Brave Ulises Looms as Spoiler : Belmont Stakes: The longshot sprinter might put extra pressure on Kentucky Derby winner Go For Gin.

As the hours wind down for today’s 126th Belmont Stakes, there has been a curious development: The Ulises factor is upstaging the Lasix factor.

The Lasix factor is part of the Belmont any time horses with pulmonary bleeding problems run in the race, because New York’s racing rules prohibit use of the diuretic, which is permitted for other races, including the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

Three of the favorites in today’s seven-horse Belmont--Preakness winner Tabasco Cat, Santa Anita Derby winner Brocco and Strodes Creek--have run with Lasix, and while their trainers don’t think racing drug-free will affect their performances, bettors are not entirely convinced.

A bigger concern has been the nagging presence of Ulises, the sprinter from Panama who has been unable to last a longer distance in three starts in the United States. After Robert Perez, owner of the colt, announced Monday that Ulises would be a Belmont starter, one horseman said: “I don’t know what the odds on the other horses will be, but I’m making Ulises 1-20 to finish last.”

Undefeated in four sprints in Panama, Ulises was a well-beaten third in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in late April, then balked at being loaded into the gate for the Kentucky Derby, contributing to an awkward start for half the field, including the favorites, Holy Bull and Brocco. Ulises was the last of 14 horses to hit the wire at Louisville, beaten by 35 1/4 lengths

Perez and his trainer, Alfredo Callejas, didn’t run Ulises in the Preakness two weeks later, much to the relief of trainers in that race. Instead, Ulises showed up on May 29 for the Peter Pan at Belmont. He was a factor for six furlongs, but everyone ran past him in the stretch, and after 1 1/8 miles, he was last in a field of five, losing by 14 3/4 lengths.

If Ulises runs a comparable race in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, he will be out front with Go For Gin, the Kentucky Derby winner, for a few furlongs and then start fading rapidly.

“If he hurts anybody, it might be Strodes Creek more than the rest of us,” said Wayne Lukas, who trains Tabasco Cat. “Strodes Creek comes from farther out of it than the rest of us, and that other horse might get in his way.”

It would be an easier Belmont for Go For Gin if he could grab an uncontested lead and slow the early pace. “The fractions,” Lukas said, “have more to do with the winning of this race than a horse’s pedigree.”

Go For Gin’s trainer, Nick Zito, said of Ulises: “Maybe the Triple Crown ought to have a qualifying system for these races. Maybe important races won and points for winning them could be considered. But maybe that wouldn’t work, either. You might eliminate a lot of horses and wind up with small fields.”

The best thing that can be said about Ulises, who at 30-1 is the longest price on the morning line, is that his sire, Temperence Hill, won a Belmont he wasn’t supposed to. In 1980, rain turned the track into a muddy mess, and Joe Canty was the only trainer in the race who ran his horse with mud caulks. Temperence Hill beat the Kentucky Derby-winning filly, Genuine Risk, by two lengths and paid $108.80.

In 1982, Perez’s speedy filly, Cupecoy’s Joy, ran 10th in the Kentucky Derby after leading the race to the quarter pole. Perez entered Cupecoy’s Joy in the Preakness, but when he and his party were given a run-around in the dining room at Pimlico, he scratched Cupecoy’s Joy and put her on a van for Belmont Park. Racing in her own division, Cupecoy’s Joy won two of the three legs of New York’s filly triple crown.

Ulises will be blindfolded by assistant starters at loading time today, the theory being that the colt won’t resist what he can’t see. “The horse is doing good,” Perez said. “He worked five furlongs earlier in the week in 1:01 3/5 with Jerry Bailey. Jerry (who rode Ulises for the first time in the Peter Pan) said he liked him, so we decided to go in the Belmont.”

But Bailey will not be riding Ulises today. When Eddie Delahoussaye, who has been battling a virus, said Tuesday that he would be unable to ride Strodes Creek, trainer Charlie Whittingham hired Bailey. Craig Perret, who rode Ulises in his U.S. debut, has the assignment for Perez in the Belmont.

Bailey’s taking over on Strodes Creek is merely another chapter in his shifting Triple Crown season. He started the year as Go For Gin’s regular jockey, and even though they won three stakes together, Bailey got off Zito’s colt after Irgun outfinished him in the Wood Memorial in mid-April. Bailey was supposed to ride Irgun in the Kentucky Derby, but that colt was injured. Bailey then rode Blumin Affair to third place at Churchill Downs.

Bailey won the 1991 Belmont with Hansel, beating Zito’s Strike The Gold by a head after a dramatic stretch drive. The 36-year-old, New York-based rider ranks eighth nationally this year with $3.7 million in purses.

“Delahoussaye must have eaten the same chicken that I did,” said Whittingham, who says that he suffered a minor case of food poisoning here a week ago. “We’ll be all right with Bailey. He’s worked the horse four times here. And he knows this track better than the California riders.”