Sunday Break decision expected soon

Although a final decision was not expected until Sunday morning, it appeared less likely on Saturday that Sunday Break would run in next Saturday's 127th Preakness Stakes, and more likely he would run in the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 25.

After watching Sunday Break work a slow seven furlongs in 1:28.02 Saturday morning at Belmont, trainer Neil Drysdale, through an interpreter, discussed plans for Sunday Break's next start with owner Koji Maeda in Japan. After a long phone conversation, all Drysdale would say is "no decision has been made. The decision will be made [Sunday]."

While Saturday's workout was on the slow side, it was not a poor work. Sunday Break, under Marcelino Olguin, broke off a length behind a stablemate and tracked him to the three-eighths pole. Sunday Break went ahead of his workmate leaving the three-eighths pole, and, despite coming wide in the stretch, finished up well with hardly any urging from Olguin.

"The colt worked well, a bit slow, because the track was kind of deep," Drysdale said. "The work was pleasing. He did it very easy. He was just breezing, and he galloped out' from the wire to the 1 3/8-mile pole "in 13 seconds, so it was a nice work. I was pleased with the work. Mr. Maeda is going to make the decision and confirm everything as to what he wants to do."

Sunday Break, a son of Forty Niner, has not raced since finishing third in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial on April 13. Drysdale had shipped Sunday Break to Louisville, but the horse did not get into the Kentucky Derby because of a lack of sufficient earnings in graded stakes, the criterion used to determine the field when more than 20 horses are entered. Drysdale was disappointed his horse could not run in the Derby.

"He might have well had an impact on it because he does have tactical speed and he can also accelerate," Drysdale said.

Sunday Break shipped to Belmont the day after the Derby and has been training steadily since. Drysdale declined to say whether he would prefer to run in the Preakness or the Peter Pan. "Whatever he decides I'm going to be there," Drysdale said of Maeda.

In 1992, after an injury forced the Drysdale-trained A.P. Indy to miss the Kentucky Derby, A.P. Indy won the Peter Pan and the Belmont Stakes.

Drysdale's lone Preakness experience came in 2000 when Fusaichi Pegasus, after an authoritative Kentucky Derby victory, finished second to Red Bullet.

If Sunday Break does not run in the Preakness, it could enable jockey Gary Stevens to pick up the mount on Straight Gin for trainer Nick Zito. Stevens and his agent Brian Beach, were out of the country Saturday and unavailable for comment. Zito said he was going to take a "wait-and-see" approach.

Straight Gin, a son of 1994 Derby winner and Preakness and Belmont runner-up Go for Gin, is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass. He was also excluded from the Derby because of insufficient graded-stakes earnings.

Zito has previously said he believes Straight Gin is a perfect fit for the Belmont Stakes and he is hoping the Preakness will move him in that direction.

In other Preakness news:

* Airplane troubles have delayed the arrival of Menacing Dennis, the California-bred gelding trained by Jeff Bonde. Instead of arriving Saturday, Menacing Dennis was scheduled to leave Southern California Monday night, and arrive at Pimlico on Tuesday morning.

* Equality, the Tampa Bay Derby winner, arrived at Pimlico from Delaware on Friday, galloped over the track Saturday morning, and was expected to breeze Sunday for trainer Graham Motion. "He seems to have settled in great," Motion said. "He ate up last night which surprised me, because they don't usually eat up on the day they travel."

* U S S Tinosa galloped Saturday at Pimlico and was scheduled to have a blow out on Wednesday, according to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. Hollendorfer said he would arrive in Baltimore on Tuesday.