ESPN.com - Triple Crown 2000 - Notebook: No Triple Crown contender this year

Notebook: No Triple Crown contender this year
By Mike Diegnan
ABC Sports Online

BALTIMORE -- Superman met his match. Not Kryptonite, but mud.

"Red Bullet ran the track well and mine didn't," said Fusaichi Pegasus' trainer Neil Drysdale. "It's a part of racing."


	Jerry Bailey stands with owner Frank Stronach after their Preakness triumph on May 20.

Fusaichi Pegasus, who was supposed to be horse racing's next star, had no answer to the muddy surface that was upgraded hours before the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.

And an unrelenting Drysdale had no qualms blaming the track for his horse's failure to win the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.

"He's a very talented horse," Drsydale said. "Obviously we found out that he doesn't handle the surface at Pimlico when it's wet or muddy or drying out or whatever you call it."

When asked if a Triple Crown horse should have to win on different surfaces, Drysdale brushed it aside and moved on.

"I am disappointed for the horse that he came up with a track that he couldn't handle," Drysdale said. "It would have been good for racing for the horse to have continued on [and won the Triple Crown], but that's racing."

Pegasus never showed his patented acceleration when he made the turn for the homestretch, which was when Red Bullet turned it up a gear towards victory.

"As I said yesterday, one has to be apprehensive with an off track," Drysdale said. "They change by the minute."

For Joe Orseno, nothing can take away from his colt's victory, but it did leave him slightly bummed that it had to come under less-than-perfect conditions.

"I did say one thing this morning," Orseno said. "If we win the Preakness, I wanted it to be a nice track so not to have excuses from everyone. I didn't want it to take away from his victory."

Rubber match
Neither side was committal on whether or not the racing world would see another match between Red Bullet and Fusaichi Pegasus on June 10 in the Belmont Stakes. Red Bullet's victory on Saturday has helped make their rivalry a battle of two powerful horses similar to the dueling of Silver Charm and Skip Away two years ago and memories of recent Triple Crown battles between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer and Alysheba and Bet Twice.

"I'm not sure about Belmont," said Red Bullet owner Frank Stronach, who showed no disappointment about skipping the Derby.

"I know it sounds like I'm beating around the bush, but I really have to take a few days and look at the horse," said Bullet's trainer Joe Orseno, who said that the horse lost 16 pounds after losing to Pegasus in the Wood Memorial in April.

Drysdale, who made a rare appearance in the press box after the race for a losing trainer, seemed more intent on going into battle a third time.

"If he comes out of the race all right, we would press on to the Belmont," said Drysdale, who will ship his bay colt to Aqueduct on Monday.

Even though he's only been aboard him twice, Bailey knows who he likes.

"[Fusaichi Pegasus has] been beaten twice now, Red Bullet's been beaten just once. Advantage Red Bullet," the victorious jockey proclaimed.

Belmont Stakes
Senate race dropout Rudy Guiliani might not be in attendance, but a group of Preakness dropouts should be in New York on June 10.

Seven horses that did not make the trip to Pimlico were listed as possibles on Saturday night for the final leg of the Triple Crown.

Aptitude (second in the Derby), Wheelaway (fifth), and Curule (seventh) are expected to make their second Triple Crown starts. Also listed as possibles in three weeks are Tahkoda Hills, who finished third in the Florida Derby and won the Lone Star Derby; Unshaded, who has won his last three starts; Chief Seattle, who placed second in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile; and Globalize, a late scratch in the Derby who placed second in the Grade 2 Lexington.

They said it
Bob Baffert joking on the future of Captain Steve after the chestnut colt placed fourth: "I'll probably sell him."

Jockey Craig Perret on Impeachment, who has finished third in both Triple Crown races: "One of these days, the big guys are going to stub their toes, and Impeachment is going to win a very significant race. He's always lurking, and one day he's going to bust through."

Trainer Marty Jones on his longshot horse, Hugh Hefner's sixth-place finish, which left him out of the money: "It was a tough race and we weren't embarrassed. I would have liked to pick up a check though."