HORSE RACING : Three-Year-Olds Travel Different Paths

Questions: Is it possible for a 3-year-old colt to pass all the major preps leading to the Kentucky Derby, skip the Triple Crown, pass the Travers, Woodward, Jockey Club Gold Cup and Breeders’ Cup Classic and be voted Horse of the Year? And if not, then can the sensational 3-year-old filly Go for Wand take racing’s Academy Award? As far-fetched as it seems, Housebuster is in a position to do exactly that.

It is important he win the Grade I Vosburgh Handicap at Belmont Park Saturday and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint next month to cap a season in which his only defeat has been a narrow decision to the older Criminal Type in the Metropolitan Handicap in May. He will be a prohibitive favorite in both races, coming off a facile win in the Jerome Handicap at Belmont that hinted strongly he has much more to give than has been required.

So has the filly, who has been as dominant, if somewhat less flashy. Go for Wand has breezed through a season in which she has wanted only for competition while improving with every start. She ran huge races against outclassed opposition in the Test and Alabama at Saratoga. She won the Maskette as she pleased. She is expected to take the Beldame in much the same manner. There is no doubt she is capable of defeating the leading older females, Bayakoa and Gorgeous, whom she will face in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. If she does, an off-track defeat in the Kentucky Oaks will be the only blemish on Go for Wand’s season, which certainly would be worthy of a Horse of the Year trophy.

Since Criminal Type finished unplaced behind Dispersal in the Woodward, Housebuster has led the weekly national poll and the stock of several others has declined.

Last weekend, Preakness winner Summer Squall was scratched from the Super Derby, where Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled was soundly beaten by longshot stablemate Home at Last.

Summer Squall, who has defeated only a highly suspect field in the Pennsylvania Derby since winning the Preakness, now must win The Meadowlands Cup before running without Lasix in the Breeders’ Cup Classic if he is to have any chance of winning Horse of the Year vote. And Summer Squall, unlike many Lasix cases, is a bona fide bleeder.

Criminal Type had a death grip on Horse of the Year before the Woodward, in which he had no discernible excuse. He can ill afford to lose Oct. 6 in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which he will face the 3-year-old Canadian star Izvestia.

Izvestia has won the Canadian Triple Crown and the Molson Export Million but has not started south of Fort Erie. Nevertheless, he may be the best 3-year-old on either side of the border.

Should he win the Gold Cup, Izvestia not only would impede Criminal Type’s Horse of the Year prospects but would put himself in position to win that title in two countries.

Should the two heaviest Breeders’ Cup favorites, Housebuster and Go for Wand, sweep through their schedules unscathed, and should Izvestia win the Gold Cup and be defeated in the Breeders’ Cup Classic by any horse other than Criminal Type ... is Housebuster Horse of the Year? Or is it Go for Wand?