Horse Racing : Top Race Was Easy, Other Nine Were Toughest

Picking the most memorable race of 1988 was easy. What was difficult was narrowing down the other nine races on this annual list. When Alysheba’s narrow victories over Ferdinand in both the Santa Anita and San Bernardino Handicaps don’t qualify, that’s proof that the year had a cornucopia of thrills.

Here, then, are the 10 races that still seem like they were run yesterday:

1. The Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs. Whether you were there or watching on television, this was as good as racing gets. At the top of the stretch, Winning Colors, returning to the scene of her Kentucky Derby victory, had a 1 1/2-length lead on Goodbye Halo and Personal Ensign, trying to become the first undefeated major horse in 80 years, was struggling on the muddy track and trailed by 4 lengths. Randy Romero, Personal Ensign’s jockey, said he had Winning Colors measured with 70 yards to go, but he was the only one there who thought that. Personal Ensign got her nose on the wire just ahead of Winning Colors, for her 13th straight victory. “It’s too bad someone had to lose,” said Wayne Lukas, the trainer of Winning Colors.

2. The fifth race at Belmont Park on Oct. 13. This race is on the list for the worst reason: It was the last ride in the 22,000-race career of jockey Mike Venezia, 43. The 3-year-old gelding that Venezia was riding in the $31,000 grass race broke down on the backstretch. The rider jumped off the horse on the left side, into the path of the only trailing horse. Venezia was trampled, and killed instantly. The jockey on the other horse, Robbie Davis, 27, has not ridden since.

3. The first race at Churchill Downs on May 7. The $13,650 maiden race was won by Briarwood, a 3-year-old gelding who, according to the Daily Racing Form, was making his first start. The victory payoff was $71. Later, it was discovered that Briarwood was really a horse named Blairwood, who had made two starts at Monmouth Park. About 6 months later, after an investigation, the owners of the second-place horse --who included Pat Riley, the coach of the Lakers--received their money for winning the race on a disqualification. There were culprits all around: The track had allowed Blairwood to run without a lip tattoo, the identification mark for all horses in the United States, and his trainer was given a 10-month suspension.

4. The Belmont Stakes. Risen Star won this race much like his sire, Secretariat, had won it 15 years before. The margin was almost 15 lengths and the time for 1 1/2 miles was 2:26 2/5, the fourth fastest in the 120 runnings of the stake.

5. The Preakness at Pimlico. Risen Star’s victory was obscured by the post-race controversy: Did trainer Woody Stephens tell Pat Day, the rider of Forty Niner, to rough up Winning Colors just so the filly wouldn’t add the Preakness to her Kentucky Derby victory? Gary Stevens, Winning Colors’ jockey, accused Stephens of as much, and the Daily Racing Form charged the trainer with poor sportsmanship. Winning Colors finished third and Forty Niner was seventh.

6. The Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. It all came together for trainer Wayne Lukas, who had failed with 12 starters in 7 previous Derbys. His Winning Colors was allowed to take an easy early lead, and then she held off Forty Niner by a nose at the wire, becoming only the third filly to win the Derby in 114 years.

7. The Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. In the darkness, the mud and the rain, and over the track where he had won the Kentucky Derby the year before, Alysheba clinched horse-of-the-year honors with a half-length victory over Seeking the Gold.

8. The Woodward Handicap at Belmont Park. Against a field that was almost as strong as the horses he would beat in the Breeders’ Cup, Alysheba outfinished Forty Niner and Waquoit, with only a couple of necks separating the three at the wire. It was vindication for Alysheba, who atoned for his losses in New York as a 3-year-old by winning without the anti-bleeder medication which some critics felt was a crutch throughout his career.

9. The Pimlico Special. Pimlico’s stewards, who have merely tut-tutted after bigger races than this, nodded in approval again after Bet Brush brushed Lost Code in the stretch before notching a 3/4-length victory. Alysheba, the 3-5 favorite, ran a dull fourth. It was the only race Lost Code lost all year and the last race that Bet Twice would ever win.

10. The Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs. Just when Sunshine Forever, Indian Skimmer and Triptych appeared to be mowing down Great Communicator in the stretch, the game 5-year-old gelding regained the lead and beat Sunshine Forever by a half-length. “He’s just an average horse who runs big in the right places,” said Thad Ackel, Great Communicator’s trainer.

Horse Racing Notes

Racing Action, a weekly publication, polled 100 experts and Man o’War was voted the best horse of the 20th century. Man o’War and Secretariat each received 34 first-place votes, but Man o’War polled the most points for high placings on other ballots. After the first two came Citation, Kelso, Native Dancer, Seattle Slew, John Henry, Forego, Dr. Fager and Affirmed. Such exercises don’t prove anything, but they’re fun.

A van with four of trainer Wayne Lukas’ horses was involved in a freeway accident en route to the Ontario airport early Wednesday morning. The van caught fire and one of the horses, the stakes-winning Bethia, suffered burns on the back and the hip. The horses were supposed to have been flown to New York. . . . On the Line, a Lukas horse who won the Hollywood Turf Express in his last start, will carry high weight of 124 pounds Friday in the $100,000 Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa Anita. . . . A field of 10 is expected for Saturday’s $100,000 San Gabriel Handicap, with Simply Majestic and Mohamed Abdu each carrying 120 pounds.