Winning Cars, Disqualifications a Specialty in Greenman Family

When Jean Greenman won a $40,000 car by putting $6 into a Las Vegas slot machine a few days ago, her husband was thrilled.

When her husband, trainer Walter Greenman, won Saturday’s $303,300 Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap after another horse was disqualified, he considered himself lucky. The Santa Anita stewards’ disqualification of Alphabet Soup, in favor of Savinio, was controversial and not expected by Greenman.

Then Sunday, Greenman’s good fortune reached another level. Bon Point finished first in the $300,000 Oak Tree Turf Championship, but the stewards disqualified him too and there was the diminutive Greenman, 56, shuffling into the winner’s circle again with a “What, me worry?” grin.

“Love them stewards,” Greenman said, after posing for a photograph with Admise, the 4-year-old French filly who earned the $180,000 winner’s share of the purse even though Bon Point beat her by three-quarters of a length. The stewards needed seven minutes to reach this decision, but it seemed considerably more clear-cut than Saturday’s. This time the winner, ridden by Chris Antley, made a short lead in mid-stretch and ducked in to bother Khoraz and favored Gold And Steel on the inside. Bon Point was dropped to last place in the five-horse field.

Racing records being what they are, there is no listing of a trainer winning two important races via fouls on successive days, but it seems a safe bet that lightning has never struck this way before. Gary Biszantz and Gary Vandeweghe were as fortunate as Greenman: They are partners in the ownership of both Savinio and Admise.

Watching Admise and her jockey, Kent Desormeaux, through the stretch, Greenman wasn’t aware of the problems that Bon Point caused.

“I saw Kent shake his whip past the finish line, so I figured something must have happened that could move us up,” he said.

Antley said he couldn’t stop Bon Point from changing paths.

“He started in and I switched sticks and hit him,” the jockey said. “I was already taking a hold. But he was heading in too strong with me. I had his head cocked, but there was nothing I could really do. I think he really tried to follow [Khoraz] because [Khoraz] was out there with me and he ducked in a little and my horse went to follow him. Corey [Nakatani] straightened his horse out, but I couldn’t make my horse straighten up. It was just one of those things.”

Khoraz, the early pace-setter, finished third before being moved up to second place by the stewards.

“[Bon Point] bumped me, and in turn I bothered [Gold And Steel],” Nakatani said.

Admise is the third female to win the stake, after Estrapade in 1986 and Zalataia in 1983.

In neither of the disqualifications was the foul committed against Greenman’s horses.

“We were walking around all day Sunday calling Walter ‘Lucky’ after what happened Saturday,” Desormeaux said. “Now what are we going to call him?”

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While Greenman won’t run Savinio in the Breeders’ Cup and is unsure about plans for Admise, other horses that ran in 90-degree heat at Santa Anita Sunday are headed for Woodbine, including Lakota Brave, winner of the $149,200 Ancient Title Breeders’ Cup Handicap, and Jewel Princess, who lost by a half-length to Top Rung in the $109,450 Lady’s Secret Breeders’ Cup Handicap. The seven Breeders’ Cup races, worth $11 million, will be run on Oct. 26. Lakota Brave will run in the $1-million Sprint and Jewel Princess, despite her defeat, will be one of the favorites in the $1-million Distaff.

Willard Proctor, who trains Top Rung, said that he will recommend to the mare’s owner, Leonard Lavin, that they skip the Breeders’ Cup. Top Rung ended a 12-race losing streak, catching Jewel Princess on a return from a 10-week layoff. Lavin’s horse finished seventh in the Distaff last year at Belmont Park.

In another stake Sunday, Free House, who broke his maiden at Fairplex Park on Sept. 13, was a 9-1 winner of the $200,000 Norfolk. Free House’s breeders and owners, Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan, weren’t sure whether their colt was eligible for the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Favored Swiss Yodeler was third.

Horse Racing Notes

At Belmont Park Sunday, Yanks Music beat Serena’s Song again, this time in the $400,000 Beldame Stakes. Serena’s Song, who’s on a five-race losing streak, couldn’t protect her lead in the last sixteenth of a mile. . . . In other Belmont races, Lord Carson and Honour And Glory, both trained by Wayne Lukas, ran 1-2 in the $175,000 Boojum Handicap; Storm Song won the Frizette and Allied Forces captured the $143,875 Jamaica Handicap. . . . At Keeneland, Chris McCarron rode Different to victory in the $542,000 Spinster, with Top Secret, Belle Of Cozzene and Urbane following her across the line. Golden Attraction was scratched. . . . Trainer Sonny Hine indicated that Skip Away, upset winner against Cigar on Saturday, wouldn’t be supplemented, at a cost of $480,000, for the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic. “The next race is February,” Hine said. “The Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park.” . . . Dramatic Gold is a probable for the Classic after his victory Friday in the Meadowlands Cup. . . . Helissio, ridden by Olivier Peslier, won the Arc de Triomphe, France’s most prestigious race, at Longchamp, with Pilsudski second and Oscar Schindler third. Helissio, a 3-year-old colt who has won five of six starts, coasted home by five lengths.