Columnist Dean Juipe: Few willing to challenge spiffy horse

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, May 16, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

A day or two after the Kentucky Derby there appeared to be at least a dozen horses set to run in the second leg of the sport's fabled Triple Crown, the Preakness.

Today that number apparently is down to eight, and, perhaps, is about to dwindle further.

It's an exodus brought on by a perceived reality: Fusaichi Pegasus cannot be beaten.

The attrition rate will only make it easier for the muscular colt to do what seemingly everyone affiliated with horse racing wants him to do, which is win Saturday's Preakness and then follow it up with another win three weeks later in the Belmont Stakes. If he can do it, he would be the first to sweep the annual major races since Affirmed in 1978.

As it is, he was the first Derby favorite to win since Spectacular Bid in '79.

"He's going to do it, he's going to do it," repeated a veteran horse player as she sat near the sports book Monday at Arizona Charlie's and considered the favorite's chances. Her only complaint: Fusaichi Pegasus' tongue twister of a name, which she hadn't yet mastered.

In time, we all will.

Sentimentality runs deep among horse racing fans and Fusaichi Pegasus has already endeared himself to even the sport's casual followers. He's a great horse with the added attraction of being animated and spunky, as he demonstrated at the Wood Memorial (when he delayed the start of the race by three minutes by refusing to enter the gate) and the week before the Derby when he dumped his exercise rider in a moment of individuality.

There are no betting lines up yet on Saturday's race, in part because of the unsettled field. But when they are posted, most of the incoming money will be on you know who.

Pegasus is 5-0 and has already repaid the $4 million that owner Fusao Sekiguchi bid for him two years ago. If he continues to win, his place in history as a lovable champion will be secure.

By their unwillingness to pay the Preakness entry fee and take their chances, it could be argued that rival horse owners are all but ready to concede the second jewel of the crown. Few owners or trainers, if any, are openly talking of winning and one even remarked that it would be no disgrace to finish second.

Yet halfway through the Derby -- when Fusaichi Pegasus was running 11th in the field of 19 -- there was little sign of what was in store. But with as deft a riding job as many of us have ever seen, jockey Kent Desormeaux maneuvered his horse through the heavy traffic and came from seven wide on the closing turn to solidly win by almost two lengths.

Of the nine horses that finished immediately behind him, including Aptitude, which finished well to place, as many as seven may skip the Preakness.

If that's not a sign of intimidation, what is?

Among the newcomers, Red Bullet -- second to Fusaichi Pegasus in the Wood -- figures to draw the most action. But the shortened field is clearly an advantage for the favorite, who reportedly turned in a lively workout Monday in which trainer Neil Drysdale said the horse was "a little quicker than we anticipated."

It sounds as if he's fit and ready to go.

And it seems as if the sport of kings has found its spirited savior.