HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Red Bullet, the Preakness winner who tentatively was scheduled to make his seasonal debut in the Feb. 3 Donn Handicap, will miss that race to point for a campaign with greater emphasis on the latter half of 2001.

	Red Bullet made just one start after his May 20 Preakness win, finishing third in the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont in July.

Trainer Joe Orseno on Thursday said that he and owner Frank Stronach "are rethinking" their plans for Red Bullet. He currently "is doing phenomenal, training, swimming, and galloping" at Stronach's Adena Springs South Farm in Ocala.

"We just thought that this gives him a better chance to be Horse of the Year this year," said Orseno. "What we did with Golden Missile last year kind of taught us something. It seems like [Eclipse Award] voters put the most emphasis on what happens in the last half of the year." Golden Missile was one of the top handicap horses during the first half of 2000 when winning the Pimlico Special and Stephen Foster Handicap. But his form tailed off in the fall, and he was a long-forgotten entity for year-end honors.

"Maybe we tried to do too much with him," said Orseno. "The thing is, we want to avoid the same situation with Red Bullet. We obviously have very high expectations for him this year. We're planning on mapping everything out next week when Frank comes to town."

Red Bullet, along with the top turf mare Perfect Sting, will stay under Danny Vella's supervision in Ocala for "maybe the next two or three weeks," said Orseno, who originally had planned to have both of them shipped to join the rest of his stable in Barn 4 at Gulfstream.

Red Bullet made just one start after his May 20 Preakness win, finishing third in the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont in July. He then was sidelined due to a viral infection and a very slight fracture in a foreleg.

Macho Uno, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, is likely to ship to Gulfstream sooner. "It'll probably be sometime next week," said Orseno. "Danny had some horses up there that he wanted to evaluate further, and he said he'd just send Macho Uno when he was ready with a full load."

Orseno said the Feb. 17 Fountain of Youth Stakes is the logical spot for Macho Uno to make his 3-year-old debut. He already has said the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial will probably follow.