Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Pincay Will Skip the Preakness to Ride in Hawthorne Handicap

BALTIMORE —  While Laffit Pincay was debating whether to ride Houston or Bayakoa Saturday, Ron McAnally was trying to help.

“I looked around for another race, something that wouldn’t conflict with the Preakness, but I couldn’t find anything,” said McAnally, who trains Bayakoa.

So Bayakoa will run Saturday in the Hawthorne Handicap at Hollywood Park with Pincay aboard. Houston will undergo a switch in jockeys, from Pincay to Angel Cordero, for the 114th Preakness at Pimlico.

That is not exactly a vote a confidence for Houston, Pincay opting for a minor stake in California when he has the chance to ride a speed horse--the kind that occasionally steals off and wins the Preakness.

Of course, Bayakoa is no ordinary mare. She might not be nationally known yet, but the 5-year-old has beaten Goodbye Halo twice recently, by two lengths in the Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita and by four lengths in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

Houston, on the other hand, has beaten mediocre opponents in two races this year, but in the stakes that really counted--the Santa Anita Derby and the Kentucky Derby--he finished fifth and eighth, respectively, with Pincay aboard.

Well after the fact, trainer Wayne Lukas blamed the heat at Santa Anita for that loss. However, there was no such excuse in the Kentucky Derby, which was run on a sub-50-degree day that was the coolest in the history of the race.

Pincay told Lukas after the Kentucky Derby that he thought Houston was a race short of being able to run 1 1/4 miles. Since then, Houston, the Seattle Slew-Smart Angle colt that cost Lukas $2.9 million as a yearling, has been worked slowly at Churchill Downs.

Lukas has won the Preakness before without working his horse at Pimlico, first with Codex in 1980 and then with Tank’s Prospect in 1985.

In the 1980 Preakness, Cordero rode his typical race aboard Codex. His colt forced Genuine Risk, the filly who had won the Kentucky Derby, into the middle of the track in the stretch before she lost by almost five lengths.

Cordero won his second Preakness aboard Gate Dancer in 1984.

McAnally, like Pincay, can’t be in two places at the same time Saturday and will be at Pimlico to saddle Hawkster in the Preakness.

Hawkster hasn’t won a race since he took the Norfolk as a 2-year-old last October at Santa Anita, but he seems to have survived the hoof problem that bothered him when he loosened a shoe in the Kentucky Derby. McAnally said that Hawkster deserves a chance in the Preakness.

In the Derby, Hawkster trailed by 15 lengths early, was closer to the grandstand than the inner rail through the stretch and finished fifth, 3 1/4 lengths behind the victorious Sunday Silence.

“We lost a lot of ground,” McAnally said. “I think we lost enough to cost us second place.”

There’s a $5-million bonus for the horse that sweeps the Triple Crown, and if there’s no Triple Crown champion, there’s a $1-million bonus for the horse that has the most points for first-, second- and third-place finishes in the Derby, Preakness and Belmont.

A horse has to run in all three races to be eligible for the $1-million bonus. With the chance for the extra money comes the danger that horses will be run in the three races although they are not ready for the grind.

Trainer Charlie Whittingham, who owns 25% of Sunday Silence, is not the kind who would fall into that trap. Whittingham needed to know from his private veterinarian, Alex Harthill, whether Sunday Silence had recovered from his hoof problem before he considered entering him today for the Preakness.

Sunday Silence apparently gave Harthill and Whittingham the assurance they needed with strong gallops at Pimlico on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Scheduled workouts for both Sunday Silence and Hawkster were postponed Wednesday until today because of a sloppy track. After 13 straight days of rain, the sun came out and temperatures rose to the high 70s late Wednesday afternoon. That weather is supposed to last through Saturday, meaning there should be a fast track for the Preakness.

When Sunday Silence’s status was doubtful earlier this week, Whittingham was asked about the bonus.

“What if he pulls the (starting) gate Saturday?” Whittingham said, smiling.

I visited Howard (Buddy) Jacobson in prison in Attica, N.Y., in January of 1988. Earlier this week, Jacobson, who was the country’s leading trainer for several years in the 1960s, died of cancer of the spine at the prison.

Jacobson, 58, was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the 1978 murder of a man in a notorious love-triangle case in New York.

Jacobson insisted that he was innocent. His lawyers were busy recently preparing an appeal that was keyed to testimony from a witness who said she had been afraid to appear at the first trial.

Jacobson appeared to be dying 15 months ago.

“I can’t move my head right or left much,” he said then. “I’d like to look you in the eye when we talk, and if you sit directly in front of me, I’ll be able to do that.”

I tended to believe Jacobson. It was a complicated case and I had the feeling that Jacobson, considering his poor health, wouldn’t subject his family to a costly appeal if he weren’t innocent. Many of Jacobson’s friends said that they didn’t know whether he had committed the murder or not.

Although owner Allen Paulson has won the Arlington Million with Estrapade and the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Turf with Theatrical, he considers last Saturday’s victory in the $700,000 Pimlico Special with Blushing John his biggest.

Paulson bought Estrapade from Nelson Bunker Hunt after her career had already begun and he owned Theatrical in a stormy partnership with Bert Firestone. Blushing John has raced only for Paulson, since he bought the horse for $850,000 as a yearling.

Blushing John needs Lasix--the anti-bleeder diuretic--to run effectively. This will preclude his running in New York, where horses aren’t allowed to run on medication.

Horse Racing Notes

King Glorious, who is undefeated in six starts, runs in the 1 1/16-mile Gold Rush Handicap on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields. Kept out of the Triple Crown races because of a knee injury, the Hollywood Futurity winner made his 3-year-old debut at Golden Gate last month and won by 21 lengths against only two opponents. . . . Sam Rubin, the New Yorker who raced John Henry, is looking for a home someplace between Santa Anita and Del Mar. Rubin still has a few horses with trainer Ron McAnally, who managed most of John Henry’s career.

Winning Colors, winless since her victory in the Kentucky Derby last year, has been unimpressive in two starts this year and her career is in jeopardy because of respiratory problems. . . . Hal Ramser, vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Assn. at Santa Anita and a horse owner and breeder, died at 81 on Monday night at his Bel Air home. . . . Bill Shoemaker is riding at Pimlico today as part of his farewell tour of American tracks.

Trainer Wayne Lukas will start two horses each in the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan for 3-year-old fillies and the $150,000 Dixie Handicap for grass runners at Pimlico on Friday. Imaginary Lady and Some Romance will run in the Black-Eyed Susan at 1 1/8 miles, and Waki River and Dynaformer are entered in the Dixie at 1 1/2 miles. The Black-Eyed Susan has a field of nine and also drew Dreamy Mimi, Seraglio, Tactile, Misty Ivor, Proper Miss, Noblest Heart and Moonlight Martini. . . . Sixteen are entered in the Dixie, including Top Guest, Salem Drive, Ten Keys, Dance Card Filled, Intensive Command, Master Speaker, Castelets, Morewoods, Kadial, Couer De Lion, Free Colony, Ask Not, Jim Bowie and Blue Nug. The last four horses listed are on the also-eligible list.