TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS : French Deputy’s Derby Chances Bruised

French Deputy, undefeated but lightly raced, is questionable for the Kentucky Derby because he bruised a foot in training at Hollywood Park.

Trainer Neil Drysdale said Monday that he does not know how much time the injury will cost him. French Deputy has had the shoe removed from his right front hoof, and the foot is being soaked to dissipate the soreness.

“It’s a day-to-day thing,” Drysdale said. “I had hoped to run him twice at Keeneland to get him ready for the Derby. But now, until we get this cleared up, I don’t have a race in mind. I really can’t say that the Derby is out, but I think it’s self-explanatory what this does to our plans.”

Drysdale was running out of time, even before the injury. French Deputy ran once as a 2-year-old, then missed some training time because of heavy rain in January. In his last race, against three rivals in an allowance at Santa Anita on Feb. 23, he won by 11 lengths.

Tejano Run, third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and fifth at 1-2 odds in his only start this year, has recovered from a lung infection and will race the filly Serena’s Song in Saturday’s $600,000 Jim Beam Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. Tejano Run won stakes at both Turfway and Keeneland as a 2-year-old.

“He’s ‘scoped clean after his last two workouts,” said trainer Ken McPeek, who again will put Jerry Bailey on Tejano Run. The plan is to run the colt in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 15 and the Kentucky Derby on May 6.

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THE RATINGS

No. Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1. Afternoon Deelites 5 5 0 0 $528,125 2. Timber Country 9 4 1 3 $991,090 3. Thunder Gulch 8 4 2 1 $691,006 4. Suave Prospect 13 4 5 1 $358,850 5. Larry The Legend 4 3 1 0 $163,425 6. In Character 4 1 2 0 $90,316 7. Talkin Man 7 4 1 0 $377,967 8. Petionville 4 4 0 0 $324,025 9. Eltish 6 3 2 1 $377,189 10. French Deputy 3 3 0 0 $66,000

Advisory panel for The Times’ Triple Crown Ratings: Racing historian Jim Bolus; Trevor Denman, announcer at four Southern California tracks; Tom Durkin, track announcer in New York and Florida, and Dave Johnson, racing telecaster for ABC and ESPN.