Whittingham and Shoemaker Team Up Today

Harry Silbert, Bill Shoemaker’s first and only agent, was sitting at an office desk at Santa Anita’s Barn 4, waiting for trainer Charlie Whittingham to return from the track.

Silbert, who has been booking mounts for Shoemaker since 1949, was waiting for Whittingham to officially tell him that Shoemaker would be riding Greinton, the French-bred 4-year-old, in today’s $150,000 San Fernando, Santa Anita’s first major stake of the season.

Whittingham, 71, and Shoemaker, 53, had much in common in 1984. They had years that most any trainer or jockey would sell his soul for, but by personal standards their performances were sub-par.

Whittingham won only one big race, the San Juan Capistrano with Load the Cannons, and finished with $3.1 million in purses. There’s nothing humiliating about being eighth on the money list, but Whittingham hasn’t been that low since 1966, when he was 10th. Before ‘84, he had been first or second in the country for 13 out of 15 years. Whittingham’s ’84 win total was 53, the lowest since he won 52 in ’66.

Shoemaker won the Santa Ana Handicap with Avigaition in March, but after that there were no major victories. He barely went over the 100-victory mark, and almost finished out of the top 20 in purse money. But because Shoemaker accepts fewer mounts than most of the top jockeys, a more telling figure was his winning percentage--about .130, compared to a lifetime .227.

Toward the end of ’84 and in the early days of this year, however, Shoemaker and Whittingham have shown signs that their dry spell is ending. Shoemaker increased his winning percentage to .180 at Hollywood Park, finished in a tie for fifth in the standings and has the mount on First Norman, Laz and Albert Barrera’s big hope in this year’s Kentucky Derby. At Santa Anita, Shoemaker is among the leaders and has two stakes wins.

Whittingham reeled off five stakes victories at Hollywood in December, giving him a meet high of six, and on Jan. 5 at Santa Anita he saddled Dahar for a win in the San Gabriel Handicap.

“Things are looking good,” Whittingham said. “You can’t be on top every year, and it’s hard to squawk when you win $3 million in purses. We had some injuries--Palikaraki, Lotsa Honey, Prince True. Castilla was retired. I was light on 3-year-olds, and Prince True, who looked like a genuine mile-and-a-half horse, didn’t finish the season.”

Rodney Rash, one of Whittingham’s assistants, was standing nearby and said: “And, for a long time, we had a bad case of second-itis.” Indeed, Whittingham had 57 seconds, four more than victories.

Prince True’s splint problems seem to be behind him; and Whittingham also has Reine Mathilde, second to the champion Royal Heroine in Hollywood’s Matriarch, and Hail Bold King, who cost Robert Brennan $3.2 million in the C.V. Whitney dispersal sale.

Whittingham hoped to have Hail Bold King ready for the 1 1/8-mile San Fernando, but instead he’s starting Greinton, who’s won three straight in the United States since Whittingham and his partners, Mary Jones Bradley and Howell Wynne, bought him from Stavros Niarchos for $550,000 last year.

Shoemaker, who picked up the mount on Greinton because Laffit Pincay is riding Gate Dancer, and Whittingham have teamed to win 95 races at Santa Anita and Oak Tree, but the San Fernando is a tough spot for a horse running on dirt for the first time. It’s a tough spot, period, with Gate Dancer, Precisionist, Fali Time and Tsunami Slew in the seven-horse field.

“He trains like the dirt won’t bother him,” Whittingham said of Greinton. “There’s a first time for everything, and some horses don’t have any trouble switching over. Perrault (disqualified winner of the 1982 Santa Anita Handicap) did it easy. So did Exceller. He went right out and won the Hollywood Gold Cup, and then he went to New York in the slop and won (over Seattle Slew in the 1978 Jockey Club Gold Cup).”

Horse Racing Notes

Gate Dancer finished second to Swale in the Eclipse Awards voting for 1984’s best 3-year-old colt. . . . After finishing second and being disqualified to third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Hollywood Park on Nov. 10, Gate Dancer took ill and missed about a month of training. “His white blood count was way down, and that’s what worried us,” trainer Jack Van Berg said. “But maybe the man upstairs was on our side. We were taking a good look at that grass race on Dec. 9 (the Hollywood Turf Cup), and the illness stopped us. The horse had had a long season as it was.” . . . Precisionist needs a win today to have a chance to become the fifth horse to sweep the Strub series. He took the opener, the Malibu, on Dec. 26. The Charles H. Strub Stakes will be run Feb. 3. Previous sweeps were registered by Round Table, Hillsdale, Ancient Title and Spectacular Bid. . . . Sandy Hawley had to make a choice and is sticking with Fali Time in the San Fernando, leaving Majestic Shore for Pat Valenzuela. . . . Charlie Whittingham says Hail Bold King’s West Coast debut probably will be in the San Pasqual Handicap on Jan. 26. . . . Santa Anita will run the $100,000 El Encino Stakes Sunday and the $100,000 Gorgonio Handicap Monday. Mitterand will try to win her second stake of the season in the El Encino, and the five fillies who trailed her in the Jan. 6 La Brea are also entered Sunday.