THOROUGHBRED RACING TRIPLE CROWN SERIES : New York’s Lasix Ban Might Keep Derby Winner Out of the Belmont

The Triple Crown showdown between Lil E. Tee, the Kentucky Derby winner, and Pine Bluff, who won Saturday’s Preakness, probably won’t happen.

And once again, New York’s racing rules prohibiting use of the diuretic Lasix will be responsible.

Lil E. Tee, who ran fifth in the Preakness, five lengths behind Pine Bluff, suffered pulmonary bleeding during the race, according to a Maryland state veterinarian, and on Sunday morning the colt’s trainer, Lynn Whiting, indicated that the horse might not run in the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 6.

If the Belmont were being run in any major racing state but New York, Lil E. Tee would be able to race with Lasix, used to inhibit bleeding in Kentucky, Maryland, California, Florida and Illinois. New York officials maintain that if a horse needs medication to run, it shouldn’t be racing.

Summer Squall bled after a morning gallop the day before the 1990 Preakness, but still won the race. With Lasix not available for the Belmont, Summer Squall’s owners skipped the final Triple Crown race.

This deprived the Belmont of a matchup between the Derby and Preakness winners. Unbridled, the Derby winner that year and second to Summer Squall in the Preakness, was also a bleeder, but his trainer, Carl Nafzger, took the chance of running the colt without medication in the Belmont. Unbridled ran fourth but did not bleed during the Belmont.

If Whiting keeps Lil E. Tee in the Midwest, to run in the Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 20 or in the three-race series for 3-year-olds at Arlington International, he and the colt’s owner, Cal Partee, would be passing up a chance to win the $1-million bonus that goes to the horse who runs in all the Triple Crown races and accumulates the most points. After Saturday, Lil E. Tee and Pine Bluff, who was fifth in the Derby, are tied with 10 points. The only other horse expected to run in all three races is Casual Lies, who has eight points after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness.

Asked if the bonus would play a factor in the Belmont decision for Lil E. Tee, Whiting said: “The best interests of the horse is our first consideration. The (Preakness) bleeding may have contributed to the way he ran, because it was uncharacteristic for him not to finish strongly. When I have horses that bleed, I don’t like to run them without Lasix.”

Lil E. Tee will be shipped back to Churchill Downs, which is Whiting’s home track. Whiting said that in eight or nine days, he will work the horse without Lasix, then examine him to see whether he bled. Then he would likely work Lil E. Tee one more time before deciding.

“Mr. Partee will give his views on the matter,” Whiting said, “but I would think that the ultimate decision will be up to me.”

The first three finishers in the Preakness--Pine Bluff, Alydeed and Casual Lies--are headed for the Belmont, which at 1 1/2 miles is the longest of the Triple Crown races. The Derby is 1 1/4 miles and the Preakness is 1 3/16 miles.

“After the Derby, there were a lot of questions about whether my horse was a route horse,” said Tom Bohannan, who trains Pine Bluff. “Now I think that he didn’t run his race in the Derby because he didn’t like the track. Now he looks like he’s a route horse. I know he could have gone another sixteenth of a mile the way he finished Saturday, so that makes him a 1 1/4-mile horse. As for 1 1/2 miles, we’ll have to find out. You never know a horse can get a distance like that until they run.”

Counting Pine Bluff’s victory by a neck over Lil E. Tee in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, the Preakness was the third tough race in 29 days for Bohannan’s colt.

“I think it’s a feather in his cap--and Lil E. Tee’s, too--that he’s been able to withstand a campaign like this,” Bohannan said.

Early Sunday morning, about 14 hours after the Preakness was over, a green van pulled up to the Preakness barn at Pimlico and Pine Bluff was put in it for the five-hour trip to Belmont Park, where Bohannan’s horses are stabled. Pine Bluff’s last key workout for the Preakness came at Belmont on Tuesday, when he was worked a half-mile in a fast 46 3/5.

Horse Racing Notes

Other horses who might run in the Belmont include A.P. Indy, Al Sabin, Berkley Fitz, Chief Speaker, Colony Light, Rokeby and Tri To Watch. . . . A.P. Indy, the Santa Anita Derby winner, will run next Sunday at Belmont in the Peter Pan Stakes. He would have been one of the favorites in the Kentucky Derby, but was a late scratch because of a bruised hoof and didn’t recover in time to run in the Preakness. Berkley Fitz, Chief Speaker Colony Light and Tri To Watch might also run in the Peter Pan. . . . Possible races for Dance Floor, the fourth-place finisher in the Preakness and third in the Derby, include the Silver Screen and the Swaps at Hollywood Park.