Red Bullet to Bypass Belmont

Although his owner and trainer have made winning the divisional championship their goal, Red Bullet will skip another race in the Triple Crown series. He won’t run in the Belmont Stakes on June 10.

Red Bullet, who didn’t run in the Kentucky Derby but won the Preakness, was taken out of the Belmont Sunday by his trainer, Joe Orseno, after he discussed the race with Frank Stronach, who owns the colt. Red Bullet’s defection deprives the Belmont of a Preakness rematch between Red Bullet and Fusaichi Pegasus, who ran second at Pimlico after winning the Derby.

At 1 1/2 miles, the Belmont is the longest of the Triple Crown races.

” Said Orseno: “We’ve already won the Preakness with a horse that didn’t run as a 2-year-old and we think it’s best to give him more time in between his races right now.”

Fusaichi Pegasus, who was vanned to New York two days after the Preakness, is expected to run in the Belmont, but his trainer, Neil Drysdale, still hasn’t committed himself.

“It’s still too early to say,” Drysdale said. “The horse is doing very well and I’m happy with the way he is right now. But I haven’t made any plans yet as to when he will [have a workout].”

Red Bullet has broken even in two meetings with Fusaichi Pegaus, having finished second to Drysdale’s colt in the Wood Memorial in April before beating him in the Preakness. Red Bullet probably will run in the $1-million Haskell Invitational Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 6. A possible Haskell prep would be the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on July 9.

“I give [Stronach] a lot of credit,” Orseno said. “Skipping the Derby was hard, and the Belmont is a $1-million race. Our goal is to win the 3-year-old championship, and we fully understand that if Fusaichi Pegasus wins the Belmont that we’ll be behind him in the running for the Eclipse Award.”

The last horse to win the divisional title without running in more than one Triple Crown race was Holy Bull, whose only appearance in the series was a 12th-place finish in the 1994 Derby. In 1992, A.P. Indy, trained by Drysdale, won the 3-year-old title--and horse of the year--after being scratched from the Derby, skipping the Preakness and winning the Belmont.

The last horse to win the Preakness and miss the Belmont was Timber Country, who was scratched on the eve of the New York race in 1995 when he spiked a 104-degree fever. The last horse to win the Preakness and not be entered in the Belmont was Summer Squall in 1990.