TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Jesse Davidson, one of the jockeys implicated in a fixed race that was known as the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” at the old Bowie Race Course in Maryland in the mid-1970s, was allowed to ride in the 1986 Kentucky Derby, finishing 13th on Southern Appeal. On a technicality, Davidson and his alleged conspirators--except for Eric Walsh, who killed himself--were re-licensed in Maryland in the early 1980s after spending about 10 years away from the game.

Jacinto Vasquez, suspended for a year in New York for his alleged role in race-fixing there in the 1970s, rode in three Derbies in the 1980s, unable to add to the victories that he had scored in the race with Foolish Pleasure and Genuine Risk. Vasquez, who has said repeatedly that he never fixed a race, will be in this year’s Derby on May 2 with Pistols And Roses, the colt he rode to victory Saturday in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

Gerard Melancon is another jockey with a tarnished reputation who would like to ride in the Derby, but for now, Ecstatic Ride, the surprising third-place finisher in the Blue Grass, will be ridden by another jockey. Melancon, who will turn 25 a few days after this year’s Derby, was prohibited from riding in the Blue Grass because of a race-fixing incident at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans in 1986.

“Why can Vasquez, who was ruled off a year, ride in the Blue Grass, but we couldn’t use our jockey?” asked Joan Rich, one of the owners of Ecstatic Ride and the wife of the colt’s trainer, Hal Griffitt. “Bernie Hettle is ruining this boy’s life.”

Hettle, the steward representing the Kentucky Racing Commission at Keeneland, doesn’t see the Melancon case that way.

“He was involved in the fix in Louisiana,” Hettle said. “He was an unindicted co-conspirator. He turned state’s evidence, so (jockey) Phil Rubbico could be prosecuted.”

The difference between Melancon and Davidson and Vasquez in Kentucky is that the two other jockeys served suspensions, whereas Melancon was able to negotiate a deal that didn’t cost him any time away from riding.

Melancon has missed plenty of riding time for other reasons. “When he was 18, he had cocaine and alcohol problems,” Rich said. “His wife left him, he had no money and he hit rock-bottom. He went into rehab in 1989. Since then, he’s been a role model for jockeys coming back. He’s been sober and clean for 33 months.”

According to Griffitt, Ecstatic Ride might not have won the Blue Grass, anyway, but he might have been closer if Melancon could have ridden him. The 38-1 shot was ridden by Ron Ardoin.

“I guess (Ardoin) rode him all right,” Griffitt said. “But the horse was closer to the lead (early) than what I wanted. With the regular rider, we might have been even closer at the end. Melancon really fits this horse.”

Ecstatic Ride had traffic trouble in the stretch and bumped another horse before he shook loose, losing by about 2 1/2 lengths.

“The other boy (Melancon) doesn’t let holes close,” Rich said. “He’s a race rider. A lot of those Cajuns are, you know.”

It’s unlikely that the Louisiana-born Ardoin will ride Ecstatic Ride in the Kentucky Derby. Some other prominent riders, among them Julie Krone, still don’t have Derby mounts and have inquired about the colt.

Rich and Griffitt remain hopeful that Melancon, who has two victories and two seconds in his four tries with Ecstatic Ride, will get licensed in Kentucky in time for the Derby.

Hettle and Gene Glass make up the racing commission’s licensing committee and seem adamant about excluding Melancon. When the entire commission meets today, Hettle and Glass will recommend that Melancon not be licensed. No matter what the commission decides, the Melancon case is an example of why racing participants need to be licensed nationally, rather than state by state.

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, racing secretary at Hialeah.

TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1.Arazi 9 8 1 0 $1,117,608 2.A.P. Indy 6 5 0 0 722,555 3.Technology 6 4 1 1 464,963 4.Pine Bluff 9 4 1 2 379,988 5.Pistols And Roses 10 6 2 2 921,046 6.Casual Lies 9 5 0 2 445,628 7.Lil E. Tee 7 4 2 1 352,306 8.Treekster 6 2 1 3 269,850 9.Conte Di Savoya 10 1 3 1 129,368 10.Dance Floor 11 4 4 0 643,859