THOROUGHBRED RACING : Belmont Duel Would Be Fitting After Zito’s Gesture to Lukas

How fitting that Tabasco Cat, trained by Wayne Lukas, and Go For Gin, trained by Nick Zito, finished 1-2 in the Preakness.

How fitting that the two colts will race in the Triple Crown rubber match, the Belmont Stakes, in New York on June 11.

“The first card that Jeff got from a horseman came from Nick Zito,” Linda Lukas said. Jeff, Linda’s husband and Wayne’s son, was the stable’s chief assistant trainer before he was seriously injured in December after Tabasco Cat broke loose from his handlers in the Santa Anita barn area. Trying to stop the runaway, Jeff was knocked to the hard ground and suffered multiple skull fractures. He didn’t see Zito’s card until he emerged from a coma early this year.

“It was real sweet of Nick to send that card,” Linda added. “And it looked like it was all him, too. I don’t think his wife did all the work for him. That made it extra special.”

That was a correct assumption: Zito and his wife are no longer together.

“I can relate to what happened to Jeff,” Zito said. “Several years ago, a filly bit me in the face. . . . She came within a half-inch of getting me in the eye. I was told that I probably would have been blinded if she had been a half-inch the other way.”

As it is, Zito has a two-inch horizontal scar under his right eye. He got to know Jeff Lukas better than he knew many New York trainers because the younger Lukas had horses stabled across the street from Zito’s barn when Jeff was running his father’s Belmont Park division.

“Wayne’s barn at Belmont has the best grazing area at the track,” Zito said before leaving Pimlico. “I’m going to send Go For Gin over there to get him ready for the Belmont.”

Zito didn’t act as though he was kidding. He’s a loose guy, about as loose a big-time trainer as you’ll find, but he seems to be the “kiddee” more than the kidder most of the time.

At a fancy Baltimore hotel, after Go For Gin had won the Kentucky Derby and a couple of days before the Preakness, the colt’s owners were attending a black-tie dinner dance, while their trainer, dressed in dungarees and a worn blue jacket, waited for a friend out front near the valet parking stand.

“That stuff’s for the owners,” the Queens-born Zito said, pointing toward the ballroom.

Ed Seigenfeld, director of Triple Crown Productions, was in a tuxedo as he got out of his car. He reached into his pocket, fished out a five-dollar bill and handed it to Zito. The trainer laughed as hard as the straight-faced Seigenfeld.

“No matter what this horse does, you won’t see me changing,” Zito said. “I didn’t change after Strike The Gold won the Derby, either.”

One of the subtle differences between the first two Triple Crown races is that there are no secrets at the Preakness. At Churchill Downs, the horses are scattered throughout several barns, which gives the trainers a chance to hide despite the media hordes.

At the Preakness, they’re in the goldfish bowl upon arrival. Virtually all of the horses are stabled in a row at the same barn, stall after stall after stall, and reporters prowl up and down an asphalt walkway that separates the barn from a grazing area. The Preakness barn is also only a few steps from the press parking lot.

So the trainers sometimes have to use guile to see who’s paying attention. For a few days during Preakness week, Buddy, Wayne Lukas’ 21-year-old stable pony, was living in the stall that had Tabasco Cat’s name on it. The future Preakness winner was in another stall. When the first of several tour groups began trickling through, Lukas correctly identified Buddy, but the next day he did nothing to discourage the visitors from thinking they were looking at the real Tabasco Cat.

“Mr. Lukas,” one of them said, “could I get over there (to the stall) and have my picture taken with your horse?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Lukas said.

Click. The visitor got his picture taken with Buddy.

“Mr. Lukas,” another tour member said, “can I go over and pet your horse?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Lukas said.

And the second visitor walked over and stroked Buddy’s head.

By Preakness day, Lukas had lost count of the people who had had their pictures taken with Buddy. They might have noticed the difference when they compared the developed film with pictures of Tabasco Cat winning the Preakness.

Buddy has been ponying for the Lukas outfit for 18 years.

“He’s never had a day off,” Lukas said. “A few years ago, we figured that he had had enough and sent him to the farm. He stood by the gate, waiting for somebody to take him back to the track. He was starving himself to death. There was grass up to his ankles, and he wouldn’t touch it. He didn’t start eating regular again until he we brought him back to the track.”

Buddy will play an important role later this year, perhaps during the Del Mar season that begins in late July.

“He’ll be the first horse Jeff uses when he gets back,” Wayne Lukas said. “He’ll be the perfect horse for that. (Trainer) Jack Van Berg’s been on him and couldn’t get over how good he is. He’s the best pony I’ve ever seen.”

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Jimmy Croll doesn’t really want to run Holy Bull in the Belmont Stakes, but the horse’s sharp performance in the Metropolitan Mile Handicap Monday at Belmont is tempting him to do so. Holy Bull loves the track, and speed horses are dangerous in the Belmont Stakes, despite the 1 1/2-mile distance. The drawbacks: The Belmont comes less than two weeks after the Metropolitan, and there will be some quality speed--Go For Gin and Tabasco Cat--to keep Holy Bull busy. After favored Holy Bull broke badly and finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby, Croll ruled out the Preakness and the Belmont. The redemption plan was a campaign that might lead to the Travers Stakes at Saratoga in August. “Now I’m in trouble,” Croll said after Holy Bull’s 5 1/2-length victory in 1:33 4/5. “I’ll take a few days to weigh the variables. I’ve got to handicap the rest of the horses. The way he ran, (the Belmont) will take a lot of thinking.” Croll isn’t concerned about consulting an owner. The trainer is also the owner of Holy Bull.