Risen Star Decides to Win Preakness : Winning Colors Winds Up Third After Being Bumped Around Track

BALTIMORE —  Risen Star, who would have been an equine basket case if he had known about all the indecision surrounding his trainer and co-owner in the last three weeks, rebounded from a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby to win the $536,200 Preakness by 1 lengths at Pimlico Saturday as Winning Colors, the Derby winner, joined Genuine Risk as another filly who was treated like anything but a lady in the middle leg of the Triple Crown.

While Risen Star, under a slick ride by Eddie Delahoussaye, moved through on the inside to take the lead midway through the run around the far turn, Winning Colors and Forty Niner completed a racelong bumping episode that effectively eliminated both horses from contention.

Winning Colors, trying to become the fifth filly to win the Preakness and the first distaffer to win more than one Triple Crown race, was keelhauled much the way Derby winner Genuine Risk was by Codex here in 1980, only worse. Genuine Risk was carried to the middle of the track as she made her late move at the top of the stretch; Winning Colors was bumped or brushed by Forty Niner, who had finished a neck behind her in the Derby, at least eight times all the way around the course.

Brian’s Time, the colt who usually starts running in the state adjoining the one where the race is held, wore blinkers for the first time, was uncustomarily closer in the early stages and finished second, 1 lengths ahead of Winning Colors. After the first three, the order of finish was Private Terms, Cefis, Regal Classic, Forty Niner, Sorry About That and Finder’s Choice.

Risen Star, considered to be little more than a good horse out of Louisiana even though he won five of his first seven races, started gaining legitimacy when he beat Forty Niner at Keeneland in mid-April. But despite losing by only 3 lengths in the Derby, Risen Star was the fourth betting choice before 81,282 at Pimlico and paid $15.60, $7.80 and $4 while earning $413,700. On a fast-drying track that was labeled good after being hit with intermittent rain for three straight days, the son of Secretariat and Ribbon ran 1 3/16 miles in 1:56 1/5.

Brian’s Time, who went off at 7-1 after no wins in three races following a victory in the Florida Derby, paid $6.40 and $3.60, and Winning Colors paid $3.40 as the slight (19-10) favorite over Forty Niner.

What may have detracted from Risen Star’s popularity in the Preakness was the bizarre show that his co-owners, Louie Roussel and Ronnie Lemarque, put on all week long here. Most of the time, it was difficult to figure whether they were serious about running their big colt, or whether they were just here trying to revive vaudeville.

Roussel, an attorney who also runs the Fair Grounds track in New Orleans and trains Risen Star, flew in his favorite chef solely to prepare a feast of Cajun food a few days ago, then spent the rest of the week debating whether to run the colt or wait for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont next month. Lemarque, a New Orleans automobile dealer who lists himself as Roussel’s silent partner, nevertheless publicly sings a song dedicated to Risen Star, to the tune of “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans.”

“Your partner doesn’t do a bad job of singing that a cappella,” Roussel was told Friday.

“Oh, jeez, don’t tell him that,” Roussel said. “He’ll keep singing.”

It was Lemarque, however, who alone put up the $5,000 entry fee on Thursday when Roussel was still debating the merits of running. Roussel was still debating when the rains didn’t abate Friday, expressing a concern about the safety of the track.

Delahoussaye, riding at Hollywood Park, agreed to ride five horses out there Saturday, just in case Risen Star didn’t run. The stewards at Hollywood released Delahoussaye from those commitments, and the 36-year-old jockey flew all night from California, arrived here at 7 Saturday morning and slept until he headed for the jockeys’ room at 2 in the afternoon.

Roussel had subjected Delahoussaye to some strange requirements in the days before the Derby. Although Delahoussaye had won two Derbys--and been one of a few jockeys to win the race in successive years--Roussel made him come to Louisville and work Risen Star, then waited about 24 hours before he gave him the mount.

“Louie’s a crazy Cajun,” said Delahoussaye, who rode for Roussel a number of years ago in Louisiana, “but you just accept him for the way he is, or you move on. Not too many riders would have done what I done, but the only way to win the Preakness is to be there, and I knew in my heart that this colt can run, and he’s the best I’ve ever ridden.”

Delahoussaye had taken his knocks for giving Risen Star a wide trip in the Derby.

“Even my old buddy, Jimmy Nichols (a former jockey who’s now Risen Star’s exercise rider), cut me up in New Orleans,” Delahoussaye said. “But when I saw Jimmy today (Saturday), I just acted like nothing happened. When you’re up in this game, they love you, and when you’re down, they cut you up, but I can handle all that.

“I would have done anything to get through (horses) in the Derby if I could have. Today, I actually moved a little sooner than I should have. But the horse was tugging at me to go, so I just let him go. I didn’t even pay any attention to the other horse (Brian’s Time), I was just riding my horse to the wire.”

Gary Stevens, who rides Winning Colors, was visibly upset about the going-over he felt Forty Niner and Pat Day gave his filly from the start.

Forty Niner, breaking from the No. 4 stall, just inside Winning Colors, had been expected, unlike the Derby, to give the free-running filly a battle for the lead. Not only did Forty Niner out-break Winning Colors, but Day appeared to point his horse’s head toward the stands in the run down the stretch the first time, making sure that they would angle to the outside and force the filly wide into the first turn.

This is when the first two contacts between the horses were made. There were five other contacts of varying degree going down the backstretch, and another bump late on the far turn.

“Forty Niner bumped me and packed me on the first turn,” Stevens said. “He was bumping me continuously all the way. At the 4 1/2-furlong pole, I tried to move farther away from him. That’s about when Pat was no longer concentrating on the horse (Risen Star) getting through on the inside and, probably, on even winning the race anymore.

“Pat was the first to apologize to me after the race. He had his instructions and had to follow them. It’s not like him to ride that way. I don’t hold anything against Pat, but I do hold it against one man.”

Stevens was obviously referring to Woody Stephens, who said less than 24 hours after the Derby that Pat would be riding Forty Niner differently in the Preakness. “We might be last in Baltimore,” Stephens said, “but the filly will be next to last.”

Day recalled saying “I’m sorry” to Stevens in the shower after the race, adding that it wasn’t meant as an apology, just a tough-luck expression because the filly hadn’t stayed alive in the Triple Crown.

“I did what I thought I had to do to beat her,” Day said. “I wasn’t purposely bumping anybody, and those weren’t my instructions. I was just told by Woody to entertain the filly going into the first turn, and not turn her loose and let her have her own way.

“I did feel sorry for Gary. He’s probably upset because he chose to go to the outside and that didn’t enhance his chances any. I wasn’t looking to ride herd on any particular horse. If I were Gary, I’d feel disappointed, too, but this is all in a day’s work.”

Stevens said that if Forty Niner had finished ahead of Winning Colors, he would have claimed foul. Considering what happened, could Stevens speculate on what the stewards would have done?

“I doubt that they would have done anything,” Stevens said, “because Pat probably would have told them that his horse was just lugging out, and he probably would have said that he was trying to avoid the rail, where the footing wasn’t good.

“But my filly sure didn’t disgrace herself. She proved that she can run good without going to the lead, and at the end today, despite everything that she went through, she was still around. Forty Niner was still out there running.”

Wayne Lukas, Winning Colors’ trainer, was not as upset as Stevens. “I’m just speculating,” Lukas said, “but I guess Woody figured that she was the horse to beat and if he beat her, he could win the race.

“I said early in the week that this filly causes other trainers to compromise their horses’ chances by changing running styles, and this proves that I was right. My filly took the worst of it among the first four horses, and she still got third. Gary and Pat rode each other all the way.

“Forty Niner had the inside post, and they knew they could carry us wide on the first turn. Forty Niner did his thing, we did ours, and both of us were just out there trying to win.”

Forty Niner held the lead, never more than a half-length ahead of Winning Colors, until Delahoussaye and Risen Star came through on the far turn.

“That last bump might have been a 50-50 deal,” Day said, “because the filly was coming in on me, too. We jostled each other for about three or four jumps. It hurt the filly more than it hurt my horse, because my horse was finished running. The way the race was run took more out of my horse than what we anticipated.”

Stephens said that his pre-race instructions to Day were to keep Forty Niner off the fence and put pressure on Winning Colors.

“We knew we couldn’t beat her any other way,” the trainer said. “I was happy with Pat’s ride. I thought that if the filly should back up at the half-mile pole and let me loose, I might get loose, but I couldn’t. She’s a better filly then I thought she was, but I don’t know how long she can last meeting these kind of horses.”

There’s a $1-million bonus to the horse who runs in all three Triple Crown races and accumulates the most points based on five points for first place, three for second and one for third. After the Derby and Preakness, Risen Star and Winning Colors have six points apiece, and Brian’s Time and Forty Niner each have three points.

“We expect to run in the Belmont,” Lukas said. “Belmont Park has those wide, sweeping turns that should suit Winning Colors’ running style, and there’s also that bonus to shoot for.”

It would give Gary Stevens personal satisfaction if he could beat Forty Niner with Winning Colors in the Belmont. All he asks is better manners for the horses around him, particularly in the presence of a lady.