TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: The day after Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, trainer Dick Small was asked if he would be running Broad Brush in the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, on June 7.

“I will if (Charlie) Whittingham goes home,” Small said. “Those horses from California, I can’t beat.”

Whittingham, who trains Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, isn’t going home. Ferdinand, who hadn’t raced outside California until he won the Derby and finished second in the Preakness, is being shipped to New York this week, to meet what will probably be a small field in the Belmont.

Broad Brush, third in the Derby, was also third at Pimlico, behind the California-bred Snow Chief and Ferdinand. There are easier ways to win purse money, and Small’s next move will probably be to send Broad Brush to Cleveland, far away from Snow Chief and Ferdinand, to run in the $250,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 14.

With Snow Chief skipping the Belmont to run in an earlier, richer race, the $1-million Jersey Derby at Garden State Park next Monday, Ferdinand will be favored in the Belmont, which is indicative of how topsy-turvy the 3-year-old division is this year. Ferdinand, longshot winner of the Kentucky Derby, was still not favored in the Preakness--he was third choice behind the Badger Land-Clear Choice entry and Snow Chief. For finishing second in the Preakness, Ferdinand becomes the favorite in the Belmont.

Snow Chief’s presence in the Jersey Derby gives that race a luster that will exceed the Belmont. The same thing happened last year, when Spend a Buck, the Kentucky Derby winner, bypassed the Preakness to run in Jersey, where he had the chance to win--and did win--$2.6 million in purse and bonus.

The Jersey Derby field could consist of Snow Chief; Tasso, last year’s champion 2-year-old colt who beat Snow Chief in the Del Mar Futurity; Fobby Forbes, who was seventh in the Kentucky Derby; Bolshoi Boy, who was second in the Blue Grass Stakes; Art Francais, a French-raced colt trained by Patrick Biancone; and Mogambo, winner of the Gotham, second in the Wood Memorial and 10th in the Kentucky Derby. If Mogambo doesn’t run in New Jersey, he will start Sunday in the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.

Other than Ferdinand, the only attraction the Belmont has right now is Rampage, who won the Arkansas Derby but came out of the Kentucky Derby sore after a troubled fourth-place finish.

The presence of Woody Stephens, who has won the last four Belmonts with Conquistador Cielo, Caveat, Swale and Creme Fraiche, would help the Belmont, but even the veteran trainer is not optimistic about running Danzig Connection, who has made only two starts this year.

In his last start, Danzig Connection ran second and was a tired horse coming back. It would take a superior performance in the Peter Pan to convince Stephens that this colt is ready for the Belmont. A more likely place for Danzig Connection is the Ohio Derby, where Small will be, avoiding the California horses but not the ones from New York.

TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1. Snow Chief 15 10 2 1 $2,130,940 2. Ferdinand 11 3 4 3 1,020,300 3. Broad Brush 11 7 1 2 650,443 4. Rampage 9 4 2 0 365,086 5. Tasso 10 6 2 1 881,024 6. Badger Land 14 5 2 0 519,625 7. Ogygian 4 3 1 0 127,120 8. Mogambo 12 4 2 4 658,246 9. Fobby Forbes 9 4 4 0 263,470 10.Pillaster 7 3 1 1 260,144