Ivan’s nephew. “His (Ivan’s) career is pretty much over and this is kind of a last type of deal. The fact that these two unassuming guys hooked up, Mario not knowing anybody and Ivan coming out of retirement to have a horse that’s going for the Triple Crown – that’s pretty cool.”

Ivan has been profiled in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

He was described as a storied jockey’s agent with 70 years of “Yoda-esque knowledge of the racing game, as well as an encyclopedia’s worth of stories, on the sport’s virtues and vagaries,” in the New York Times’ story by Jon Drape.

Longacres racetrack, closed 20 years ago, was Puhich’s early training ground. The 85-year-old Puhich is from Renton and the Puhich family has deep roots in the community and the horse-racing industry at Longacres.

Gutierrez and Puhich may never have connected if it wasn’t for nephew Mike Puhich, a well-known horse trainer and 1981 graduate of Renton High School.

Mike introduced the jockey, who’s originally from Vera Cruz, Mexico, to his uncle at Mike’s birthday party in Southern California last year.

Ivan now lives in California.

They all knew each other on the regional horse-racing scene because Gutierrez raced at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver, B.C., and has raced at Emerald Downs in Auburn.

Gutierrez also rode horses at the Pegasus Training and Equine Rehabilitation Center in Redmond, where Mike is the general manager.

A year ago, Mike and Ivan were in Southern California and Gutierrez needed an agent.

Mike told Gutierrez that his uncle was in his mid-80s and hadn’t been working but was well known in the industry.

“We didn’t know it would take off like this,” Mike said.

I’ll Have Another was one of the first horses Puhich picked for Gutierrez to ride after he became Gutierrez’s agent.

The team won the Kentucky Derby on May 5 and beat Bodemeister at the wire at the Preakness on May 19.

Since the victories, Gutierrez has been bombarded with media and attention from the likes of Jay Leno and other interview opportunities – so much so that Ivan has had to get a talent agent to handle the attention.

But “it’s a nice problem to have,” said Mike.

Mike plays the role of cheerleader on his uncle’s team.

Now Gutierrez and I’ll Have Another are positioned to make history Saturday if they can triumph in the Belmont race.

It’s called the most demanding leg of the Triple Crown.

With the odds at 4 to 5, I’ll Have Another is the favorite to win but not a shoe-in by any means, said Mike.

Only 11 thoroughbreds have won the Triple Crown, starting in 1919 with Sir Barton.

Mike said his uncle is “pretty excited” about the race Saturday and all that it means.

Ivan and Mike will arrive at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday in Mike Pegram’s private jet. Pegram owned Real Quiet, who in 1998 was nosed out of becoming the 12th Triple Crown winner.

The Puhichs and the I’ll Have Another team will be seated somewhere close to the track in box seats on Saturday.

“Yeah, it’s surprising I guess, but it’s pretty much like a fairytale,” said Mike. “Like wow, you couldn’t have written it any better in Hollywood.”

The Puhich family in Renton

Eldest Puhich family member, Ivan Sr., was born in Yugoslavia in 1893 and immigrated to the United States in 1906, according to the Renton History Museum.

He came with his older brother, Steve, and settled in Cle Elum, working as a coal miner and a logger.

He and his wife Pauline lived on Williams Street in Renton, where they raised their family. They had six boys: Nicholas, Joseph, Ivan Jr., Stan, Edward and one son who died at an early age.

The family got into thoroughbred racing when Nicholas took a job as a hot walker at Longacres in Renton.

All of the boys followed and worked jobs at the track at some point.

Nephew Mike Puhich’s first job was the same as his father Nick’s and he eventually became a trainer at Longacres up until the track’s last year in 1992.

Mike trained horses at Emerald Downs when it opened and has been in Redmond with Dr. Mark Dedomenico’s Pegasus Training and Equine Rehabilitation Center for the last five years.

Joseph Puhich has owned Puhich Dry Cleaners in Renton for 63 years. He’s also owned a trophy shop for the last 40 years.

If Ivan’s jockey and horse win the Triple Crown, Joseph says, “I think that’s great, that’s a big deal for him.”

When to watch

The 144th Belmont Stakes will air on NBC, KING-TV Channel 5 locally, 1:30 p.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.