PREAKNESS : Reverse of Finish in Derby Would Ruin Bonus Plan

A Summer Squall-Unbridled 1-2 finish in Saturday’s Preakness might balance the Triple Crown rivalry between the colts, but it would do nothing for the series’ $1-million bonus and turn the Belmont Stakes into an anticlimax.

Triple Crown sponsors and officials are supposed to be neutral, but privately they are hoping that the Preakness result doesn’t turn out to be Summer Squall first and Unbridled second, which would be a reversal of their positions in the Kentucky Derby.

There’s a $5-million payoff for the owners of any horse that wins the Triple Crown, but short of that, there’s a $1-million bonus for the horse that runs in all three races and accumulates the most points based on a system that gives five points for a first place, three for a second and one for a third.

If Summer Squall ran first at Pimlico Saturday and Unbridled finished second, each horse would have eight points. But since Cot Campbell, manager of the 28-member syndicate that owns Summer Squall, has already announced that the colt will be skipping the Belmont on June 9, Unbridled would win the $1 million no matter where he finished in the third race.

The $1 million has been in doubt before every Belmont since the bonus system started in 1987. Last year, Easy Goer, despite finishing second to Sunday Silence in both the Derby and the Preakness, still could have earned the $1 million if (1) he won the Belmont and (2) Sunday Silence finished off the board. Easy Goer did win the Belmont, but Sunday Silence clinched the bonus by placing second.

Going into the 1988 Belmont, Winning Colors, winner of the Derby and third in the Preakness, was tied, 6-6, with Risen Star, who was third in the Derby before winning the Preakness. Risen Star’s owners received the $1 million when he romped home in the Belmont. Winning Colors finished last.

The $1-million bonus, as well as the $5-million Triple Crown payoff, slipped away from Alysheba in 1987 after he won the Derby and the Preakness. Bet Twice, second in both of the first two races, won the Belmont to finish with 11 points, as Alysheba missed third place in the Belmont by a neck and totaled 10.

“Summer Squall winning and Unbridled running second in the Preakness would not be the ideal finish for us,” said Ed Seigenfeld, executive director of Triple Crown Productions. “But that’s only providing that Summer Squall doesn’t run in the Belmont. I’m not so sure, with 28 owners to consider, that Cot Campbell wouldn’t think again about running in the Belmont if the $1 million was at stake.”

Campbell, who made the Belmont decision last week after consulting with his trainer, Neil Howard, did not say that it is flexible. Campbell has not yet arrived in Baltimore, but at Pimlico Tuesday, after Summer Squall worked five furlongs in an excellent :59 4/5, Howard didn’t sound like a trainer who was still considering the Belmont.

“We threw out the Belmont because of the Lasix thing--that was the first thing we said--and because it wouldn’t be fair to the horse, who’s had a tough schedule,” Howard said.

Summer Squall, who bled from the lungs during a workout at Gulfstream Park before he made his first start as a 3-year-old, has two victories and two seconds in four races this year, running each time while being treated with Lasix, a diuretic frequently given to bleeders. In New York, however, racing with medication is forbidden, and Summer Squall could not be treated with Lasix before the Belmont.

Because of the bleeding, Summer Squall missed some training and didn’t make his first start this year until March 17. The Preakness will be the fourth tough race for the lightly built colt in seven weeks.

“The horse has been better to us than we have been to him,” Howard said. “If we ran in the Belmont and won, they’d be saying we were geniuses. But if I had to go out to the eighth pole to pick up my horse that day, well, you can imagine what the (New York) Daily News would do with that.”

The purpose of the Triple Crown bonus is to encourage owners of the Kentucky Derby horses to come back for the Preakness and the Belmont. This year, however, only five horses from the Derby--Unbridled (first), Summer Squall (second), Pleasant Tap (third), Land Rush (seventh) and Mister Frisky (eighth)--are running in the Preakness, the smallest field since the bonus started. Six Derby horses returned in the 1987 Preakness; there were seven in ‘88, and six came back last year.

Unbridled’s powerful stretch run in the Derby and his 3 1/2-length victory over Summer Squall doubtless contributed to the absence of several Derby horses from Pimlico. Even Howard is hard-pressed to suggest ways to turn the tables Saturday.

“I carried Unbridled’s silks (as a favor to trainer Carl Nafzger) in my suitcase when I came here from Kentucky,” Howard said. “I thought about not turning them in (to Pimlico).”

An imaginative scheme, but Howard knows, of course, that missing silks wouldn’t stop Unbridled from running. Most tracks carry a set of plain silks in the event an owner’s regular set isn’t available.

Horse Racing Notes

Unbridled finished his preparations for the Preakness at Churchill Downs on Tuesday, working five furlongs in 1:00 2/5. Trainer Carl Nafzger said the colt is “right on schedule.” Unbridled is due at Pimlico about noon today. . . . The fastest workout Tuesday at Pimlico was Pleasant Tap’s :57 3/5. Trainer Chris Speckert said the work was much faster than he wanted but didn’t think it would hurt Pleasant Tap’s chances.

Easy Goer, who hasn’t raced since he lost to Sunday Silence in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last November, will face five horses today in the seven-furlong Gold Stage Stakes at Belmont Park. The race is supposed to be a prep for Easy Goer, who is scheduled to face Housebuster on May 28 in the Metropolitan Mile.

Frances Genter, 92, the owner of Unbridled, is not expected to make the trip from Bloomington, Minn., to Baltimore for the Preakness. Genter is worn out from going to Louisville to see her colt win the Derby.