For Aptitude, an Adjustment Is Already in Order

The Belmont Stakes is five weeks off, but already there’s going to be at least one horse there, lurking for Fusaichi Pegasus.

That would be Aptitude, who still has only one victory after his second-place finish Saturday in the Kentucky Derby.

“We’re going to the Belmont,” trainer Bobby Frankel said. “We’re not going to the Preakness.”

By skipping the Preakness, on May 20, Frankel will have a rested horse for Belmont Park, where the 1 1/2-mile distance appears a perfect fit for Aptitude’s late-running style.

Although Aptitude has only one win--against maidens at Santa Anita--in six starts, he has gained prestige by chasing Fusaichi Pegasus home in races shorter than the Belmont. Three weeks ago, Aptitude finished third in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, losing to Fusaichi Pegasus by 5 1/4 lengths.

“I thought he ran great,” Frankel said of his horse’s Derby run. “He just got outrun.”

Brice Blanc had ridden Aptitude in all his other races, but Frankel and the colt’s owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah of Juddmonte Farms, switched to Alex Solis because of his Derby experience. Solis had ridden in nine Derbies, never winning, and Blanc never had ridden in a Derby until Saturday, when he picked up the mount on Ronton and finished next to last.

“I couldn’t ask for a better effort,” Solis said. “I had my horse right where I wanted him. He was in good position all the way. . . . He’ll have a better chance in the Belmont. He’ll run a good race going a mile and a half.”

Aptitude’s sire, A.P. Indy, won the 1992 Belmont Stakes after being scratched from the Kentucky Derby because of a foot injury and then skipping the Preakness. The Belmont win was A.P. Indy’s springboard to a horse-of-the-year title. There could be an ironic twist in this year’s Belmont; Neil Drysdale, Fusaichi Pegasus’ trainer, trained A.P. Indy.

More of a surprise than Aptitude in the Derby was Impeachment, who was 20 lengths behind after the opening half-mile before closing furiously on the inside in the stretch. Impeachment, like Aptitude, has only one career win, in a maiden race.

“I had a good view of the other horses through most of it,” said Craig Perret, Impeachment’s rider. “But that’s his style, running far back. Nobody was coming from behind in the other races today, so that makes his run a gallant effort.”

Todd Pletcher said he hasn’t decided whether to run Impeachment in the Preakness. Pletcher, making his Derby debut, saddled four horses. Besides Impeachment, More Than Ready was fourth, Trippi finished 11th and Graeme Hall was last in the 19-horse field.

Captain Steve, trying to give trainer Bob Baffert his third Derby win in four years, finished eighth after he stuck his nose in front at the quarter pole and was clobbered by Wheelaway in the stretch.

“He got slammed pretty good,” said April Mayberry, one of Baffert’s assistants. “He came out of the race with a [cut] in a rear leg, but other than that, he’s OK.”

Baffert said that the bumping in the stretch didn’t cost Captain Steve the race.

“All it cost me,” Baffert said, “was 75 extra yards of yelling. We might’ve finished fourth if it hadn’t happened. I don’t know about running in the Preakness. I don’t want to run against Fusaichi Pegasus unless I think I have a chance of beating him.”

Marlon St. Julien, the first African-American jockey to ride in a Derby since 1921, finished seventh with Curule.

Sheik Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing finished sixth and seventh, respectively, with China Visit and Curule. The Dubai colts had only six starts between them going into the Derby.

“I’m delighted with my horse,” said Frankie Dettori, who rode China Visit. “At the three-eighths pole, I really thought we were going to win. But he ran out of steam at the three-sixteenths pole. The dream [of winning a Derby] is coming closer.”

Horse Racing Notes

Bob and Beverly Lewis, who own 23.5% of Impeachment, won two stakes at Churchill Downs on Saturday. Unbridled Time, trained by Wayne Lukas and ridden by Pat Day, won the $121,200 WHAS Stakes in his second start, running five furlongs in :57 3/5, which tied the track record. Straight Man, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Jorge Chavez, won the $169,200 Winnercomm Handicap. Mula Gula, at 14-1, finished second, beaten by a head, and Patience Game was third. . . . Also at Churchill, Manndar, ridden by Corey Nakatani, shipped in from Hollywood Park for trainer Christopher Greely and won the $350,500 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.

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Horsepower

Fastest times by winners of the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby:

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Horse Year Time Secretariat 1973 1:59 2/5 Northern Dancer 1964 2:00 Spend A Buck 1985 2:00 1/5 Decidedly 1962 2:00 2/5 Proud Clarion 1967 2:00 3/5 Grindstone 1996 2:01 Fusaichi Pegasus 2000 2:01 Lucky Debonair 1965 2:01 1/5 Affirmed 1978 2:01 1/5 Thunder Gulch 1995 2:01 1/5 Whirlaway 1941 2:01 2/5

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