Thunder Gulch Gives Lukas First Quintuple Crown : Belmont Stakes: Winner’s time is slow, but it’s five in a row for trainer in Triple Crown races.

ELMONT, N.Y. â€”  In the post-race interview room, trainer Wayne Lukas tapped the microphone in front of him with one of his fingers.

“Testing, 1-2-3-4-5,� Lukas said.

Not many in the room got it.

“This is a tough crowd,� Lukas said.

Thunder Gulch is a tough horse. The only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races this year, Thunder Gulch made up for the 11th-hour defection of his more highly regarded stablemate, Timber Country, by winning the 127th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, beating Star Standard by two lengths in an outcome that was more clear-cut than the margin indicated.

Lukas shook off the disappointment of being forced to scratch Timber Country, the 6-5 morning-line favorite who had a 104-degree fever Friday, and still won his fifth consecutive Triple Crown race. That broke the record that Lucien Laurin set when he won the 1972 Belmont with Riva Ridge and swept the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont with Secretariat in 1973.

With Thunder Gulch’s victories in the Derby and the Belmont and Timber Country’s victory in the Preakness, Lukas also became the first trainer to sweep the Triple Crown in the same year with different horses. The first two races in Lukas’ Triple Crown string came when Tabasco Cat won the Preakness and Belmont last year.

For Lukas, the 59-year-old former basketball coach who has led the country in purses in 11 of the last 12 years, the goals just keeping coming. “Maybe the gods will smile on us and we’ll be back for the first Saturday in May [Kentucky Derby day] next year,� Lukas said. “If we can get five, why not six? I know we’re awfully strong with our 2-year-old fillies and colts this year.�

Although he had won the Florida Derby, Thunder Gulch was a longshot in the Kentucky Derby, winning at 24-1, and the bettors were still unimpressed in the Preakness, sending off owner Michael Tabor’s pocket-sized colt as the 7-2 third choice. Thunder Gulch ran third at Pimlico, Timber Country beating him by only three-quarters of a length.

“This colt has heart and determination, and I haven’t ridden a horse who’s more intelligent,� said Gary Stevens, who rides Thunder Gulch.

He wasn’t always that way.

“I remember,� Stevens said, “when I won the Remsen [at Aqueduct] the first time I rode him last year. He still thought all this was a big game. He’s still not grown up yet, but he’s going to keep getting better.�

A son of Gulch, a Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner who was also effective up to nine furlongs, and Line Of Thunder, a Storm Bird mare, Thunder Gulch was a late foal who didn’t officially mark his third birthday until May 23. Tabor, a British citizen who lives in Monaco, bought the horse privately for $475,000 shortly after he had finished second in the Cowdin Stakes at Aqueduct in October.

“Both the Derby and this one were fantastic wins,� Tabor said. “The dream lives on. These have been incredible experiences.�

Timber Country has different ownership--the partnership of William T. Young, Graham Beck and Bob and Beverly Lewis. At the base of the winner’s circle platform Saturday, Bob Lewis looked up toward Lukas and said: “Isn’t he something? Five in a row! What a streak. I’m happy for Wayne, and this is so great for racing.�

Stevens had ridden the Lewises’ filly, Serena’s Song, to victory Friday in the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park, and in two days he won three other stakes here before heading back to Hollywood Park.

This Belmont, which drew a crowd of only 37,171, had one of the weakest fields in years, and Thunder Gulch was able to put away his 10 rivals with a 1 1/2-mile time of 2:32, eight seconds slower than Secretariat’s record, the slowest winning time for the race in 25 years and the ninth slowest since the 12-furlong distance became permanent in 1926. The last Belmont to be won in a slower time was in 1970, when High Echelon won in 2:34. He, too, benefited after his stablemate, Preakness winner Personality, was scratched because of a cough.

Stevens was content to sit behind the pace-setters, Star Standard and Wild Syn, who set some of the slowest fractions in Belmont history. Star Standard’s first six furlongs in 1:15 1/5 were the slowest in 26 years.

“I was behind them, but I was riding as though I was on the lead,� Stevens said. “With a half-mile to go, I still elected to just keep creeping up on the leaders. I was very confident. My horse was relaxed, but he was still full of himself. That’s where my confidence was coming from.�

Julie Krone, trainer Nick Zito’s third choice to ride Star Standard, had trouble controlling the colt, who was lugging out much of the way. Stevens thought that the stewards would have disqualified Star Standard had he beaten Thunder Gulch.

Straining to contain Thunder Gulch, Krone’s left arm cramped up twice during the race. “My horse was getting out a little bit, but he was fighting to the end,� Krone said. “I thought he was going to bite [Thunder Gulch] in the stretch.�

Thunder Gulch moved past Star Standard at the top of the stretch. “I pushed his button pretty hard at the sixteenth pole,� Stevens said. “That’s when he pulled away. I knew I could put away that other horse any time I wanted to.�

As the favorite, Thunder Gulch paid $5 to win, earning $415,440 of the $692,400 purse and pushing his career earnings to $1.9 million. Star Standard finished 3 1/2 lengths ahead of Citadeed, and after them, in order, came Knockadoon, Pana Brass, Off’n’Away, Ave’s Flag, Composer, Colonial Secretary, Is Sveikatas and Wild Syn.

Zito, who has won the Kentucky Derby with Strike The Gold and Go For Gin, is winless in the Belmont and has now finished second four times. Minutes after Saturday’s race, as the horses were being brought back by their jockeys, Zito and Lukas embraced on the track.

“We’ll have to get Pegasus to win this one,� Zito said. “But we’ve got nothing to be disgraced about. It was a two-horse race and the Derby winner won again, that’s all.�

Horse Racing Notes

Wayne Lukas said Timber Country’s temperature, which flared up Friday afternoon, has subsided. The colt will resume training this week and could return to action in the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on July 2. . . . The schedule for Thunder Gulch is the Swaps at Hollywood Park on July 23 and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 13.

Gary Stevens’ other stakes victory Saturday was aboard the Lukas-trained Western Larla in the $111,600 Riva Ridge. He beat Mr. Greeley, from the Nick Zito barn, by a neck. . . . Awad, winner of only two of eight starts this year, beat Blues Traveller by a nose in the $200,000 Early Times Manhattan Stakes. Ridden by Eddie Maple, Awad paid $16.20, running 1 1/4 miles on grass in 1:58 2/5. . . . Jerry Bailey rode Green Means Go to a nose victory over Smells And Bells in the $113,600 Hill Prince Stakes. . . . The Belmont crowd was the smallest in at least 35 years.

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Crown Jewels

Most Triple Crown race victories as a trainer: Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons: 13 Robert W. Walden: 11 James Rowe Sr.: 11 Ben Jones: 9 Max Hirsch: 9 Wayne Lukas: 8 Woody Stephens: 8

LUKAS’ WINNERS Codex: Preakness (1980) Tank’s Prospect: Preakness (1985) Winning Colors: Kentucky Derby (1988) Tabasco Cat: Preakness (1994) Tabasco Cat: Belmont Stakes (1994) Thunder Gulch: Kentucky Derby (1995) Timber Country: Preakness (1995) Thunder Gulch: Belmont Stakes (1995)