THE BREEDERS’ CUP : Romero Is Riding High With Mining and Personal Ensign

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  Serious horseplayers advise against betting jockeys, but for the record, Randy Romero, who has won on only one of seven previous Breeders’ Cup mounts, has the best chance of having a big day Saturday when the 7 cup races worth $10 million are run at Churchill Downs.

After Wednesday’s draw for post positions, with 78 horses being entered, it became clear that Romero has been dealt the best hand, even though he will be riding in only 3 of the 7 races. Romero has two undefeated favorites--Personal Ensign in the Distaff and Mining in the Sprint--and his other mount, Seattle Meteor, has a good chance of winning the wide-open Juvenile Fillies.

It’s usually considered foolhardy to bet the same jockey over the long haul, because even the good ones win only once in every 5 races that they ride, and a good jockey will also ride more short-priced horses than the others. But for a day, such as the Breeders’ Cup, a jockey is capable of getting hot.

Last year, for example, Pat Day won Breeders’ Cup races at Hollywood Park with Theatrical and Epitome and finished third with another mount. Day has 4 Breeders’ Cup wins, more than anybody. Since the Breeders’ Cup began in 1984, the only other jockeys to have won twice on the same day are Jorge Velasquez in 1985 and Laffit Pincay in 1986.

Six times, jockeys have ridden in all 7 Breeders’ Cup races, but this year no rider has more than six mounts. Those with six are Day, Pincay, Angel Cordero, Chris McCarron and Gary Stevens.

Romero, who won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff with Sacahuista last year, is the only jockey with two clear favorites, horse-of-the-year candidate Personal Ensign, listed at 2-5, and Mining, quoted at 2-1. Mike Battaglia, the track announcer at Churchill Downs, doubles as the track’s linemaker.

Day will be heavily favored in the Juvenile with the precocious Easy Goer, who is listed at 2-5, but his five other mounts would be surprise winners, even though Epitome, in the Distaff, is trying to win a Breeders’ Cup race for the second straight year.

McCarron, who is 1 for 20 in the Breeders’ Cup, rides 6-5 favorite Alysheba, another horse-of-the-year contender, in the Classic, and will be aboard One of a Klein, who as part of a 5-horse Wayne Lukas-trained entry is 3-5 in the Juvenile Fillies.

But Alysheba faces the toughest challenge of his career in the talent-steeped Classic and Some Romance would be favored over One of a Klein if the stablemates were separated in the betting.

Pincay has ridden 26 horses in the Breeders’ Cup, 3 have won, and 18 have earned paychecks worth almost $4 million, a notable record. This year, though, he is aboard outsiders, with Olympic Prospect, the 1,200-pound gelding who has won 5 straight, giving him his best chance, in the Sprint.

Forty Niner would have given Pincay an excellent chance to win the Classic, but in a move that has puzzled many horsemen, that colt’s owner, Seth Hancock, replaced him with Julie Krone. Hancock is penalizing Pincay for not having ridden Forty Niner during the recently ended jockeys’ strike in New York.

Cordero rides Sunshine Forever, the 5-2 favorite in the Turf, but his horses seem to be overmatched in 5 other races. He is 1 for 25 in the Breeders’ Cup.

Stevens is 0 for 7 in the cup races and broke an ankle in a starting-gate accident at Santa Anita a week before the races last year. He was drafted by NBC to do color commentary for that day’s telecast.

Some Romance is one of Stevens’ mounts Saturday, and although he is riding a few other live horses, they would need to have perfect trips and stretch their talents to the limit to win. Cutlass Reality is third in the morning line in the Classic, behind Alysheba and Forty Niner, and Winning Colors, who gave Stevens his first Kentucky Derby win here last May, is 3-1 with an entrymate, Classic Crown, because of the presence of Personal Ensign, who has won 12 straight.

Miesque, the European filly who is 11 for 15 lifetime, and stablemate Blushing John are listed as a mild 2-1 favorite in the Mile, which drew 12 starters. The most crowded race is the Sprint, which has a capacity field of 14 and another horse on the also-eligible list.

Because of the size of the field, and the short 6-furlong distance, the Sprint is the most difficult of the races to ride.

“Things that might happen can be overcome in longer races,” said trainer John Russell, whose Precisionist is trying to win the Sprint for the second time. “But going three-quarters (of a mile), you don’t have the chance. Getting out of the gate tardily, getting boxed in, having to check your horse (because of another horse being in the way)--all these things take you right out of contention in the Sprint.”

Ridden by Romero in all but 1 of his 6 wins, Mining has been on the lead or just off of it. He didn’t run as a 2-year-old in 1986 because of sore shins, won 4 races at Aqueduct his first winter back and now, after recovering from bone chips in an ankle, has won twice more. In the 7-furlong Vosburgh, his last race, Mining shot to an early lead and trounced Gulch and High Brite, who will try him again Saturday.

Under Romero in her last 3 races, Seattle Meteor seems to be going backward. A daughter of Seattle Slew and a granddaughter of Northern Dancer, she won the Spinaway in August, but in 2 races last month, she was a distant second to Some Romance at Belmont Park and a well-beaten third at Keeneland.

“She didn’t get hold of the track at Keeneland,” said Ross Pearce, Seattle Meteor’s trainer. “And she also broke badly and had to be rushed into contention. She’s better off coming from farther off the pace. She should have no trouble with the distance (1 1/16 miles).”

Winning with Seattle Meteor would just be sprinkles on the whipped cream if Romero’s two other mounts win. With his other filly, Personal Ensign, Romero is saving Eclipse Awards voters from even contemplating their ballots.

“She’s for real,” the jockey said. “She’s a real champion.”