TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: Trainer Nick Zito is predicting that the maligned Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland will regain its Grade I status.

There aren’t many cinches in racing, but Zito has hit upon one. Unbridled, the winner of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, ran a solid third in the Blue Grass April 14, and Summer Squall, who finished second at Churchill Downs, won the Keeneland stake.

“The Blue Grass was a Grade II for about a half an hour,” Zito said.

Until two years ago, the Blue Grass was always run nine days before the Derby, as a successful prep for Churchill Downs. But since Spectacular Bid won the Blue Grass en route to his Derby victory in 1979, there hasn’t been another Blue Grass winner who also won the Derby. All through the 1980s, only two Derby winners--Gato Del Sol and Alysheba--even competed in the Blue Grass.

Horsemen, who pay attention to such things, began choosing other preps for their Derby hopefuls. The consensus was that the Blue Grass was run too close to the Derby. And, if it also happened to rain and a trainer had to scratch, the horse would be a race short for the Derby. The committee that rates the country’s stakes races downgraded the Blue Grass from a Grade I to a Grade II.

Keeneland reacted two years ago, moving the Blue Grass from its traditional place on the calendar to three weeks before the Derby.

Pleasant Tap, who finished third in the Derby, also was scheduled to run in the Blue Grass, but became ill. Pleasant Tap ran in another Keeneland race--the Lexington Stakes--and finished second as he got ready for the Derby.

Zito’s horse, Thirty Six Red, finished ninth in the Derby, after winning the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct two weeks before the Derby. A Wood winner hasn’t won the Derby since Pleasant Colony in 1981 and Thirty Six Red was carrying an even bigger burden in the Derby: He also won the Gotham, the prep for the Wood, and a Gotham-Wood winner has never won the Derby.

“It takes an exceptional horse to go from the Wood, two weeks away, to a win in the Derby,” Zito said. “Two weeks before the Derby is too soon, and a month is too long. Three weeks is perfect.”

Mister Frisky, who won the Santa Anita Derby, a month before the Derby, ran eighth as the unbeaten favorite at Churchill Downs. In three of the previous four years, however, horses from the Santa Anita Derby--Ferdinand, Winning Colors and Sunday Silence--also won in Louisville.

Trainer Ron McAnally, who sent his Derby candidate, Silver Ending, east because he didn’t like Santa Anita’s speed-favoring track, considered both the Blue Grass and the Arkansas Derby, which was run at Oaklawn Park two weeks before the Kentucky Derby. Silver Ending won the Arkansas Derby before running fifth Saturday.

McAnally is second-guessing himself about what he did with Silver Ending.

“I don’t know if another week (the Blue Grass instead of the Arkansas Derby) would have made a difference,” he said. “Some horses require more time. But the first two in the Derby ran in the Blue Grass, and it must have helped them a lot. And the Wood and Arkansas winners (Thirty Six Red and Silver Ending) didn’t seem to have that much gas in their tanks.”

There was some second-guessing about the ride Gary Stevens gave Mister Frisky in the Derby. Laz Barrera’s son, Albert, who is an assistant trainer to his father, said that Mister Frisky would have been better served in third or fourth place early, instead of in second behind Real Cash. Real Cash set a pace that included a swift :46 for the half-mile and 1:11 for six furlongs.

Mister Frisky and Summer Squall will try to prevent Unbridled from winning the Preakness, the second race in the Triple Crown series, at Pimlico May 19. The third race is the Belmont in New York June 9. There’s a $5-million payoff for a Triple Crown champion, and short of that the horse who accumulates the most points for high finishes in all three races will receive $1 million.

Housebuster, the speedy colt who won the Kentucky Derby Trial, is scheduled to run in the Withers at Belmont Park Wednesday, with only an outside chance that he will come back in the Preakness. A more likely spot for Housebuster is the Metropolitan Mile at Belmont May 28, when Easy Goer, the winner of last year’s Belmont Stakes, is expected to make his debut as a 4-year-old. Housebuster’s owners and trainer figure that the Met will be their best chance to beat Easy Goer.

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. Unbridled 11 4 2 4 $1,100,235 2. Summer Squall 9 7 2 0 885,078 3. Mister Frisky 17 16 0 0 541,085 4. Pleasant Tap 8 2 1 2 151,075 5. Silver Ending 9 4 0 3 638,900 6. Video Ranger 7 1 2 1 164,650 7. Champagneforashley 6 5 0 1 352,980 8. Housebuster 8 7 0 1 270,286 9. Thirty Six Red 12 3 2 4 578,515 10. Land Rush 10 2 3 1 139,737