Arazi’s Trainer Would Skip Triple Crown Try

Arazi’s trainer would like to see the 3-year-old colt attempt a unique Kentucky Derby-English Derby double rather than go for the Triple Crown.

Arazi, who won last year’s Breeder’s Cup Juvenile in spectacular fashion, is rated a favorite in the May 2 Kentucky Derby.

But Francois Boutin, the French trainer, said Wednesday that Arazi’s co-owners still must decide whether the American-bred colt also will run the Preakness on May 16 and the Belmont Stakes on June 6. The last horse to win the Triple Crown was Affirmed in 1978.

For now, however, Arazi is one of the provisional entries for the $1-million English Derby on June 3, meaning the colt would have to bypass the Preakness and Belmont.

“It’s my dream for him to win the Kentucky Derby and English Derby races,” Boutin said. “The problem is the horse has two owners.

“One is American (Allen Paulson) who wants him to win the Triple Crown and the other is European-based (Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum) and would like him to win the English Derby. The problem is between them.”

Sheikh Mohammed has never fielded an English Derby winner. He has 18 provisional entries for this year’s race, more than twice that of any other owner.

Boutin, in London for the announcement of the provisional list of English Derby runners on the eve of the flat-racing season, confirmed that Arazi’s sole Kentucky Derby tuneup will be at the Prix Omnium II at Saint-Cloud, France, on April 7. That race will be on grass over one mile (1.6 kilometers).

“If all goes well, he will then run in the Kentucky Derby,” Boutin said. “If all goes well after that, I should like to see him run in the English Derby at Epsom.”

But that, he stressed, is up to the two owners.