HORSE RACING

REMARKS: Louie Roussel, the loose horse who is a co-owner and trainer of the fastest horse in last Saturday’s Preakness at Pimlico, may make decisions at the last minute, but actually he’s an observant and organized horseman.

While Roussel answered questions from a swarm of newsmen in front of his barn the morning after the Preakness, he noticed Risen Star, the Preakness winner, grazing across the way. “Hey,” Roussel yelled to the colt’s handler, “don’t let him get too close to those bushes--he’ll try to eat ‘em.”

Roussel, who kept three jockeys hanging before he settled on Eddie Delahoussaye just a few days before the Kentucky Derby, didn’t decide to run Risen Star in the Preakness until 90 minutes before the race, but he already has a plan for the Secretariat colt’s next year on the track.

After the Belmont Stakes on June 11, Roussel would like to focus on the $1-million Super Derby at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 25. “That’s the track where he started,” Roussel said.

Risen Star, bred in Kentucky by Arthur Hancock and Leone Peters, the men who won the 1982 Kentucky Derby with Gato Del Sol, was sold twice, first for $210,000 as a yearling, then to Roussel for $300,000 as an unraced 2-year-old. The first time he ever ran, he won a minor stake at Louisiana Downs last September.

This winter, Roussel would like to send Risen Star to trainer Charlie Whittingham at Santa Anita and gear the horse to that track’s Strub series for 4-year-olds--the Malibu, the San Fernando and the Charles H. Strub Stakes.

Risen Star was not nominated for the Breeders’ Cup in November at Churchill Downs, and Roussel doesn’t act as though he’d pay the $360,000 supplementary fee to run in the $3-million classic against older horses.

“From what I’ve seen of the older horses, I’d just as soon continue running against the horses in our own division for a while,” Roussel said. “I’m very impressed with Bet Twice, for example. And a horse like Ferdinand, he runs his heart out even when he can’t beat Alysheba. I don’t think Risen Star is ready for those horses--at least not at this stage.”

A field of 6 to 9 horses is the prospect for the Belmont. Risen Star, Brian’s Time and Winning Colors, the 1-2-3 finishers in the Preakness, are certain to run, because they will be the only horses eligible for the $1-million bonus that goes to the horse with the most points in the Triple Crown races.

Winning Colors, the Derby winner, and Risen Star, third at Churchill Downs, have 6 points on a 5-3-1 system, and Brian’s Time has 3. To win the $1 million, Brian’s Time has to win the Belmont while Winning Colors and Risen Star are finishing third or worse.

Other Belmont probables are Granacus, Digress, Once Wild, Kingpost, Dynaformer and Five Star Camp. Digress, the Tropical Park Derby winner trained by Woody Stephens, the 5-time Belmont winner, will get a prep on Sunday, running in the Peter Pan at Belmont.

After winning a weak Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, Granacus ran 11th in the Derby. Kingpost was the winner of the Jim Beam at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., before finishing 14th in the Derby. Once Wild, a speed horse who could challenge Winning Colors early in the Belmont, won the Withers at Belmont in his last start. Dynaformer, who was seventh in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, may run next Monday in the Jersey Derby at Garden State Park. Five Star Camp, despite only two lifetime starts, was sent to the Blue Grass and ran eighth.

Forty Niner, second in the Kentucky Derby, took a beating while trying to outrun Winning Colors in the early stages of the Preakness, was exhausted after the race and isn’t scheduled to run again until July. Forty Niner’s pedigree made him an unlikely runner in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, anyway.

Proper Reality, who finished fourth in the Derby, won the Nash Handicap at Sportsman’s Park in Chicago Saturday and is expected to stay there for the Illinois Derby on June 4.

History seems to work against the Derby and Preakness winners in the Belmont. In the last 24 years, only six winners of the Derby have won the Belmont, and in the last 32 years, only five Preakness winners have won the Belmont.

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.Winning Colors 8 6 1 1 $1,116,350 2.Risen Star 10 7 2 1 726,125 3.Brian’s Time 10 3 2 1 461,619 4.Forty Niner 13 7 4 0 1,021,880 5.Private Terms 9 7 0 0 759,828 6.Digress 7 3 1 3 247,013 7.Once Wild 6 4 1 0 146,118 8.Dynaformer 10 3 3 1 149,430 9.Proper Reality 7 5 0 0 429,820 10.Granacus 14 3 2 1 296,724