BALTIMORE – Fusaichi Pegasus and Red Bullet, who ran 1-2 in the Wood Memorial in April, then reversed that order in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, appear on a collision course for a rubber match in the June 10 Belmont Stakes at a lung-busting 1½ miles.
“He’s sharp this morning,” trainer Joe Orseno said at Pimlico after loading Red Bullet aboard a Sallee horse van back to Belmont Park at 8:20 a.m. yesterday. “He looks great.”
Minutes after Red Bullet upset Fusaichi Pegasus in the Preakness, Orseno wouldn’t commit to the Belmont. Yesterday he said it would take a week to judge how the flashy chestnut colt bounced out of the race, but he admitted he’s leaning toward a Belmont run.
On the flip said, trainer Neil Drysdale – who waited a week before saying yes to the Preakness after Fusaichi Pegasus won the Kentucky Derby – said all systems were go for the Belmont. The Winged Wonder leaves this morning for New York, where he’ll be stabled at Aqueduct.
“We’re looking forward to running,” Drysdale said. “I said before the Preakness he’d be well-suited to the Belmont with his running style. He’s a big, long-striding horse.”
Off at odds of 3-10, Fusaichi Pegasus joined Riva Ridge as the shortest-priced favorite ever to lose the Preakness. Like FuPeg, Riva Ridge was beaten over a wet track at Pimlico, a defeat that cost him the Triple Crown.
Saturday evening, Drysdale said his colt was compromised by the off-track. Yesterday, speaking by phone from California, he repeated that assertion.
“After the race he was quite bright and playing in the receiving barn,” Drysdale said. “He wasn’t tired, he wasn’t blowing. He didn’t handle the track, so he didn’t expend himself, so he didn’t win.”
Drysdale said he could see coming out of the far turn that Fusaichi Pegasus was struggling.
“I thought he was very courageous to get second,” he said. “Often when a horse doesn’t handle a track, they just drop out of it.”
Fusaichi Pegasus won the Wood at Aqueduct in off-going, but Drysdale said the consistency of the surfaces was different.
“In New York they have a sand cushion over a clay base and the tracks get wet-fast. This track was like that earlier in the day, but when they opened it up [by harrowing after the sixth race] it got heavy.”
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, whose High Yield finished seventh, agreed.
“The track was like peanut butter out there. It was pulling. The winner probably had an affinity for it, not to say he wouldn’t have won anyway.”
Orseno’s response: “Well, we all had to run over it. The track was similar when they ran in the Wood. But they will be facing each other again this year. We’ll see.”
Drysdale added that Fusaichi Pegasus came back with a “tiny cut” under his knee after getting bumped by another horse but said the nick was “of no consequence.”
As for the other Preakness horses, Impeachment (third) vanned back to New York yesterday and will run in the Belmont. Captain Steve (fourth), Snuck In (fifth) and Hugh Hefner (sixth) will look for softer spots.
Lukas said High Yield would be given some time off, then point for the Swaps at Hollywood Park in July, followed by the Haskell and Travers.
Hal’s Hope (eighth) will return to Florida for a much-needed rest.
