Proud Truth’s Rider Blames Santa Anita Track : Muddy Velasquez Calls It ‘Worst I’ve Ever Been On’ After Finishing Fifth

John Veitch, the trainer, might have just stepped out of the pages of Gentlemen’s Quarterly. The sharp lines of a spotless, obviously expensive suit complemented his clean shaven head, a Veitch trademark.

Jorge Velasquez, the jockey, might have just stepped out of a mud bath. He was coated with it, the residue of his ride aboard favored Proud Truth in Santa Anita’s $500,000 Strub Stakes Sunday.

If the Strub appeared to leave trainer and jockey a study in contrast, there was at least one thing they shared--aside from the misery of Proud Truth’s fifth place finish behind the surprising winner, Nostalgia’s Star.

Both were coated with abuse as they left the main track and walked together toward the paddock area.

“Go back to New York and stay there,” yelled one frustrated bettor.

“Stick your horse in the mud and leave him there,” shouted another.

Velasquez headed to the jockeys room as Veitch stood with a reporter amid the heckling fans, winked when asked if it ever tended to bother him, and said, “No. I don’t mind it as long as they don’t spit at me.”

Veitch was still dry when he jogged up the grandstand steps to explain Proud Truth’s defeat to owner Dan Galbreath.

The trainer would say it was racing luck, the inability of his successful colt to handle an off track.

The veteran Velasquez was considerably more emotional. Like the losing fans, almost spitting mad.

“The track was terrible, the worst I’ve ever been on,” he said.

“The New York tracks stay even when it rains, but here it was completely uneven from the tractor ruts, which doesn’t help a horse who comes off the pace.

“It was rough, very rough. We were struggling from the go. He made a move a little at the eighth pole, then he just quit on me.

“He was slipping from one side to the other. The weight (at 126, Proud Truth was giving away a minimum of nine pounds) hurt, and the track didn’t help at all.

“It was too heavy, and there were too many ruts from the tractors. It was a mess. Who could handle it?”

Velasquez’s once clean silks were testimony to the fact that the track had been correctly labeled “muddy.”

He will return to New York today, intent on forgetting an overcast afternoon on which the loss with Proud Truth came about two hours after the stewards deprived him of a victory with Southern Halo in the fourth race, saying he had interfered with Roman Magestraite during the stretch run.

Proud Truth will also be traveling today, taking a $39,000 charter to Miami, where Veitch has the bulk of his horses stabled. It had been the plan to bring Proud Truth back for the Santa Anita Handicap March 2, but Veitch said the decision would now rest with the Galbreaths--Dan and his father, John, the former owners of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Proud Truth had come to Santa Anita in early January, having won seven of 11 races in 1985, including his last four in a row. The win streak included the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont, the Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct and the $3 million Breeders Cup Classic, in which he defeated Gate Dancer by a head.

The Breeders victory gave the Gaustark colt career earning of $1.9 million and a total of nine wins in 14 starts. The 15th was the San Fernando Stakes Jan. 19 at Santa Anita, his first start in about two months, a prep for the Strub.

Carrying 126 pounds and carried wide after starting from the outside post, Proud Truth seemed in obvious need of the tightener, finishing fifth. The Strub offered redemption. Most thought he would get it. Proud Truth went off at odds of 8 to 5 Sunday. The intangible was the mud. Proud Truth’s only experience with an off track had come in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct last April. He finished second on a track called “good” rather than “fast.”

Said Veitch, in the wake of the Strub: “We came up to it perfect, but in conditions like this it’s not necessarily the best horse that wins. It’s the horse that handles the track the best. As it turns out, we didn’t even need that mile and an eighth (of the San Fernando) because it was no factor in the way he ran today. He was unsure of the footing and wouldn’t extend himself. He picked up a few horses, but not with his customary power. Jorge said it was exceptionally rough, but that’s part of the business. That’s just racing luck. You learn to live with it.”

The highly successful Veitch has, training primarily in New York and Florida. He has also learned to live with the taunts of fans who view their luck as all bad. That’s the same everywhere.