TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: A difference of opinion. It’s what makes a horse race. Or, in this case, the final edition of the Triple Crown Ratings for 1986.

Lenny Hale, the racing secretary at Aqueduct and a Times Triple Crown Ratings panelist, loved Ogygian as a 2-year-old. He loves him even more this year.

“He’s done everything that’s been asked of him this year,” Hale said of Ogygian after the colt’s win Saturday in the Riva Ridge Stakes, shortly before Danzig Connection used the same track for an upset win in the Belmont Stakes.

“After all his physical problems last year,” Hale added, “he’s come back to look like a grand colt. I think he’ll be a real factor in the division the rest of the year.”

Last year, in writing the Experimental Handicap with fellow handicappers Tommy Trotter and Lou Eilken, Hale thought Ogygian was at least two pounds better than Tasso. Trotter and Eilken disagreed, and Tasso and Ogygian were rated even in the Experimental, which is a theoretical listing of horses based on their performances as 2-year-olds. In Eclipse Awards voting, in which about 200 turf writers, racing secretaries and Daily Racing Form staffers participate, Tasso was selected as the divisional champion.

Hale presented a minority opinion on the three-man Triple Crown panel. “You’ve got to do it on the track first, you can’t rate a horse first just because he might be best,” said Trotter, another of the panelists. “Ogygian has never run a race longer than seven furlongs, so let’s see what he does once they try to stretch him out. He can’t be rated over the horses who have already won the Triple Crown races.”

This is the scorecard on how The Times’ panel did during this year’s Triple Crown:

KENTUCKY DERBY--Snow Chief was ranked No. 1 going into the race and ran the worst race of his life, finishing 11th. Ferdinand, the upset winner, was ranked sixth, mainly because of the confidence shown in him by Frank (Jimmy) Kilroe. “Charlie Whittingham (Ferdinand’s trainer) doesn’t like the Derby and wouldn’t be going if he didn’t think he had a decent chance,” Kilroe said.

PREAKNESS--Based on his Derby win, Ferdinand got the nod from the panel. The experts suspected Snow Chief wouldn’t run as badly as he had in the Derby, but they still listed him only fourth at Pimlico. Snow Chief won the race, finishing four lengths ahead of second-place Ferdinand.

BELMONT--For the final leg of the Triple Crown, Snow Chief was listed at the top of the list of 3-year-olds, but his handlers decided to skip the race. Ferdinand was rated No. 2, Danzig Connection No. 9. Danzig Connection won by 1 lengths over the unrated Johns Treasure, with Ferdinand taking third.

One of the panelists thought Bill Shoemaker’s ride in the Belmont might have had something to do with Ferdinand’s finish. It was Shoemaker’s skillful ride in the Derby that Ferdinand needed in order to win.

“In the Belmont,” the panelist said, “Shoemaker had to practically take up just before the far turn. When a horse loses his action, it takes awhile for him to get going again. It might have cost Ferdinand about four lengths. Maybe he still wouldn’t have won, but he might have been closer at the finish.”

Shoemaker said he didn’t actually take up and move Ferdinand to the outside to avoid the rail, where the going was especially slow on a sloppy track.

“The move I made had nothing to do with the outcome,” Shoemaker said.

There’s that difference of opinion again.

TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1. Snow Chief 16 10 2 1 $2,730,940 2. Ferdinand 12 3 4 4 1,088,128 3. Ogygian 6 5 1 0 192,220 4. Danzig Connect. 12 5 4 2 592,200 5. Meadowlake 3 3 0 0 308,580 6. Johns Treasure 5 2 3 0 163,381 7. Rampage 10 4 2 0 365,086 8. Broad Brush 11 7 1 2 650,443 9. Badger Land 14 5 2 0 519,625 10.Fobby Forbes 11 4 4 0 323,470