The Shoe Fits as Lord at War Wins Big Cap

The little girl whose head almost came up to her father’s chin was something different, but otherwise the winner’s circle photograph really wasn’t necessary at Santa Anita Sunday.

Historians could have dusted off one of several pictures from the past, gotten an artist to add a few wrinkles to the faces of Bill Shoemaker and Charlie Whittingham and saved Sunday’s photographers the trouble.

When the 53-year-old Shoemaker and the 71-year-old Whittingham teamed to win the $500,600 Santa Anita Handicap with Lord at War, the 5-year-old chestnut from Argentina, it was the fourth time the ageless jockey and the intrepid trainer had combined to capture the track’s most prestigious race.

Amanda Shoemaker, Bill and Cindy’s 4-year-old daughter, had good reason to miss the other Shoemaker-Whittingham triumphs, but it was more important that she be present for this one. Lord at War’s 1 3/4-length victory over Greinton, another horse trained by Whittingham, pushed Shoemaker over the $100-million mark in career purses, a figure that all the jockeys in the history of the game have only been able to dream about.

Years from now, 85,000 people will say they were there to witness Shoemaker’s milestone. This time, though, none of them will be fibbing. There were 85,000 people at Santa Anita Sunday--85,527, to be precise--and they not only broke the track attendance record but accounted for the biggest crowd other than for a Kentucky Derby in North American racing history.

What they saw was Shoemaker adding to a record that already had reached epic proportions. This was Shoemaker’s 11th Big Cap win--he got seven somehow without Whittingham’s help--and afterwards he referred to Lord at War as one of his favorite horses.

“I love him,” the 4-foot-11, 95-pound jockey said. “This little horse is great. To win this race at my age and with a horse like this--well, it’s great.”

The Lord at War-Shoemaker romance began last summer at Del Mar, where Peter and Diane Perkins’ horse made his first U.S. start. Tardy out of the gate, Lord at War was third that day, but since then, ridden exclusively by Shoemaker, he’s won six-of-seven starts, the last five victories in stakes competition.

The Big Cap represented a quandary for Whittingham and Shoemaker, because the jockey had also been riding Greinton, finishing second twice to the powerful Precisionist.

Shoemaker said that Amanda told him to ride Lord at War. Whittingham said that the Perkinses wanted Shoemaker to ride their horse. “Shoe’s an old friend,” Peter Perkins said, “and he fits this horse perfectly.”

It’s not a great matter about who was responsible for the ultimate decision.

Even Chris McCarron, who picked up the mount on Greinton because an ailing Precisionist couldn’t make the race, was happy. He got 10% of the second money, which was $100,000, with Lord at War banking $275,600 for his owners.

“I was just happy to be in the position I was in this race,” McCarron said. “I got a nice horse to ride, but that other horse is really tough. At the head of the lane, I thought my horse was looking pretty good, but Shoe hadn’t put his horse to the serious test yet. When Shoe hit his horse with the whip, he really accelerated.”

Lord at War, doing 1 miles in 2:00 3/5, paid $7, $3.80 and $2.80 as the second betting choice. The crowd made Gate Dancer the favorite, perhaps heeding trainer Jack Van Berg’s prerace feelings that last year’s Preakness winner would emerge from a third-place rut.

As it turned out, Gate Dancer, a bit rambunctious in the paddock, made it three straight thirds this year, finishing a length behind Greinton and 2 3/4 lengths behind Lord at War. Greinton paid $3.40 and $2.60, and Gate Dancer’s show price was $2.60.

Gate Dancer was last in the seven-horse field after a mile. “I thought he would have more of a finishing kick than that,” Van Berg said. “This track doesn’t seem to help him. He broke good, but then when he got to the backside, he started backing up.”

The early leader was Ayman, with Shoemaker keeping Lord at War within striking range. Lord at War had virtually led all the way in his four previous stakes wins, but Whittingham wasn’t concerned that he was looking at another horse’s posterior for a change.

“I told Shoe to let the other horse run in the beginning,” Whittingham said. “I knew we were chasing a horse who couldn’t go a mile and a quarter. And we had a horse that, on his pedigree, should be able to go a mile and a half.”

Ayman would finish sixth, beating only My Habitony. Lord at War took the lead on the turn and was never threatened by Greinton, who moved up from third when Ayman faltered.

“If Ayman was going to steal the race, fine,” Shoemaker said. “He was running great fractions (:45 4/5, 1:09 1/5, 1:34 2/5), but my horse was going so easy that I figured I would have plenty left.”

It was Whittingham’s sixth Big Cap win, and his first since 1975 when he hired Shoemaker to ride Marje Everett’s Stardust Mel.

“This one’s as big as any of them,” Whittingham said. “Of course, it’s more money than the others. How good is Lord at War? The way he keeps winning, he’s good enough. I figured I was in pretty good shape heading for home, with one horse first and the other one second.”

Whittingham’s third starter, Hail Bold King, finished fifth. Life’s Magic, an unexpected starter who was trying to become the first filly or mare to win the Big Cap, finished fourth.

“She did all right,” trainer Wayne Lukas said. “We only missed the whole thing by four lengths, and there were some pretty good horses in front of us. This race will set her up for some other things.”

Emblematic of Shoemaker’s reaching the $100-million mark, somebody from Santa Anita handed him a giant cardboard check in the winner’s circle.

“Winning the Big Cap means more to me than the $100 million,” Shoemaker said. “It’s nice to be the first to do anything, but 10 years from now someone will come along and hit $200 million.”

That someone might be Shoemaker.

Horse Racing Notes

Bill Shoemaker’s other Santa Anita Handicap winners with Charlie Whittingham were Pretense in 1967, Ack Ack in ’71 and Stardust Mel in ’75. Other Whittingham winners in the Big Cap were Corn Husker (‘57) and Cougar II in ’73. . . . Shoemaker rode Bolder Than Bold, a 3-year-old colt, to victory for Whittingham in Sunday’s third race and finished the day with 8,446 wins, 917 of them in stakes and 207 of them in $100,000 races.