Masterful Advocate Starts No. 1, and Is Favored to Finish There

Drawing the No. 1 post position, the only spot one of his owners didn’t want, Masterful Advocate nevertheless was made a solid 4-5 favorite Thursday for Saturday’s 50th running of the Santa Anita Derby.

David Leveton, the Century City attorney who bought a 50% interest in Masterful Advocate for $2,750 (half of the 3-year-old colt’s auction price), said before Thursday’s draw he preferred a spot somewhere in the middle of the six-horse field.

But considering Masterful Advocate’s versatility--he won coming from behind as a 2-year-old before becoming a front-runner in all three of his victories this year--the inside post in a small, six-horse field does not seem a detriment.

“He’s ready,” said trainer Joe Manzi, whose father-in-law, Harry Belles of Leucadia, owns the other 50% of Masterful Advocate. “No more can be done other than what Laffit (Pincay) can take care of.”

Pincay, who has ridden Masterful Advocate to all five of his wins and missed only one of the colt’s eight starts, is shooting for his eighth Santa Anita Derby victory, which would break a tie for the record he shares with Bill Shoemaker.

Shoemaker, who hasn’t won the race since 1977, also has a shot for victory No. 8 Saturday, although his mount, Temperate Sil, finished fifth, 16 3/4 lengths behind the victorious Masterful Advocate, in the San Rafael Stakes March 7.

Temperate Sil hadn’t started in almost three months, however, and Masterful Advocate had already won two stakes this year. Two weeks later, with Manzi keeping Masterful Advocate in the barn, Temperate Sil was a slightly improved colt, running third as the favorite while Chart the Stars won the San Felipe Handicap.

The field for Saturday’s $500,000 race is the smallest since Sham beat five rivals in 1973. After Masterful Advocate, the rest of the lineup consists of Chart the Stars, with Eddie Delahoussaye riding; Lookinforthebigone, Gary Stevens; Temperate Sil, Shoemaker; Something Lucky, Pat Valenzuela, and Flying Flags, Gary Baze. All will carry 122 pounds for the 1 1/8 miles.

Jeff Tufts, the Santa Anita line maker, has made Lookinforthebigone the 3-1 second choice, followed by Temperate Sil at 7-2, Chart the Stars at 5-1, Something Lucky at 20-1 and Flying Flags at 30-1.

Trainer Wayne Lukas, who has won the Santa Anita Derby three times--with Codex in 1980, Muttering in 1982 and Marfa in 1983--is trying to accomplish with Lookinforthebigone what he did with Capote last year. Capote had raced only twice going into October, then won two stakes at Santa Anita in a month and was voted the country’s best 2-year-old colt.

Lookinforthebigone, who was bought as a 2-year-old by Bwamazon Farm for $500,000, had sore shins last year and didn’t race until last month, when he won two sprints in nine days at Santa Anita.

“He’s better coordinated and niftier than Capote,” Lukas said. “It’s easier to run an inexperienced horse in a big race when they’re a 3-year-old than it is trying it with a 2-year-old. This horse is already a professional. He couldn’t be more professional if he had already run 8 or 10 races. We wouldn’t have put up the $20,000 (supplementary fee) if we didn’t think he had a chance to win.”

Lukas will be at Aqueduct for the Gotham Stakes Saturday, when Capote makes his first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November. Lukas’ son, Jeff, will saddle Talinum on Saturday in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.

Charlie Whittingham, who trains Temperate Sil, has been trying much longer than Lukas, but has never won the Santa Anita Derby. In fact, Whittingham’s son, Michael, beat his father to the winner’s circle when he scored with Skywalker in 1985.

The elder Whittingham, who will be 74 April 13, has had few major races escape him. He’s been second five times in the Santa Anita Derby and last year his Ferdinand ran third, a month before winning the Kentucky Derby.

Whittingham had his first Santa Anita Derby runner-up in 1956, Social Climber, who drew an outside post in an 18-horse field. Saber Mountain broke a knee while running second in 1966, Tumble Wind was second the next year, and Whittingham’s other seconds were with Quack in ’72 and Balzac in ’78.

Whittingham, meanwhile, said he was satisfied with Temperate Sil’s San Felipe showing. He said that the colt tired in that race because he hadn’t gotten anything out of the San Rafael. In winning the Hollywood Futurity, Temperate Sil was half a length better than the third-place Masterful Advocate. But that was more than three months ago and going only a mile, and the two horses seem to have taken opposite directions ever since.

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Jack Van Berg, who didn’t enter Alysheba in the Santa Anita Derby because the colt missed a few days of training with a fever, is leaning toward running him in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park April 18. Wherever Alysheba runs that day--the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields and the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct are other possibilities--Van Berg says that Chris McCarron will be his rider. Alysheba galloped 1 1/2 miles Thursday. . . . McCarron pulled a muscle in his upper right leg going to the post with a mount Thursday, took off for the day and said that he might miss a couple of more days.

Bet Twice is the 8-5 favorite, followed by Talinum at 5-2, in Saturday’s Florida Derby. Here’s the field: Proudest Duke, Well Constituted, Conquistarose, No More Flowers, Avies Copy, Talinum, Bet Twice, Mohr Silver and Cryptoclearance. . . . At Aqueduct, Capote was made the 8-5 favorite over Gulch at 2-1 for Saturday’s Gotham. That field consists of Forest Fair, Marine Command, Girning, Gulch, Capote, Gone West, Conquilot, Shawklit One, Battle Man and Pleasant Variety. . . . Melair, the undefeated filly who beat Snow Chief in her last start, then was forced into retirement after undergoing major stomach surgery, will be bred in Kentucky to Mr. Prospector this year and Alydar the next.