HORSE RACING : TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: Of the last 20 winners of the Kentucky Derby, only 4 were leading after the first three-quarters of a mile in the 1-mile race.

Spend a Buck in 1985, Sunny’s Halo in 1983, Bold Forbes in 1976 and Riva Ridge in 1972 held the lead at that point in the race, with all but Sunny’s Halo being wire-to-wire winners.

It is hard to imagine that Winning Colors, the filly who won the Santa Anita Derby Saturday, would be any other place but in the lead after six furlongs in the Kentucky Derby. The only time Winning Colors hasn’t been first at any point in her six races was when she finished second by a neck after a stretch duel with Goodbye Halo in the Las Virgenes at Santa Anita.

There was no one pushing Sunny’s Halo and Riva Ridge; they didn’t have to run that fast to take the early lead. Spend a Buck and Bold Forbes were blazing, however, and then didn’t quit. Spend a Buck, in particular, was phenomenal--he ran the fastest three-quarters, 1:09 3/5, and the fastest mile, 1:34 4/5, in Derby history, and his final time of 2:00 1/5 was only slower than Secretariat’s 1:59 2/5 and Northern Dancer’s 2:00 among Derby winners.

“It’s not that we’ve always wanted to go to the lead with Winning Colors, it’s just that this filly just drags Gary (Stevens) there,” trainer Wayne Lukas said. “It’s the only way she wants to run.”

Stevens, who has also been riding Stalwars, told Lukas that he will ride Winning Colors in the Derby May 7, which will be her next start.

“It had to be one of the toughest decisions a jockey ever had to make,” said Jeff Franklin, Stevens’ agent. “Because Gary came back from Kentucky (after a second-place finish in the Jim Beam Stakes) awfully impressed with Stalwars.”

If Pat Day had been consulted, he would have agreed with Stevens. “There’s no colt that I’ve seen in the East who can go with this filly,” said Day, who finished eighth with Ruhlmann in the Santa Anita Derby.

Day rode Forty Niner for the first time last Friday in the Lafayette at Keeneland, and in a change of style brought him from slightly off the pace to win the 7-furlong race by five lengths in 1:22, which was four-fifths of a second slower than a track record set 25 years ago.

“It was a very good race for the winner,” Eddie Gregson said. “He did it over a deep, tiring track. The second horse (Buoy) jumped a shadow just as Forty Niner was going by him, and while that might have made a difference in the margin, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome.”

Gregson trained Gato Del Sol, the 1982 Kentucky Derby winner, and saddled Aloha Prospector, the third-place finisher in the Lafayette.

Forty Niner is scheduled to run again Saturday at Keeneland, in the 1 1/16-mile Lexington. That will be his last start before the Kentucky Derby. Another probable in the Lexington is Stalwars, who may have Chris McCarron riding him now that Stevens has committed to Winning Colors.

Trainer Charlie Hadry tried to get McCarron to ride Finder’s Choice Saturday in the Garden State Stakes at Garden State Park. Hadry was happy with Chris Antley’s ride on his other Kentucky Derby hopeful, Private Terms, in the Gotham at Aqueduct, but he wants a name rider for Finder’s Choice--a tipoff, some say, that the trainer thinks that Finder’s Choice is still his better colt, even though Private Terms is 6 for 6.

Seeking the Gold was 4 for 4 until he lost by three-quarters of a length to Private Terms in the Gotham. Trainer Shug McGaughey said that Seeking the Gold was farther back than he wanted him, and there was a traffic problem, but Lenny Hale of The Times’ panel said that Seeking the Gold “wasn’t going to catch Private Terms, anyway. At least not on this day.”

Private Terms carried 126 pounds, the Kentucky Derby weight, and became the first 3-year-old to win with that much of an impost this year. Private Terms and Seeking the Gold will be at equal weights when they meet again in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct April 23. That’s a 12-pound pickup for Seeking the Gold.

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.

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1. Forty Niner 10 7 2 0 $900,750 2. Winning Colors 6 5 1 0 470,150 3. Brian’s Time 7 3 1 1 391,619 4. Stalwars 6 2 3 1 186,450 5. Cherokee Colony 7 2 3 0 302,200 6. Private Terms 6 6 0 0 382,928 7. Seeking the Gold 5 4 1 0 128,650 8. Lively One 7 3 2 1 202,850 9. Mi Preferido 6 4 0 1 306,675 10. Kingpost 12 3 3 4 440,640