Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park : Alysheba Will Try to End Lasix Issue Saturday

OCEANPORT, N.J. —  The Lasix issue, which hounded Alysheba throughout the Triple Crown series, won’t go away with the running of the $500,000 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park Saturday. One trainer will take his horse off the anti-bleeding medication but another conditioner says his colt wouldn’t be running if he couldn’t use it.

Alysheba, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner whose form improved dramatically after minor throat surgery and the addition of Lasix in California early this year, will not run with medication in the Haskell, even though the diuretic is allowed in New Jersey.

Alysheba finished first three times and ran second in a fourth race while using Lasix. Then, without the medication, he finished a distant fourth in the Belmont Stakes as his Triple Crown hopes evaporated.

Lost Code, a late-developing colt who wasn’t good enough to be nominated for the Triple Crown races, has won seven straight races while being treated with Lasix and will run with the medication again Saturday.

“I have no guilt feelings about treating this horse the way we have,” said Bill Donovan, Lost Code’s trainer. “I want every edge I can take, and if he’s permitted to take it (Lasix) here, why not give it to him?”

Donovan said that Lost Code, who has joined Alysheba and Belmont winner Bet Twice has the class of the 3-year-old division, will not run in the $1-million Travers at Saratoga Aug. 22, because horses are not permitted to race with Lasix in New York.

The Clarence Scharbauers of Midland, Tex., who own Alysheba, were hurt by suggestions that the absence of Lasix was responsible for Alysheba’s 14-length loss to Bet Twice in the Belmont.

The Scharbauers are believed to be partly responsible for trainer Jack Van Berg’s decision to skip Lasix in the Haskell, which is being called the toughest race in track history by veteran Monmouth Park officials.

“We’ve had big horses run here but never three horses of this caliber in the same race,” said Kenny Lennox, former racing secretary here.

Bet Twice has been established as the 6-5 favorite in the Haskell, with Alysheba at 7-5 and Lost Code 2-1 in the five-horse field. Monmouth is Bet Twice’s home track, with his trainer, Jimmy Croll, maintaining a stable here. As a 2-year-old, the colt won his first three starts at this oceanside facility.

Entries were taken Thursday for the 1 1/8-mile race, with Born To Shop, a 30-1 shot who has never run in a stake, getting the inside post position. Rick Wilson rode Born To Shop in his last start, but no jockey was named at entry time.

Born To Shop was assigned low weight of 112 pounds. The rest, in order, will be Clever Secret, 15-1 at 116 pounds with Jacinto Vasquez; Lost Code, 124 pounds, with Gene St. Leon riding; Alysheba, 126, with Chris McCarron; and Bet Twice, 126, with Craig Perret.

Van Berg, as are the Scharbauers, is tired of hearing that Lasix was a factor in the Belmont.

“(Alysheba) didn’t bleed in the race,” the trainer said. “We want to prove that he can win without Lasix.

“Not only that, I’m going to run him in the Travers without Lasix, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t use it here, either. Is it a gamble? There are lots of gambles. I flew here on Delta, you know.”

Van Berg has had a more pressing physical problem with Alysheba. A couple of weeks ago, the colt developed an unsightly skin rash around both sides of his neck and on his chest. Van Berg and his assistants have been washing Alysheba with a soap that is supposed to reduce the swelling and prevent the fungus from spreading.

“We thought we had it stopped 10 days ago,” Van Berg said. “But then a week ago it broke out again, and about four days ago it exploded.

“The heat here may have caused it, and it was bubbling underneath the horse. I don’t like it, but I don’t think it will affect the way he runs.”

Sunny’s Halo, after winning the Kentucky Derby in 1983, developed a rash at Pimlico and ran poorly in the Preakness. Other horses whose Triple Crown chances may have been compromised by skin rashes were Canonero II in 1971 and Pleasant Colony, who won both the Derby and the Preakness.

Despite the rash, Alysheba has been working well at Monmouth. A week ago, with McCarron aboard, he covered seven furlongs in 1:24 4/5, the fastest work of the day at that distance.

“He worked great, and finished real strong,” McCarron said. “I can’t see how he could be brought up to this race any better than he has.”

Thursday, Joe Petalino, one of Van Berg’s assistants, worked Alysheba half a mile in :48 3/5, including a final eighth in a flashy :11 4/5.

Afterward, Van Berg and two aides gave Alysheba a full lathering, then let him stand under a tree next to his barn, his dark brown coat absorbing the soapy solution. Of all the horses in Van Berg’s barn, only the one who’s earned about $1.5 million got the rash.