Horse Racing : Chief’s Crown Might Inherit a Jinx

It used to be that being rated first in the Experimental Free Handicap was an indicator of better things to come, such as a win in the Kentucky Derby. But not lately.

In recent years, the 2-year-old that has led the Experimental list has inherited a hex. It’s as risky as being picked by Jimmy the Greek to win a race.

The Experimental has been an annual assessment of 2-year-olds since 1933, with the theoretical top weight going to the horse with the outstanding record.

This year, the Jockey Club’s panel of three racing secretaries--Lenny Hale in New York, Tommy Trotter from Gulfstream Park and Arlington Park, and Santa Anita’s Lou Eilken--had no difficulty giving the high weight of 126 pounds to Chief’s Crown.

Chief’s Crown won four of the 12 major stakes for 2-year-olds last year, including the Cowdin at Belmont Park, the Norfolk at Santa Anita and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Hollywood Park in his last three starts. Different horses finished first in each of the other eight races.

But the Experimental jinx may be at work again. Since arriving in Florida from his victory at Hollywood Park, Chief’s Crown has been bothered by a cough.

Only recently has the newly turned 3-year-old returned to the track for a few gallops, and word out of Gulfstream Park Wednesday indicated that Chief’s Crown probably won’t be ready to run March 2 in the Florida Derby, the year’s first major race on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

Although the early signs are ominous, it’s premature to include Chief’s Crown with the star-crossed horses who have either led or tied for the top in the Experimental ratings since 1980.

That takes in seven horses, and none of them made it to the Kentucky Derby. Two of them--Timely Writer and Roving Boy--died on the track later in their careers. The others--Lord Avie, Deputy Minister, Copelan and Devil’s Bag--had physical problems and never approached the form they showed as 2-year-olds.

They’re a distinct contrast with the Experimental leaders in the 1970s. During an eight-year stretch, the top-weighted Experimental 2-year-old went on to win the Derby six times. That list includes Riva Ridge, Secretariat, Foolish Pleasure, Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Spectacular Bid.

This year’s Experimental doesn’t appear to have any horses of that caliber. “They say that every year,” trainer Charlie Whittingham said. This year, though, it may be true.

“The group is very good, but there’s really no outstanding horse,” Eilken said. “It’s going to be an interesting Derby.”

After Chief’s Crown, the Experimental is a list of 227 horses, many of them question-mark Triple Crown prospects.

Saratoga Six, winner of the Del Mar Futurity and undefeated in four starts, was given 125 pounds, only one fewer than Chief’s Crown, but the son of Alydar broke down at Santa Anita and has been retired to stud.

Smile, given 123 pounds, was another undefeated 2-year-old, winning five straight, but he underwent surgery on both knees late in the year and won’t be an immediate factor this year.

Spend a Buck, also rated at 123 pounds, was beaten by both Chief’s Crown and Smile and has been out of action since having knee surgery after his third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup.

After the first four horses on the list, the weights drop to 121 pounds and less for the rest. The lack of depth in the ranks is typified by the rating of Tank’s Prospect, who is tied with Hollywood Futurity winner Stephan’s Odyssey for seventh place.

Tank’s Prospect is more known for the horses he’s threatened than the races he’s won. In fact, the only race he won as a 2-year-old was against maidens. He was second, less than a length behind Chief’s Crown, in the Breeders’ Cup, and he ran fourth, 2 lengths behind the victorious Stephan’s Odyssey, in the Hollywood Futurity.

When Tank’s Prospect finished second in the Breeders’ Cup, earning more than half of his career total of $431,795 in purses, trainer Wayne Lukas said it was a “tremendous performance, considering this was our bench.”

Lukas, sounding like the former basketball coach he once was, meant that his stable’s first team was Saratoga Six.

But now that Saratoga Six has been retired, Tank’s Prospect still seems to be on Lukas’ bench. The trainer has the notion that another colt, Huddle Up, may be his best Kentucky Derby candidate.

With no stakes credentials, Huddle Up wasn’t even listed on the Experimental Free Handicap. It could be that kind of a year.

When Shifty Sheik, a horse claimed by trainer Oscar Barrera for $35,000, finished second, a half-length behind Slew o’ Gold, in last year’s Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park, he got almost as much attention as the winner.

“We almost beat a $20-million horse,” Barrera said. There were suggestions that Shifty Shiek might have become a $1-million horse with that performance, and Barrera reportedly received feelers from as far away as Japan.

There was no sale, however, and it’s been downhill for Shifty Shiek ever since. The 6-year-old son of Damascus hasn’t gone back to the claiming ranks, but he’s been unable to hack it in better company.

After the Woodward, Shifty Shiek came back in the Marlboro Cup and ran seventh, this time finishing more than 12 lengths behind Slew o’ Gold. In 10 races since then, Shifty Shiek has won only once, in a $40,000 allowance, and he hasn’t been close in five stakes starts.

Racing Notes

Fali Time’s fifth-place finish in last Sunday’s San Fernando Stakes at Santa Anita was the worst race of his career. He bled during the race, the second time that’s happened in his last three starts. . . . Funeral services for Linda Pincay, the jockey’s wife who died Sunday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, will be at 10 a.m. today at Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church, with burial at Forest Lawn. . . . Mighty Appealing, a top 3-year-old training in Florida, missed a workout because of abscessed foot, but is expected to run in the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 6. . . . Banner Bob, who finished third in the Tropical Park Derby, recently worked five furlongs out of the gate in :56 3/5, one of the fastest workouts ever registered in Florida.

Mr Dalrae, the locally owned 6-year-old pacer, is scheduled to start tonight at the Meadowlands in New Jersey in the first leg of the Presidential Series. Also in the field are Boomer Drummond and the other three horses who finished ahead of Mr Dalrae in his last start. . . . When fans overturned trash cans looking for discarded tickets during the Pick Six confusion at Santa Anita a couple of weeks ago, retired turf writer Oscar Otis said it was nothing new. “Something similar happened at Pimlico 40 years ago and the fans did the same thing,” he said. . . . The track at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona is being lengthened from a half-mile to five furlongs, at a cost estimated at $1.5 million. . . . That unfamiliar name running second to Eddie Delahoussaye in the Daily Racing Form’s national jockey standings is Jose Santos, who won the Tropical Park Derby with Irish Sur. Santos, 23, is a Chilean who was a leading rider in South America before he came to Florida last year.