Trainers Wait to Announce Belmont Plans

Trainer Joe Orseno doesn’t see the Belmont Stakes as a rubber match, even though his Red Bullet, the winner of Saturday’s Preakness, and Fusaichi Pegasus have traded 1-2 finishes the two times they’ve met.

“The way I figured it, we had seven horses to beat [Saturday],” Orseno said. “If my horse feels great in three weeks, then we’ll run in the Belmont [June 10]. But that’s not for sure. The horse will tell me.”

After winning the Kentucky Derby with Fusaichi Pegasus, trainer Neil Drysdale waited almost a week before he committed to running in the Preakness, and on Saturday, Drysdale was making no promises about the Belmont. Today, however, there’s a van scheduled to take Fusaichi Pegasus to Aqueduct, another New York track, where he would train for the Belmont before switching to Belmont Park the week of the race.

“If there are no problems, we will run in New York,” Drysdale said.

Impeachment, third on Saturday, is a Belmont possibility, but Captain Steve, who was fourth, has distance limitations and probably won’t run in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, the longest of the Triple Crown races.

Several horses that didn’t run in the Preakness are listed as possibles for the Belmont: Aptitude (who was second in the Derby), Wheelaway (fifth), Curule (seventh), Unshaded, Chief Seattle, Tahkodha Hills and Globalize, who was scratched from the Derby when he was injured two days before the race.

Impeachment has been third three consecutive races--the Arkansas Derby, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. He hasn’t won, losing seven in a row, since his maiden win in his debut at Calder Race Course the day after Christmas.

“I thought he was home at the quarter pole,” said Craig Perret, Impeachment’s jockey. “He kicked it in and really came on. One of these days, the big guys are going to stub their toes, and Impeachment is going to win a very significant race. He’s always lurking, and one day he’s going to bust through.”

*

In other stakes at Pimlico, Dr. Max won the $200,000 Maryland Breeders’ Cup; Roza Robata was first in the $200,000 Pimlico Distaff; Quiet Resolve won the $200,000 Dixie; Broken Vow outfinished Grudlefoot in the $100,000 Sir Barton; and Ecton Park won the $100,000 William Donald Schaefer Handicap, a race reduced to four starters because of two scratches.