TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: With reservations, the three-man panel for the Triple Crown Ratings decided to list Capote No. 1 for the first week, even though the champion 2-year-old colt for 1986 has had only three published workouts and is about a month away from his first race.

“He lost a lot of weight when he was sick (late last year) and is trying to catch up,” one of the panelists said. “His last workout was hardly working.”

Last Friday at Hollywood Park, Capote worked five furlongs in 1:02 4/5 in only his third workout since resuming training. There were 24 horses that worked at that distance that day, with 10 being clocked as slow or slower than Capote. The fastest work of the morning was 1:00 3/5.

It is Capote’s stablemate, Talinum, who has caused the biggest surprise early in the Triple Crown campaign, going from California to Florida and winning Saturday’s Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah. The two Wayne Lukas-trained colts will take different routes to the May 2 Kentucky Derby, with Talinum running in the Florida Derby on April 6. Capote’s pre-Derby plans haven’t been made, although Lukas has favored the Arkansas Derby as a Kentucky prep. That race is on April 18.

The other Triple Crown races are the Preakness at Pimlico on May 16 and the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 6.

One of the most impressive horses at Hialeah Saturday was Bet Twice, a colt who finished second in the six-furlong Key West Stakes earlier on the program.

About five lengths behind the eventual winner, Mr. Zippity Do Dah, at the top of the stretch, Bet Twice got into gear and lost by less than one length. It was Bet Twice’s first start since last November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, where he was fourth as Capote won.

“The only excuse he had that day was the bad post position,” said trainer Jimmy Croll, referring to Bet Twice’s No. 12 start in a field of 13. “I was very happy with his first race as a 3-year-old. We sent him back to Florida and turned him out for about 25 days after the Breeders’ Cup, and to be honest I didn’t think he was doing as good as he might when he first came back to the track.”

Next for Bet Twice is the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream on March 22, and then the Florida Derby.

Three of the horses in the ratings--Temperate Sil, Masterful Advocate and Alysheba--may run Saturday at Santa Anita in the one-mile San Rafael Stakes.

Temperate Sil, winner of the Hollywood Futurity last December, and Masterful Advocate, first in the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows on Feb. 1, are definite.

Trainer Jack Van Berg has the option of either running in the stake or entering Alysheba in an allowance race at Santa Anita Sunday. Alysheba, despite his large bankroll, is still eligible for races written for horses that haven’t won twice. Running second--as he has four times--can sometimes be worthwhile, too.

TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1.Capote 4 3 0 0 $645,680 2.Temperate Sil 5 3 0 0 549,625 3.Talinum 8 3 1 1 365,116 4.Master Advocate 7 4 1 1 345,925 5.Bet Twice 8 5 0 1 698,565 6.Cryptoclearance 9 4 1 1 220,750 7.Leo Castelli 4 2 1 1 70,840 8.Alysheba 7 1 4 1 359,486 9.Demon’s Begone 6 3 2 0 150,934 10.Gulch 8 5 1 0 439,910

Advisory panel for The Times’ Triple Crown Ratings: Lenny Hale, vice president for racing at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga; Frank (Jimmy) Kilroe, vice president for racing at Santa Anita; and Tommy Trotter, racing secretary at Gulfstream Park.