Owner of Unbridled’s Song Will Hope His Plan Pans Out

The guessing game about where Unbridled’s Song would run next apparently ended Friday when the troubled colt was entered in Sunday’s $150,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.

Since his fifth-place finish as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby on May 4, Unbridled’s Song has had several false starts, but his enigmatic owner, Ernie Paragallo, said Friday that the Peter Pan should be the best fit. The Peter Pan hasn’t drawn a strong field and it comes two weeks before Unbridled’s Song’s planned start in the Belmont Stakes on June 8. Paragallo’s other option, the $400,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on Monday, would have been for more money and a shorter distance while carrying less weight, but it would have pitted Unbridled’s Song against older horses, including the estimable Afternoon Deelites from California.

The winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Belmont and this year’s Florida Derby and Wood Memorial, Unbridled’s Song is still considered the top horse in a division that has been weakened by the retirement, because of injury, of Grindstone, the Kentucky Derby winner. Louis Quatorze had a nondescript record before his Preakness victory and would not even be favored against Unbridled’s Song if the Belmont Stakes were run today.

Unbridled’s Song cracked his left front hoof in the Wood and was nursed through the Derby, running in a protective shoe that compromised his chances. He led the Derby at the top of the stretch before finishing four lengths behind Grindstone.

Unbridled’s Song, who moved to Belmont last weekend from trainer Jim Ryerson’s barn at Monmouth Park, now has a patched hoof and has been training with a regulation shoe. Ryerson, caught in a triangle that also includes Paragallo and the owner’s right-hand man, Buzz Chace, has been an unfortunate figure in the indecisiveness that has surrounded Unbridled’s Song’s racing schedule. Even last year, Unbridled’s Song’s camp couldn’t figure out when to run him: He was scratched four times, one more time than he ran.

The Peter Pan, at 1 1/8 miles, can be an effective prep for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, which is the longest of the Triple Crown races. Colonial Affair, skipping the Derby and the Preakness, finished second in the 1993 Peter Pan and then won the Belmont. A.P. Indy, like Unbridled’s Song a colt with a hoof problem, won the Peter Pan in 1992 and then made his Triple Crown debut by winning the Belmont and going on to win horse-of-the-year honors. In 1979, after winning the Peter Pan, Coastal also won the Belmont, spoiling Spectacular Bid’s attempt to sweep the Triple Crown. In 1986, Danzig Connection won the Peter Pan and then gave trainer Woody Stephens his fifth straight victory in the Belmont.

Since leaving Monmouth in nearby New Jersey, Unbridled’s Song has been stabled at the barn of the 82-year-old Stephens, who has emphysema and currently trains only a few horses.

Paragallo is typically cocky going into a race. “If our horse runs his race [Sunday], there is no competition,” he said. “We can always win the Metropolitan next year. You only get one chance to win the Belmont.”

The Peter Pan has drawn five other horses--Diligence, Harrowman, Jamies First Punch, Fortitude and Instant Friendship. Diligence, the only one with Triple Crown experience, finished ninth in the Derby.

Unbridled’s Song, who will be ridden by Mike Smith, will carry 123 pounds, spotting the others five or 10 pounds. Had Unbridled’s Song run in the one-mile Metropolitan, he would have gotten a weight break because he’s a 3-year-old and would have carried 112 pounds, 11 less than Afternoon Deelites.

Diligence, who is owned by George Steinbrenner, came close to running in the Preakness. Steinbrenner wired the $5,000 entry fee to the Pimlico racing office, but then he and trainer Nick Zito didn’t enter. Zito won the race for other owners, with Louis Quatorze, and he might saddle three horses in the Belmont--the Preakness winner, Diligence and Saratoga Dandy, who won the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico on Preakness day.

Other Belmont possibilities include Editor’s Note and Prince Of Thieves, both trained by Wayne Lukas, who has won the race the last two years; Skip Away, second in the Preakness; Cavonnier, beaten by a nose in the Derby and fourth in the Preakness; Natural Selection, winner of the Illinois Derby; Feather Box, who was last in the Preakness; and Draw, Harrowman and Will’s Way.

The Belmont status of Cavonnier, the California-bred gelding, will depend on how he trains over the track in the next two weeks.

Creme Fraiche, from Stephens’ barn in 1985, was the first gelding to win the Belmont, which didn’t allow geldings to run from 1919 through 1956.

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Antespend, who finished fourth in the Kentucky Oaks, will run as the 122-pound high weight Sunday in the $125,000 Honeymoon Handicap at Hollywood Park. With Chris Antley riding, trainer Ron McAnally’s filly drew the inside post. Outside her in the gate are Rumpipumpy, Buckaroo Zoo, Gastronomical, Staffin, Woodyoubelieveit, Najecam, Clamorosa and Ribot’s Secret.

Clamorosa, who will be ridden by Chris McCarron and carry 116 pounds, set a track record for Keeneland by running 1 1/8 miles on grass in 1:46 4/5. The Honeymoon is also a 1 1/8-mile grass race.

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Horse Racing Notes

With Labeeb not running in Monday’s $500,000 Hollywood Turf Handicap, trainer Ben Cecil has secured the services of Eddie Delahoussaye for his horse, Petit Poucet. . . . Gary Stevens will ride Key Of Luck against Cigar in the Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs a week from today. In his debut in the United States, Key Of Luck was second to Star Standard in the Pimlico Special. Before that, Stevens rode him to a 20-length victory in a $500,000 race in Dubai the same day that Cigar won there. . . . The Woodlands, the Kansas City, Kan., thoroughbred and greyhound facility owned by Hollywood Park, has filed for bankruptcy. Hollywood Park’s investment in the Woodlands has been estimated at $20 million. It bought the facility from R.D. Hubbard, the Hollywood Park chairman, and his partner in March of 1994.