TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS:

In the 1985 Belmont Stakes, Chief’s Crown was the lukewarm 2-1 favorite. Second in the betting was shared by the entry of Stephan’s Odyssey and Creme Fraiche.

The entry was trained by Woody Stephens, who had won the Belmont for three consecutive years. Stephan’s Odyssey was Stephens’ important horse; he had won the Hollywood Futurity as a 2-year-old. In Florida during the winter of 1985 he ran some tough but losing races against both Chief’s Crown and Proud Truth.

Creme Fraiche won the Derby Trial, but it was Stephan’s Odyssey who ran in the Derby itself, finishing second, 5 1/4 lengths behind Spend a Buck. Creme Fraiche stayed in the barn on Derby day, and even though the little gelding almost beat Spend a Buck in the Jersey Derby three weeks later, which would have cost the Derby winner a $2.6-million payday, Stephens thought that Stephan’s Odyssey would give him the best chance to extend his Belmont streak.

Stephan’s Odyssey and Creme Fraiche both ran down Chief’s Crown in the stretch at Belmont Park, but at the wire the mud-loving Creme Fraiche had a half-length on his stablemate, giving Stephens victory No. 4 in a record five-year Belmont streak. For breeding reasons, the trainer would have preferred his colt winning the Belmont instead of his gelding, but it turned out to be academic. Stephan’s Odyssey died before his stud career gathered any steam; Creme Fraiche, who is still running, is one of only four horses to earn $4 million or more in a career. Alysheba, John Henry and Spend a Buck are the others.

The 121st Belmont, which will be run on June 10, is not expected to end the way the 1985 race did, but it comes with similar ingredients: Sunday Silence, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, should be favored, and the second choice will be the entry of Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring. Easy Goer, who started his 3-year-old season in a wave of hype that was unlike anything given a horse this decade, is supposed to be trainer Shug McGaughey’s strongest horse, but Awe Inspiring almost finished ahead of his stablemate in the Kentucky Derby and on Monday at Garden State Park he devastated the field in the Jersey Derby.

McGaughey has always said that Easy Goer had considerbly more talent than Awe Inspiring, but Awe Inspiring has won five of seven races as a 3-year-old and appears to be closing the gap. In the Kentucky Derby, Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer by 2 1/2 lengths and Awe Inspiring was third, only a head behind Easy Goer, even though Craig Perret gave Awe Inspiring a conservative ride that was designed to keep his mount clear of his more highly regarded stablemate.

Because Awe Inspiring didn’t run in the Preakness and Easy Goer again finished second to Sunday Silence at Pimlico, the Triple Crown has become a two-horse series. As many as nine rivals might try to change the routine in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont. Probables include Awe Inspiring, Rock Point, Hawkster, Le Voyageur, Triple Buck, Imbibe, Irish Actor, Fire Maker and Pro Style. Open Mind, who won the Acorn at Belmont last Saturday for her seventh consecutive stakes victory against fillies, is not expected to make the Belmont.

Imbibe, Irish Actor, Pro Style and Fire Maker were the first four finishers, in that order, in the Peter Pan at Belmont on Sunday. Three days earlier, Triple Buck won at the same distance--1 1/8 miles--by six lengths in an allowance race against older horses at Belmont.

The Peter Pan has a way of setting up horses to win the Belmont. Danzig Connection, Woody Stephens’ fifth consecutive Belmont winner, won the Peter Pan in 1986, and in 1979, Coastal spoiled Spectacular Bid’s quest for the Triple Crown in the Belmont after winning the Peter Pan.

Imbibe is modestly built, along the lines of Creme Fraiche. His sire, Temperence Hill, won the Belmont in 1980. Temperence Hill was 53-1, and his son would be about as big a surprise if he beat Sunday Silence and the McGaughey duo this year.

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 Arlington International Racecourse and Gulfstream Park.

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1.Sunday Silence 8 6 2 0 $1,418,530 2.Easy Goer 11 7 4 0 1,475,730 3.Awe Inspiring 9 6 0 1 628,220 4.Rock Point 13 3 2 2 358,284 5.Open Mind 11 9 2 0 1,263,344 6.Imbibe 15 4 4 0 211,604 7.Hawkster 12 2 1 2 479,090 8.Irish Actor 12 3 3 3 537,445 9.Fire Maker 11 3 2 3 263,746 10.Triple Buck 9 3 0 3 158,008