Some Say ‘Nay’ to Fusaichi Pegasus

He went into his last race--his first start in four months--off only four workouts. He is going into today’s race, the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, with only two timed workouts.

Is there any way, despite his classy pedigree, abundant talent and impeccable record, that Fusaichi Pegasus will be able to win a 1 1/4-mile race against a field of distinction?

The naysayers are lining up.

“Maybe I’m wrong,” said Scotty Schulhofer, who trains Lemon Drop Kid, “but I can’t see Fusaichi Pegasus winning this race. I think the last quarter-mile is going to catch up with him. I’m more worried about Tiznow and Albert The Great. If Fusaichi Pegasus does win somehow, then Drysdale’s a magician.”

That would be Neil Drysdale, the highly focused Hall of Fame trainer who has made virtually no mistakes during an eight-race career in which Fusaichi Pegasus has missed two major races because of minor foot injuries, while winning the Kentucky Derby and the Wood Memorial.

The Mr. Prospector-Angel Fever colt who sold for $4-million as a yearling, races for the Japanese partnership of Fusao Sekiguchi and Terry Yoshida of Shadai Farm. He has won six times and finished second twice, earning $1.9 million. With a win today, he could earn an estimated $2.6 million more, with the basic total purse enhanced by about $750,000 because three horses--Tiznow, Captain Steve and Gander--were supplemented into the race.

Win or lose, Fusaichi Pegasus will be vanned off into the sunset, to start a 2001 breeding career at Ashford Stud, the Kentucky farm of Ireland’s Coolmore Stud, which is believed to have paid $60-70 million for lifetime post-racing rights to the colt.

Typically, the Classic, the finale to an eight-race Breeders’ Cup card that with other supplemental payments may total close to $15 million in purses, should settle the horse-of-the-year issue for the Eclipse Awards voters, although Riboletta, the most-admired female horse on the program, could wedge her way into contention.

Even if Riboletta bested a tough field to win the Distaff, though, she would need a Classic win by some horse other than Fusaichi Pegasus and Lemon Drop Kid--and possibly Albert The Great--to become a factor.

Fusaichi Pegasus, unable to run in the Belmont Stakes in June, also missed the Jockey Club Gold Cup in New York three weeks ago. The colt’s only race since a second-place finish--on an off track--to Red Bullet in the Preakness on May 20 was a solid win in the one-mile Jerome Handicap at Belmont on Sept. 23.

Drysdale said that missing the Gold Cup was no detour, although he usually prefers two preps for a horse heading into a major race. Even before the Derby, however, Drysdale said that the number of listed workouts for Fusaichi Pegasus was deceiving, since the many long gallops the horse gets are not reflected in his training record.

“Fusaichi Pegasus doesn’t need a lot of training,” Drysdale said. “A patch was put on his [left front] hoof [a week before the Gold Cup], and his training was interrupted for two weeks while the injury healed. He didn’t have any fast workouts during that time. I don’t know if this is one of my best training jobs, but it’s certainly one of the more interesting. The important thing is that the foot has been cold, and there are no problems.”

Drysdale himself may not believe that Fusaichi Pegasus is running in the Classic until the horse is loaded with jockey Kent Desormeaux into stall No. 9 shortly before today’s 2:10 p.m. PST post time. Eight years ago, Drysdale’s A.P. Indy was going to be the favorite or the close second choice in the Kentucky Derby, and after only vague pre-race scuttlebutt about a possible problem, the colt was scratched with a blind quarter crack on the morning of the race. Drysdale then won the Belmont and the Classic with A.P. Indy, clinching the horse-of-the-year award.

Although Cat Thief is in a position to become the first horse to win the Classic twice, he is 15-1 on the morning line. Fusaichi Pegasus is 8-5, followed by Albert The Great, the Gold Cup winner; Lemon Drop Kid and Tiznow, all 5-1.

Trainer Wayne Lukas’ Cat Thief was 19-1 when he shocked the Breeders’ Cup crowd at Gulfstream Park a year ago, beating a field that included three of this year’s holdovers--Golden Missile, Lemon Drop Kid and Vision And Verse--but subsequently Cat Thief has taken the collar in 10 starts.

After the Derby and before the Preakness, Lukas was practically a party of one that wasn’t canonizing Fusaichi Pegasus. He is again unintimidated going into the Classic.

“[Fusaichi Pegasus] can win the race, but I don’t think he’s that dominant,” Lukas said. “For the guys that believe in [speed figures], his numbers are pretty good, and he does like this track. But when you strip everything down, this is a very competitive race.”

Lukas couldn’t resist an unpaid political announcement on behalf of his colt.

“Going into the race, I think he’s better now than he was last year in Florida,” the trainer said.

Winning the Classic is always important for future stallions, but it’s especially crucial for Fusaichi Pegasus and Lemon Drop Kid, who will end their racing careers today. Because Coolmore paid so much for Fusaichi Pegasus, the stud fee is expected to be $200,000 a mating. Lemon Drop Kid’s breeding syndication package of $30 million grows to $40 million if he wins the Classic and is voted horse of the year.

“If [Fusaichi Pegasus] wins the Classic, they’ll get that $200,000 for him easy,” Lukas said. “But if he doesn’t, they may have a marketing problem.”

Lemon Drop Kid, despite only one loss in his last five races, is also being viewed with skepticism. New York victories in two Grade II races, the Brooklyn and Suburban handicaps, were followed by Grade I victories in the Whitney Handicap and the Woodward, but there was a huge blip, after a bad start, when he was a badly beaten fifth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“If we win the Classic, everybody [among the breeders] will want my horse,” said Laddie Dance, whose wife, Jinny Vance, is the owner of Lemon Drop Kid. “If we don’t win, maybe nobody will want him.”

Lemon Drop Kid has run seven times, winning twice, at today’s distance, and even won the 1999 Belmont at 1 1/2 miles, but Fusaichi Pegasus’ only race at 1 1/4 miles was the Derby. But that day he overcame a No. 15 post and won by 1 1/2 lengths, becoming the first favorite to win the Derby in 21 years.

At the time of the Derby, Fusaichi Pegasus was a bucking, rearing handful, dumping his morning riders and never losing Drysdale’s attention. Since then, he’s toned down, although Drysdale said there’s something about Churchill Downs that brings out the mischief. He doesn’t act up as much at other tracks.

“He’s still playful, but he’s not as rambunctious,” Drysdale said. “He’s not as unpredictable as he used to be.”

Most predictable about Fusaichi Pegasus are the bottom-line numbers on his record. There are mostly 1s in his win column, which make the pair of deuces seem like an aberration.

Horse Racing Notes

Euchre has a cough, which may prevent him from running in the Classic. Trainer Bobby Frankel’s 4-year-old gelding, winner of the Bel Air Handicap at Hollywood Park and most recently third, behind Tiznow and Captain Steve, in the Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita, is 30-1 on the morning line. . . . Churchill Downs, hosting its fifth Breeders’ Cup, holds the attendance record in the series. A crowd of 80,452 was at Churchill Downs in 1998. . . . The weather will be overcast, in the 50s, with a chance of rain. . . . Chris McCarron, who rides Tiznow, won his second of three Breeders’ Cup Classics with Alysheba at Churchill Downs in 1988. “It might have seemed like it was very dark when that race was run,” McCarron said, “but the darkness was exaggerated because the photo-finish lights at the finish line were so brilliant. Actually, it wasn’t as dark as many people think, and the visibility was never a problem.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BREEDERS’ CUP

Today at Churchill Downs

TV: Channel 4 (coverage starts at 10 a.m. PST)

POST TIMES

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Distaff 10:12 a.m. Juvenile Fillies 10:45 a.m. Mile 11:20 a.m. Sprint 11:52 a.m. Filly & Mare Turf 12:25 p.m. Juvenile 12:57 p.m. Turf 1:30 p.m. Classic 2:10 p.m.

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HANDICAP AND CONSENSUS: D11