TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: At Keeneland, the horses are either working too fast or too slow.

Preparing for Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes, Florida Derby winner Unbridled worked six furlongs in 1:12. That was a second or two faster than trainer Carl Nafzger wanted.

On Sunday, Pleasant Tap, another Blue Grass contender, worked seven furlongs in a slow 1:31. Trainer Chris Speckert would have preferred something faster.

Pleasant Tap, who ran sixth as the favorite in the San Felipe Handicap at Santa Anita on March 18, and Unbridled will be trying to knock off Summer Squall in the Blue Grass. Others running in the 1 1/8-mile race will be Shot Gun Scott, Land Rush, Slew of Angels and Top Snob, also trained by Nafzger. Home at Last, still another Nafzger colt, won the Preview at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, but he wasn’t nominated for the Triple Crown races.

Craig Perret will ride Unbridled after one of his other Kentucky Derby hopefuls, Rhythm, ran himself out the picture Saturday with a fifth-place finish in the Gotham at Aqueduct.

Rhythm, last year’s champion 2-year-old colt, has run poorly in three races this year and the Gotham was his first start since undergoing throat surgery.

“We will back off of him for a while,” said Shug McGaughey, who trains Rhythm. “Perret said that if he had dropped his reins on the backside Saturday, Rhythm would have been content to drop back 20 lengths.”

The first three finishers in the Gotham--Thirty Six Red, Senor Pete and Burnt Hills--are expected to return for the Wood Memorial April 21.

Thirty Six Red, who moves into the ratings for the first time, had beaten only non-winners in eight previous races.

Also on the Wood list is undefeated Champagneforashley, most lightly raced of the Derby contenders. Champagneforashley, whose only start this year was a victory over mediocre opponents in the Tampa Bay Derby, is scheduled to run Friday in the DeWitt Clinton at Aqueduct. This is hardly a conventional prep, but Champagneforashley, being a New York-bred, is eligible for the stake and the timing of the race fits trainer Howie Tesher’s schedule.

The absence of Rhythm from the Derby May 5 means that another champion 2-year-old will fail to win the race. The last champion to come back and win the Derby was Spectacular Bid in 1979.

Of the top nine horses on the Experimental Free Handicap--a theoretical listing of the leading 2-year-olds--only Summer Squall and Senor Pete are still considered Derby contenders. Those who have been eliminated are Rhythm, Grand Canyon, Adjudicating, Slavic, Roanoke, Secret Hello and Single Dawn.

Single Dawn, owned by Jack Kent Cooke, ran fifth as Mister Frisky extended his winning streak with a 4 1/2-length victory Saturday in the Santa Anita Derby. Asked Sunday where Single Dawn might be sent, Jack Robbins, Cooke’s racing manager in California, said: “Someplace where he might put on about 200 pounds.”

Mister Frisky is a small, light horse, slightly more than five feet tall and weighing about 1,000 pounds. “He’s the American dream,” says Mister Frisky’s trainer, Laz Barrera. “He cost the owners only $15,000, which proves that you don’t have to spend $2 million to get a good horse. He’s come along at the right time, because this sport needs heroes.”

Housebuster, a sprinter who has won five of six starts, will run in the seven-furlong, $75,000 Lafayette at Keeneland on Wednesday.

With only three opponents entered, Keeneland has made the Lafayette a non-betting race. Keeneland officials feared that there would too much betting on Housebuster, whose three rivals have won five of 23 starts and include a maiden and the colt who ran last in the Louisiana Derby.

After the Lafayette, Croll says Housebuster will run in the mile Derby Trial at Churchill Downs the Saturday before the 1 1/4-mile Derby. It wouldn’t be surprising, however, if Housebuster shows up at the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, the middle race in the Triple Crown, at Pimlico May 19.

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.Mister Frisky 16 16 0 0 $541,085 2.Summer Squall 7 6 1 0 600,072 3.Unbridled 9 3 2 3 390,772 4.Champagneforashley 4 4 0 0 228,030 5.Shot Gun Scott 9 5 1 2 559,224 6.Smelly 14 6 4 1 281,179 7.Real Cash 7 3 0 0 148,725 8.Warcraft 6 2 1 1 145,200 9.Thirty Six Red 10 2 2 4 101,075 10.Wicked Destiny 3 3 0 0 182,880