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Preakness Stakes Notebook Trainer Orseno likes Red Bullet's chances
Posted: Thursday May 18, 2000 10:00 AM
BALTIMORE -- Red Bullet may have lost by more than four lengths to Fusaichi Pegasus in the Wood Memorial on April 15, but that isn't worrying his trainer, Joe Orseno. Indeed, as he guides his big chestnut colt toward Saturday's Preakness, the 44-year-old Orseno seems remarkably confident about his chances to upset the Kentucky Derby champion. He should be. Of the seven contenders who will go to the post with Fusaichi Pegasus on Saturday, Red Bullet will be the freshest and, possibly, the most talented. "I think we can make it a race," Orseno said outside the Pimlico Race Course barn Wednesday morning. "I think we'll go to the wire together. We'll have to see which one comes out on top, but I think it'll be closer [than the Wood]." Red Bullet passed up the Derby to prepare specifically for this race, a move that seemed to indicate an acknowledgement by Orseno of Fusaichi Pegasus' superiority at the time. Orseno is much more comfortable going up against the $4 million colt off a five-week layoff, especially since Fusaichi Pegasus will be coming into the Preakness with only two weeks of rest. "If we're going to try and beat him, let's try and do it the right way, not just run three weeks later just to run," he said. "We just tried to do what was right for our horse off of a pretty hard race."
Jerry Bailey will ride Red Bullet on Saturday, though Orseno says that the change had more to do with Solis' commitment to ride Aptitude, the Derby-runner-up, in the Belmont than the ride in the Wood. Until he lost to Fusaichi Pegasus, Red Bullet was undefeated in three very impressive starts. The son of Unbridled earned his racing stripes by overcoming a tough trip in the 1-mile Gotham to defeat Aptitude by a half-length. He has been training like a champ ever since he got to Pimlico, going five furlongs in :58 4/5 seconds on Saturday. Another reason for hope in the Preakness, as Orseno sees it, is that Fusaichi Pegasus has yet to be tested in the stretch, and that the colt's notorious temper could work in Red Bullet's favor if the two horses run together down the lane. "I think Kent's afraid to ride Fusaichi a little hard because there's no telling what he's going to do," Orseno says. "The horse does have some mental problems. Everybody knows it. I think Neil's doing a great job with him, but when push comes to shove and he's got to dig in and run head-to-head with another horse in the lane, and get whacked a few times, there's no telling." Whether that's a legitimate theory is up for debate. What's not, however, is that though a victory by Red Bullet would be an upset, it wouldn't be a huge surprise. "He beat us once," Orseno said of Fusaichi Pegasus. "We feel that if we can beat him in here, and then if we see him again in another race, maybe we have a chance of being three-year-old of the year. That's our goal right now, to make this horse a champion." The Pegasus has landed Fusaichi Pegasus arrived at Pimlico Wednesday afternoon, after a morning flight from Louisville. "It was a very good flight," said Neil Drysdale, the colt's trainer. "He handled it very well." The colt will take his first steps on the Pimlico track tomorrow morning.
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