Horse Racing / Bill Christine : A Riot Got Galbreath Into Racing

Hundreds of fans grumbled recently when a favorite at Santa Anita was declared a non-starter after his door in the starting gate had failed to open properly.

Somebody pointed out, though: “If this had happened in New York, they would have done more than grumble--they would have dismantled the grandstand.”

That reminded Dan Galbreath of a story about his father, John, who owns Darby Dan Farm.

“Dad got into racing because some fans did tear down a grandstand,” Dan Galbreath said. “It was at a fair in Dayton, Ohio, a long time ago, in the days before racing used a photo-finish camera.

“There was a close finish in a race, and the fans rioted because they didn’t like the way the judges put up the numbers. They did so much damage that the rest of the meet had to be cancelled.

“Many of the horsemen were poor and didn’t have the money to ship their horses to the nearest track that was running. Dad went over to the fairgrounds and bought five mares for $100 apiece. Those were his first horses.”

From that accidental beginning, John Galbreath started what became Darby Dan, a farm that has produced Chateaugay and Proud Clarion, winners of the Kentucky Derby, and Roberto, winner of the English Derby. Nobody else has won both of those internationally recognized stakes.

John Galbreath’s Proud Truth will try to win the Flamingo Stakes Saturday at Hialeah, hoping to justify the faith that some winter-book oddsmakers for the Kentucky Derby have shown in the 3-year-old colt. A field of only five horses is expected, headed by Proud Truth, Chief’s Crown and Stephan’s Odyssey.

Although Chief’s Crown, last year’s 2-year-old champion, is the high weight on the Experimental Handicap and is the winner of his only start this season, he has been ranked second to Proud Truth in several precincts.

Some trainers don’t like the pressure of having a horse in the limelight. Mike Whittingham, for example, hasn’t been happy with all that’s been written and said about Skywalker this year. “I wish everybody would wait until the horse really does something,” Whittingham says.

But John Veitch, who trains Proud Truth, welcomes the notoriety. “They’ve got us the favorite?” Veitch said. “Good. I hope it says that way right up to the Kentucky Derby.”

Recent winners Cosmotron and Don’t Say Halo are a Santa Anita Derby win away from being ready to run in the Kentucky Derby May 4, but they’re not eligible to run at Churchill Downs because they weren’t nominated for the $200 fee by the Feb. 15 deadline. The Derby doesn’t accept supplementary nominations.

Don’t Say Halo is owned by Thomas Mellon Evans, who won the Kentucky Derby in 1981 with Pleasant Colony. Halo, who sired Don’t Say Halo, also sired Sunny’s Halo, winner of the ’83 Derby.

Jon White of the Daily Racing Form researched the name Cosmotron and found that it means “a proton accelerator.”

Vivian Pulliam, Cosmotron’s trainer, said that just before Chris McCarron climbed on Cosmotron for his win in the Bradbury Stakes, he said: “Let’s go split some neutrons.”

Actually, that wasn’t exactly what McCarron said.

“What I said was, ‘Let’s go accelerate some protons,’ ” the jockey said. “But that’s only because I read what the horse’s name meant in the Form.”

Accidentally, the Pulliams--Vivian’s husband, Norman, owns the horses--have no fillies in their barn. Their eight horses are all colts and geldings.

By rights, the Pulliams should be partial to females. Their best horse has been Avigaition, the multiple stakes winner who earned $687,000 before she was retired last year.

A female trainer has never started a horse in the Santa Anita Derby, but if Cosmotron and Fast Account run in the stake April 6, they will give the race two woman conditioners. Fast Account is trained by Patty Johnson.

As Kentucky Derby time approaches, trainer Charlie Whittingham, Mike’s father, has his usual so-what approach. Whittingham has won many major races, but he’s only started two horses in the Derby and really doesn’t have much desire to return to Churchill Downs.

“I took Gone Fishin’ to the Derby in ‘58, and he finished eighth,” Whittingham said. “It took a lot out of the horse. If we had stayed home, we could have made a lot of money right here in California.”

Whittingham had two Derby contenders in 1960.

“Eagle Admiral won the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, but then he fractured a knee running in the Florida Derby,” he said. “So I took Divine Comedy to Louisville and he finished ninth. The only way to go to the Derby is with an odds-on favorite.”

Equus magazine sent a battery of veterinarians and a horse psychiatrist to Santa Anita to measure and examine John Henry, who’s slowly getting ready as a 10-year-old for another campaign after winning his second horse-of-the-year title in 1984. The results of the Equus study will appear in its May issue.

“It’s extraordinary the way John Henry moves on the track, and the way he dominates the sport, and we believe his performance can be measured,” says Dr. Matthew McKay-Smith, the magazine’s medical editor. “We think we made inroads into John Henry’s mind when we saw him, and there is evidence that his intellectual resources match his physical resources.

“There’s a need to look at more of the elite horses in detail. By doing so, maybe it’s possible to pass on some of their makeup to horses who have the basic credentials to be champions.”

Chris McCarron, who has ridden John Henry more than any jockey, is no psychiatrist, but he has insight enough into what makes the old gelding tick. John Henry has an ego as great as his heart, McCarron says. “He’s the biggest ham I ever rode.”

Racing Notes Last year, the Breeders’ Cup was fortunate that owners of most of the top ineligible horses were willing to pay six-figure supplementary fees to get into the million-dollar races in November at Hollywood Park. Wild Again, winner of the $3-million race, was a $360,000 supplementary gamble by his owners, who hadn’t originally nominated him. About the only nonnominated standout not supplemented was Sabin.

When the rich races are run this Nov. 2 at Aqueduct, the Breeders’ Cup will need more venturesome owners, if the current divisional leaders are any criterion. Among the ineligibles are Lord at War, Greinton, Mitterand, Stephan’s Odyssey, Irish Sur, The Rogers Four, Debonair Junior and Al Mamoon.

Allen Paulson is negotiating to buy two one-time breeding rights to Seattle Slew for $1 million. If he’s successful, it will be further proof that it’s a buyers’ market. A year ago, two rights to the Triple Crown champion might have cost $1.5 million. . . . David Sofro will keep only one share when Interco is syndicated for $6 million next year. Sofro, who owned Interco when he won the Santa Anita Handicap in 1984, is a man who would rather race than breed horses.

Craig McGurn, who gets only a few mounts in California, will ride this summer at Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha. . . . Bill Shoemaker has a busy travel week, going to Latonia near Cincinnati for an autograph session Friday night, then riding Hail Bold King next Monday night when the rebuilt Garden State Park outside Philadelphia opens its season. . . . Trainer Vincent Timphony’s appeal of his 15-day suspension at Oaklawn Park was rejected. A winning Timphony horse was disqualified for having phenylbutazone, an illegal medication in Arkansas, in her system.

Los Alamitos will open a 91-night quarter horse meeting May 1. A series for 2-year-olds heads the stakes schedule, starting with the $600,000 (estimated)-Kindergarten June 15 and including two $1-million (estimated)-races--the Dash for Cash Futurity July 13 and the Los Alamitos Futurity Aug. 10. The season will close Aug. 14.