Point of Triple Crown Series: a Test of Durability, Toughness

Write a column,” the boss suggested, “about the gutless Red Bullet gang.”

Surely, many sports fans would employ the same adjective to trainer Joe Orseno and owner Frank Stronach, who decided to skip the Belmont Stakes and duck what would have been a dramatic showdown.

Fusaichi Pegasus won the Kentucky Derby and was hailed as a budding superstar. Red Bullet upset him two weeks later in the Preakness, but it was uncertain if the result was due to Red Bullet’s superiority or Fusaichi Pegasus’s inability to handle the wet Pimlico track. Everyone who relishes sporting drama (including the boss) wanted to see a decisive confrontation between the two colts in the final leg of the Triple Crown on June 10. Everyone but Orseno and Stronach.

Orseno explained, “We think it’s best to give him more time in between his races right now.” He thought it would be too tough for Red Bullet to run in the demanding 1 1/2-mile Belmont only three weeks after the Preakness.

Yes, it’s tough, but that’s the point of the Triple Crown series--to test a horse’s durability and toughness. It is a challenge that top 3 year olds face each spring, and the great ones pass the test.

Or at least they did in the past. The durability of the American thoroughbred has declined so dramatically over the last two decades that contemporary horses can’t handle the rigorous racing schedules that were standard for their ancestors. Trainers have had to adapt their approach accordingly. If this were the 1970s, I would have written a column excoriating a trainer who skipped the Belmont Stakes with a healthy contender. But in the year 2000, Orseno’s management of Red Bullet has to be considered prudent and even admirable.

There was a time when a three-week rest between races would have been a luxurious vacation for a top-class horse. In 1941 Whirlaway raced twice in the nine days before his record-breaking Kentucky Derby victory. He captured the Preakness a week later, and in another 10 days, he ran in an allowance race so he wouldn’t get stale before the Belmont. Two weeks after completing his sweep of the Triple Crown, he was back in action.

Contemporary horses could not withstand such a campaign, and experts can endlessly debate the reasons why. The widespread use of medications has allowed infirm horses to become successful, go to stud and pass on more infirmities to their offspring. Modern commercial breeders are more concerned about raising yearlings with fashionable, saleable pedigrees than ones who are going to be sound. Whatever the explanation, the fact is undeniable that thoroughbreds today don’t have the durability of their ancestors.

Consider, for example, the records of recent Belmont Stakes winners. Tabasco Cat (1994) and Thunder Gulch (1995) were injured and retired by the end of their 3-year-old seasons. Editor’s Note (1996) and Touch Gold (1997) went on to compete at 4, but their form declined badly and neither won a stakes race. Victory Gallop (1998) raced only three times at 4 before he suffered a career-ending injury. The jury is still out on Lemon Drop Kid (1999).

Orseno and Stronach intend to campaign Red Bullet as a 4-year-old, and so they have taken a farsighted view of his career. When the colt made his debut this winter and displayed great potential, Orseno was keenly aware that the Kentucky Derby hadn’t been won in a century by a horse who didn’t race as a 2-year-old. He knew that it is dangerous and probably futile to ask such a colt to do too much too soon. That’s why he chose to skip the Derby and to run in only one of the Triple Crown events.

“It comes down to knowing your horse,” Orseno said. Of the decision to skip the Belmont, he was adamant: “This is the right thing to do.”

By skipping the Belmont and aiming for races later in the season, Orseno is not avoiding challenges, just picking the optimal time to face them. His ultimate objective this year is the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and that field will be much stronger than the Belmont’s (particularly if the international superstar Dubai Millennium is in the lineup.) As a 4-year-old, Red Bullet presumably will be running in the nation’s most important stakes races. It’s a good bet he will reward Orseno and Stronach for their restraint this spring.

Nevertheless, such a prudent approach to the Triple Crown has negative implications for the sport. Orseno isn’t the only trainer who doesn’t like the idea of running in a series of races so close together; Bobby Frankel bypassed the Preakness with Derby runner-up Aptitude so he could have a five-week rest before the Belmont. If top contenders skip the races, they undermine the drama of the Triple Crown series, which is the sport’s principal vehicle for reaching a national audience and showing it the excitement of the game. Even if Red Bullet goes on to score many more important victories, those races won’t be seen and appreciated by the audience that would have tuned in for a Red Bullet-Fusaichi Pegasus showdown.