Columnist Ralph Siraco: Injury to keep Fusaichi Pegasus out of Belmont

Ralph Siraco

Monday, June 5, 2000 | 9:47 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday, and his Southern California selections run Tuesday through Friday. Reach him c/o Las Vegas Sun, 800 S. Valley View Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89107.

Afew hours after the Preakness Stakes was run at Pimlico, the harsh reality that there would be no Triple Crown bid this year was tempered by the anticipated match between Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus and Preakness winner Red Bullet in the Belmont.

That was 16 days ago -- and much has changed since then.

Word came over Memorial Day weekend that Red Bullet's connections had decided to bypass the Belmont and instead point their standout sophomore toward two of the summer's biggest races, the Haskell and the Travers.

That seemed to give Fusaichi Pegasus a golden opportunity in the Belmont. That is, until this past weekend.

Fusaichi Pegasus trainer Neil Drysdale informed Belmont Park officials Sunday morning that the Derby winner will not be participating in the third jewel of the Triple Crown on Saturday.

Drysdale explained what happened to his stable star: "At 2 o'clock (Saturday) afternoon, (Fusaichi Pegasus) was sleeping in the back of his stall. A noise startled him and he rushed to the front of the stall, slipping, and caught his right-front hoof on the door."

Drysdale added: "He is not sore; there is no soreness. But he couldn't work (Sunday) and we want to preclude further injury. ... The cut was on the side of the hoof wall."

Fusaichi Pegasus will rejoin the Drysdale stable at Hollywood Park and resume training by next week. His next start is uncertain.

The last time neither the Derby winner nor the Preakness winner participated in the Belmont was 1970, when High Echelon won. Derby winner Dust Commander and Preakness winner Personality were absent.

Now the $1 million Belmont becomes a wide-open affair, with the headliner a horse who is still eligible for "non-winners of two races lifetime" events. You may remember Aptitude as the fast-closing runner-up in the Kentucky Derby.

Since breaking his maiden at Santa Anita on Jan. 1, he has been second in the Grade III Gotham (to Red Bullet) and third in the Wood Memorial (to Fusaichi Pegasus and Red Bullet) before his Avis effort at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Bobby Frankel, who decided to keep Aptitude out of the Preakness in favor of the Belmont, suddenly finds himself as the conditioner of the "horse to beat" in the 1 1/2-mile "Test of Champions."

In addition to Aptitude, who prepared for the Belmont with a solid workout at Hollywood Park on Sunday, at least 10 other names will be dropped into the Belmont entry box on Wednesday:

Saturday's Belmont Stakes, if nothing else, will certainly be a good gambling proposition.