TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: When California trainer Ron McAnally was in Europe recently, looking for horses to buy, he visited Francois Boutin in France.

Boutin trains Arazi, the future-book favorite for this year’s Kentucky Derby. He and McAnally know each other through the Breeders’ Cup races, where Boutin has won with Miesque in 1987 and 1988 and with Arazi last year.

After a few minutes, McAnally motioned toward Arazi and said to Boutin: “Where do you think you’ll run that colt?”

Boutin glanced at McAnally, then arched his eyebrows.

“You sound like a reporter,” Boutin told McAnally.

Boutin ended weeks of questioning about his plans for Arazi by announcing last weekend that the race he has selected for the colt’s 3-year-old debut will be the Prix Omnium II, a one-mile grass stake at the Saint-Cloud track near Paris on April 7.

That will be all the racing Arazi will have before he is flown to Kentucky, about a week before the Kentucky Derby on May 2.

Steve Cauthen, who as a 17-year-old won the Triple Crown aboard Affirmed before moving to England in 1979, will ride Arazi at Saint-Cloud, with Pat Valenzuela in the wings to resume riding the colt in the Derby.

Valenzuela rode Arazi for the first time in his last start, when he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs in November.

The Saint-Cloud track has left-handed turns, the same as American racing, and the opposite of the turns at Longchamp in Paris.

The only time Arazi has run on a left-handed, or counter-clockwise, course was in the Breeders’ Cup.

Other than a race in France, the other option Boutin had was the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 11, three weeks before the Derby. That could have been a mistake. Frequently horses are flown overseas, get off the plane and run well. Then they seem to flatten out in their next race.

As for Cauthen, who has never ridden Arazi, the premier British rider is still more qualified that Valenzuela to ride the colt on a tricky grass course that would be foreign in more ways than mere location.

Valenzuela knows Churchill Downs, having ridden there many times besides his Kentucky Derby victory with Sunday Silence in 1989 and his Breeders’ Cup victories with Arazi and Opening Verse last year.

So if Arazi becomes the 13th consecutive favorite to lose the Derby, it will not be because of poor planning.

Arazi worked seven furlongs for Boutin during the weekend. Workout times are not publicized in Europe, but Cauthen told the Associated Press: “We did a little piece of work. He looks well, a nice-looking horse, very intelligent. I enjoyed riding him and I’ll enjoy riding him in some races.”

Horsemen have their own opinions about this unique undertaking.

“The smart thing might be to just keep him over there,” said trainer Charlie Whittingham, the Californian who has won the Kentucky Derby with Ferdinand and Sunday Silence.

“He’s had the surgery on both knees, and the courses in Europe would be easier on his legs than ours. And as far as his value as a stud is concerned, he’s already made. He’s a champion in Europe, and he’s a champion over here.”

Jack Price was talking about Arazi at the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. Price, as owner and trainer, won the Kentucky Derby with Carry Back in 1961, then tried to go the other way by running him in France’s Arc de Triomphe in 1962.

The cheaply bred colt ran 10th in a 24-horse field.

“It’s not for me to second-guess what they’re doing with Arazi,” Price said.

“They’re smart people, and they’ve got good advice. They’ll do the right thing by the horse, I’m certain of that. But whether it works out is another thing.”

TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Horse St 1 2 3 Earnings 1.Arazi 8 7 1 0 $1,095,802 2.Bertrando 5 4 1 0 690,865 3.A.P. Indy 5 4 0 0 447,555 4.Technology 5 3 1 1 330,803 5.Dance Floor 10 4 4 0 618,859 6.Pine Bluff 8 3 1 2 304,988 7.Casual Lies 8 5 0 1 370,628 8.Pistols And Roses 9 5 2 2 496,046 9.Big Sur 10 3 1 1 210,930 10.Snappy Landing 6 1 4 1 266,560

Advisory panel for The Times’ Triple Crown Ratings: Lenny Hale, vice president for racing at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga; Frank (Jimmy) Kilroe, director of racing emeritus at Santa Anita; and Tommy Trotter, director of racing at Hialeah.