Housebuster Dusts Off Weak Competition : Horse racing: He gets sixth consecutive victory against only two other horses in a non-betting race at Keeneland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. —  Housebuster chased away all but two opponents in the $76,200 Lafayette Stakes at Keeneland Wednesday, and those two horses also had little business leaving their barns.

In a glorified workout, Housebuster won his sixth consecutive race, beating Sacra Hoxen by 11 lengths, with Critical Choice, who was beaten by 38 lengths, reaching the finish line several seconds later. Irish Spell, also entered in the seven-furlong race, was scratched and will continue to run against maidens in a start here today.

There’s always an eerie feeling to races at Keeneland, the only track in the country that doesn’t use an announcer, and the running of the Lafayette was even stranger, because there was no betting on the race. Keeneland made the stake a betless exhibition and received permission from the state to add a 10th race to the program, giving its fans nine betting races as usual. There hadn’t been a non-betting race here since 1984.

Had there been betting, so much money would have been bet on Housebuster to win that Keeneland would have had to use some of its own funds for the payoffs.

Housebuster, ridden by Craig Perret, broke on top as usual and ran the first six furlongs in 1:08 4/5, just two-fifths of a second slower than the Keeneland record. The 3-year-old colt’s final time on a drying-out, fast track was 1:22 4/5, which missed the Keeneland record by 1 3/5 seconds. Perret went to his whip only once, hitting Housebuster on the left flank in midstretch.

Housebuster’s trainer, Jimmy Croll, and his owner, Bob Levy, have been adamant about not running the horse in the Kentucky Derby on May 5, and Wednesday’s cakewalk didn’t change their feelings. The next race for the Mt. Livermore-Big Dreams colt is scheduled to be the one-mile Derby Trial at Churchill Downs two weeks from Saturday.

The major goal for Housebuster is the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Belmont Park in the fall, which his interests hope will lead to an Eclipse Award as the year’s best sprinter.

Levy said Wednesday that the Preakness, the second race in the Triple Crown series, is a possibility for Housebuster, whose only loss came the first time he ran--a third-place finish at the Meadowlands last October. The Preakness, which at 1 3/16 miles is a quarter-mile shorter than the Derby, is scheduled for May 19 at Pimlico, a track that can favor speed horses.

“We could run in the Preakness,” Levy said. “But I’d say that the odds are about 25-1 that we’ll be there.”

Croll doesn’t even like the sound of the Preakness. “They (the owners) are thinking about it,” the trainer said. “But I’m not.”

The $250,000 Blue Grass Stakes still looks as if it will have a seven-horse field at Keeneland Saturday, but the identities of two of the entries have changed.

Pleasant Tap, who had a slow workout the other day, came up with a reason: He has been coughing, and trainer Chris Speckert said he will miss the race. Pleasant Tap could still run in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland April 24.

A new contender for the Blue Grass is Iskandar Elakbar, who has made only three starts. Owned by Steve Stavro, who won the Blue Grass in 1988 with Granacus, Iskandar Elakbar won a maiden race at Gulfstream Park last month, but the Canadian-bred was beaten by more than 30 lengths in his other two starts.

Summer Squall, who will be favored in the Blue Grass, worked a half-mile on a muddy track Wednesday morning in :48 4/5. The other Blue Grass starters will be Unbridled, Shot Gun Scott, Land Rush, Top Snob and Slew of Angels.