Five weeks ago racing people had reason to suspect Saturday would be the day Fusaichi Pegasus became the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
But then Fusaichi Pegasus found a track he didn’t like at Pimlico and finished second behind Red Bullet in the Preakness. Last weekend injury was added to insult. Fusaichi Pegasus hurt his right hoof in a minor stall accident, and trainer Neil Drysdale opted not to enter him in Saturday’s Belmont.
Earlier, Red Bullet’s owner Frank Stronach and trainer Joe Orseno had decided their lightly raced colt’s Triple Crown campaign would be limited to the Preakness.
For the first time in 30 years, the Belmont doesn’t have the Kentucky Derby winner or the Preakness winner.
Nevertheless the Belmont remains one of American racing’s most significant events. Add a $1 million purse to its classic stature and the bottom line is a field of 11 for the 132nd running of the oldest and longest of the Triple Crown series.
Aptitude, who hasn’t raced since finishing a stretch-running second in the Kentucky Derby, was the 8-5 morning line favorite after Wednesday’s drawing for post positions.
“I don’t care who’s in it; I just want to win it,” said Bobby Frankel, trainer of the California-based colt. “With Fusaichi Pegasus not in it, that just makes it easier.”
Frankel said he had the Belmont on his mind before the Kentucky Derby.
“If I didn’t win the race, I didn’t want to jeopardize my chances in the Belmont by running in the Preakness,” he said. “Having five weeks off is a big edge.
“If you can, you try to win all three. If you can’t, I don’t think winning two of the three is that important.
“The Travers is coming up in August, and you have a $4 million race [the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Classic] coming up at the end of the year [Nov. 4]. When you have a $4 million race at the end of the year, you don’t want to bury a horse now.”
Frankel says Aptitude’s genetic endowments strongly suggest an aptitude for the Belmont’s 11/2-mile route.
His sire, A.P. Indy, won the Belmont en route to becoming 1992’s Horse of the Year. His dam, Dokki, is an unraced daughter of the 20th Century’s greatest sire, Northern Dancer, and a half-sister to 1979 Belmont winner Coastal.
Frankel also says preparing a horse to run the longest race of his life is no big deal.
“I don’t think you have to train a horse any harder to run a mile and a half,” he said. “It’s just like training for a mile and an eighth race.”
The distance factor and a spacious track devoid of sharp turns combine to make post positions of neglible importance in the Belmont, in contrast to the Derby and Preakness.
Aptitude will leave from No. 5 with Alex Solis in the saddle.
Impeachment, the third horse in the Derby and Preakness, drew No. 8 and is the 9-2 second choice on the morning line. Unshaded and Wheelaway are next on the projected pari-mutuel pecking order at 5-1, followed by Postponed at 6-1.
Unshaded wasn’t nominated to the Triple Crown races and his Barrington owner, Jim Tafel, had to shell out $100,000 to supplement him.
After Unshaded finished second behind Postponed in the Peter Pan, Tafel decided not to run the gelding in the Belmont. But he changed his mind after Fusaichi Pegasus was hurt.
Like Unshaded, Wheelaway is a son of the Unbridled, the 1990 Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner who was fourth in the Belmont. This will be the colt’s first start since he finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby after ramming into Captain Steve in the stretch.
Trainer John Kimmel’s take on the Derby is that Wheelaway’s jockey, Richard Migliore, moved prematurely approaching the straightaway.
“Making such a vigorous move at that time took a lot out of him,” Kimmel said. “Richard had a lot of horse under him and he was worried he’d end up in a situation where he’d be boxed in on the inside. But I think if he had sat for a little longer we could have been third.”
Kimmel said that even if Fusaichi Pegasus had lived up to expectations and was on the brink of the Triple Crown, he would have run Wheelaway in the Belmont.
“Triple Crown races are very important,” he said. “I don’t think you should skip them if your horse is doing well.”
