TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: It is beginning to look as though Churchill Downs will not have to invoke the money rule when the 113th Kentucky Derby is run there on May 2.

In the event of a stampede at the Derby entry box, Churchill limits the field to 20 3-year-olds, based on most money earned in graded stakes.

But two weeks from this Saturday, there may be only 17 or 18 starters. One reason for this year’s Derby not having a capacity field is that some recent stakes winners were not nominated for the Triple Crown series. Another reason is that trainer Wayne Lukas, who started with 17 nominees, came up short with his far-flung stable last Saturday.

Lukas, however, will still be a presence in Louisville, where he has gone 0 for 9 in the Derby. He will saddle three starters--Talinum, Capote and War. Talinum was first in the Flamingo and third in the Florida Derby; Capote, a champion 2-year-old, has been fourth in both of his starts this year and looks like a horse who’s at least a race away from being ready the Derby’s 1 miles; and War’s final Derby tuneup will be Thursday’s Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, where he won the Lexington on April 11.

Trying to win the Derby with a horse who’s only had two starts as a 3-year-old is unusual enough; additionally, Lukas will keep Capote at Belmont Park, work him a mile there in about a week and then ship him to Louisville just a few days before the Derby. Capote will only gallop at Churchill Downs, but Lukas has done this successfully with other horses, winning the 1980 Preakness with Codex, who had never had a workout over the Pimlico track.

As for the other horses that he was grooming for the Derby, Lukas said: “They didn’t make it, but you can’t hang your head over the fact that you’ve got three running.”

Four stakes winners this month--Trick Card, Lost Code, Mister S.M. and Simply Majestic--were not nominated for the Triple Crown by the March 17 cutoff, although Simply Majestic’s connections were surprised to learn after Saturday’s California Derby that he was not eligible in Kentucky.

Demons Begone, undefeated in three starts as a 3-year-old but untested because he hasn’t run against any of the other horses in the top 10 this year, will try to become only the second winner of the Arkansas Derby to win the Kentucky Derby. Sunny’s Halo won both races in 1983.

Only two Kentucky Derby preps remain--the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass at Keeneland Thursday and the 1-mile Derby Trial on opening day at Churchill Downs Saturday.

LeRoy Jolley, who won the Wood Memorial last Saturday at Aqueduct with Gulch, will start Leo Castelli in the Blue Grass, and says that the colt needs to win in order to be a starter in the Derby.

Like Lukas, Jolley has started nine horses in the Derby, the difference being that Jolley has won the race with Foolish Pleasure in 1975 and with Genuine Risk, the filly, in 1980.

After the Wood, Dave Johnson, the ABC telecaster, asked Jolley about a trainer having experience in the Derby.

“It helps you know where not to eat in Louisville,” Jolley said.

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.

TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1.Demons Begone 8 5 2 0 $573,394 2.Temperate Sil 8 4 0 1 853,625 3.Cryptoclearance 10 5 1 1 520,750 4.Masterful Advocate 9 5 2 1 536,425 5.Talinum 9 3 1 2 415,116 6.Gulch 11 7 1 1 957,050 7.Bet Twice 11 6 0 1 814,047 8.Gone West 10 4 3 2 395,459 9.Capote 6 3 0 0 709,130 10.Alysheba 9 1 5 1 400,236