Whittingham Protege Makes His First Big Bid

If training experience in big races counts, Chris Speckert should be about 1,000-1 to win the $300,000 Santa Anita Derby today with Don’t Say Halo.

Speckert, a 31-year-old Englishman, has never started a horse in a stakes race. He has saddled just seven horses in his life and has only two wins--both with Don’t Say Halo.

Consider other trainers in the race:

--Laz Barrera, who will start Smarten Up, has won the Kentucky Derby with Bold Forbes, and the Santa Anita Derby, the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown with Affirmed.

--Wayne Lukas, who has Tank’s Prospect, has won the Santa Anita Derby a record-tying three times.

--Joe Manzi, whose hope today is Floating Reserve, trained the nation’s 2-year-old champion, Roving Boy, in 1982.

What’s Chris Speckert doing in company like this?

He’s trying to prove that another graduate of Charlie Whittingham’s Finishing School for Horse Trainers can make it.

Manzi himself is one of Whittingham’s former assistants. He said once that he turned down several jobs because he wanted to spend more time learning from the Hall of Fame trainer.

After Neil Drysdale left Whittingham, he developed multi-stakes winner Bold ‘n Determined, and last year trained Eclipse Award winner Princess Rooney.

Dick Lundy, who left Whittingham in 1982, saddled Carr de Naskra, who won the Travers at Saratoga last year.

Those are the trails Speckert hopes to follow. He does not appear overwhelmed by the task. Asked the other day whom he used to work for, Speckert puckishly said: “Mike Whittingham’s father.”

Mike is Charlie’s son and he, too, has a 3-year-old in the Santa Anita Derby--Skywalker, one of the favorites.

Charlie Whittingham has won so many major stakes that it really doesn’t bother him that he has never won a Santa Anita Derby, but it would be an odd twist if either his son or a former assistant beats him to the winner’s circle in this prestigious race.

With Don’t Say Halo, Speckert has a legitimate chance in a nine-horse field that doesn’t have a real standout. The Virginia-bred colt is a son of Halo, who also sired Sunny’s Halo, winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1983. Don’t Say Halo is owned and was bred by Thomas Mellon Evans, the New York industrialist who won the Kentucky Derby with Pleasant Colony in 1981.

Don’t Say Halo began his career in New York under Johnny Campo, another of Evans’ trainers who won the Derby with Pleasant Colony. His best finish in four starts was a second, and in the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga he beat only one horse, running 14 1/2 lengths behind the winner, Chief’s Crown.

In January, Don’t Say Halo and five more of Evans’ horses were sent to Speckert, who had just gotten his trainer’s license. Evans, looking for a California trainer to handle a division of his stable, had brought Speckert to New York for an interview. Speckert had been recommended to Evans by Jimmy Kilroe, vice president for racing at Santa Anita. Whittingham trained Flying Partner for Evans, and Speckert had traveled with the filly to Oaklawn Park for her 1982 win in the Fantasy Stakes.

Don’t Say Halo was the first horse Speckert started. Under Bill Shoemaker, Don’t Say Halo won by three lengths against maidens at Santa Anita Feb. 16, running six furlongs in an impressive 1:09 2/5. Two weeks later, Don’t Say Halo moved into the allowance ranks and got bumped coming out of the gate but still rallied to finish second.

“I don’t think it would have made any difference,” Speckert said. “He wasn’t going to catch the winner, anyhow.”

In his last race, March 24, Don’t Say Halo got a new rider, Darrel McHargue, when Shoemaker stayed with another colt, Witan. Witan ran sixth, and Don’t Say Halo rallied from fourth to win by 1 1/2 lengths. McHargue will ride Don’t Say Halo again today.

Speckert, the son of a Swiss lawyer, was born not far from famed Ascot in Berkshire, England. “My mother, who died last year, was a cattle breeder,” he said. “I always liked the outdoors; that’s what interested me from the beginning.”

Speckert’s uncle knew just one horse trainer, and through him, Speckert was able to get a job at 17 with Ted Curtin in Ireland.

After two years as Curtin’s assistant, Speckert joined Stan Cosgrove, a breeding veterinarian who worked for Robert Sangster, the British soccer-pools magnate who has spent millions on horses.

“I might have wound up in Ireland, but I wanted to see the U.S.,” Speckert said. “That’s where all the big owners and horses were.”

Arriving in California with a round-trip plane ticket, Speckert met Greg Ferraro, a local veterinarian who showed him around. Ferraro thought Speckert was staying four days, but his return flight wasn’t for three months.

“It didn’t matter,” Speckert said. “I cashed in the ticket. This was a place where I wanted to stay.”

Through Ferraro, Speckert landed a job with Whittingham. “Do your best,” Whittingham told him. “Otherwise, get down the road.”

A year later, Lundy departed to train for Virginia Kraft Payson in the East, and Whittingham reorganized his stable, bringing Rodney Rash off the road and replacing him with Speckert. Speckert traveled to a number of important races with such stakes winners as Perrault and Erins Isle.

Now he’s shooting for a race his mentor never won, and this weekend his new boss, Thomas Mellon Evans, is in town. The other day, while Brian Sweeney, an owner of Erins Isle, was in his barn office, Speckert was making sure there would be pictures of Evans’ horses on the wall.

“Gee, I hope you won’t be taking down Erins Isle just to make room for the others,” Sweeney said.

Horse Racing Notes Hazel Longden, Johnny’s wife, is the only woman trainer who has ever started a horse in the Santa Anita Derby, but that will change today when Patty Johnson saddles Fast Account and Vivian Pulliam sends out Cosmotron. Hazel Longden’s Diplomatic Agent finished eighth in the 1971 race after he had won the San Vicente, making her the first winning female trainer in a stake at Santa Anita. . . . Fast Account and Cosmotron were late nominations for the Santa Anita Derby, costing their owners $1,000 apiece. Regular nominations cost $100.

Skywalker and Smarten Up bled in their last races, meaning they will race with the furosemide medication today. “That should help, and so should the extra distance,” said Mike Whittingham, Skywalker’s trainer. Skywalker lost by a nose to Image of Greatness in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe Handicap. He will be ridden by Laffit Pincay instead of Pat Day in the 1 1/8-mile Derby. . . . Spectacular Love, second in his only start this year, will be targeted for races at Hollywood Park instead of the Triple Crown. First Norman can’t make the May 4 Kentucky Derby, but the May 18 Preakness Stakes is a possibility. Laz Barrera trains Spectacular Love and is part owner of First Norman, who is trained by Barrera’s son, Albert.