Eternal Prince Runs Away With Wood Memorial Win

It was Eternal Prince beating Proud Truth by 2 3/4 lengths Saturday in the $296,500 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, but from an ownership standpoint it was the New York Yankees over the Pittsburgh Pirates. If Bowie Kuhn, always uncomfortable with baseball people risking their souls on a gambling game, were still the commissioner of baseball, he wouldn’t have been able to stand it.

In his regime, Kuhn allowed owners such as George Steinbrenner of the Yankees and John Galbreath of the Pirates to keep their horses under a vague, unwritten grandfather clause, and without those two owners Saturday, the other four colts in the Wood might have had a chance.

As it was, Eternal Prince stole to an easy lead and in effect stole the race. After leisurely early fractions of :48 for half a mile and 1:11 3/5 for six furlongs, Eternal Prince had a four-length lead on Rhoman Rule going into the top of the stretch and then easily held off Florida Derby-winner Proud Truth in the run to the wire.

The outcome of the Wood, seen by 30,022 fans on a cool, overcast day more like fall than spring in New York, added a refreshing element to the Kentucky Derby May 4, when the first three finishers are likely to meet again.

Eternal Prince was a convincing five-length winner at a mile in the Gotham Stakes two weeks ago and was three out of four lifetime at Aqueduct before the Wood. As a result, the New York horseplayers sent off the 3-year-old colt as a 5-2 second choice along with Rhoman Rule, whose record in Florida this year had been two wins in two races by 18 lengths.

Eternal Prince, running 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 4/5, almost two seconds slower than the track record over a racing strip labeled good but more realistically wet-fast, paid $7, $3.20 and $2.80. Proud Truth, the 8-5 favorite, paid $3 and $2.20, and Rhoman Rule, who finished five lengths behind the winner, was $2.60 to show. After those three, the order of finish was El Basco, Pancho Villa and Cutlass Reality.

Less than two weeks ago, Steinbrenner paid close to $1 million for a 37.5% interest in Eternal Prince. The well-bred son of 1969 Kentucky Derby winner Majestic Prince was bred by Steinbrenner in Florida and cost Brian Hurst, a former automobile broker in Richmond, Va., only $17,500 at a 2-year-old auction last year.

Hurst, who now does nothing but run a racing stable, thought Eternal Prince’s auction sale price would reach six figures and was astounded when the bidding tailed off at $15,000. Florida auction prices were generally low and some potential bidders had problems with the straightness in one of Eternal Prince’s legs.

Steinbrenner had forgotten about Eternal Prince, even though the horse was a favorite of his 26-year-old son Hank, who runs the family’s breeding operation.

But two weeks ago, Image of Greatness, winner of the San Felipe Handicap at Santa Anita and a Steinbrenner horse who was being pointed for the Derby, ran a poor race at Garden State Park, finishing far back in the Cherry Hill Mile.

“That was his third tough race at three tracks in three weeks,” Steinbrenner said, “but it wasn’t the fault of the trainer (Wayne Lukas), it was the fault of the owner, he wanted to run him in the Cherry Hill. “Anyway, after the race, I was having drinks with some friends and they were talking about this horse who had run so fast in the Gotham the same day.

“I didn’t recognize Eternal Prince’s name and somebody said to me, ‘You ought to know him, you bred that horse.’ So I contacted Mr. Hurst and we made a deal. I don’t usually do that--buy in to a horse I’ve already sold. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever done it. But this horse was different, he was a favorite of Hank’s, had been bred and broken at our farm and looked like he could run.”

Hurst, 36, has retained a 37.5% interest in Eternal Prince and plans to syndicate the remaining 25%. “Thank God I didn’t sell him before today’s race,” Hurst said Saturday. “People in Kentucky were trying to tell me that his last race was a fluke. They wanted to bargain, so I broke off the talks and told them I’d wait until after the Wood. Now they can come and talk. This horse is worth between $6 million and $8 million.”

Eternal Prince is trained by Butch Lenzini, who last year moved his operation from New York to Maryland, where he won the Preakness Stakes with Aloma’s Ruler in 1982.

“Going down the backstretch, I could see Angel (Cordero, riding Pancho Villa) going after my horse because we were running so easy,” Lenzini said. “My horse got a little tired at the end, because he had never gone that far. I was only worried about the mud if it got real tiring for him. But the way he ran, he had everything his way.”

Riding Eternal Prince was Richard Migliore, the winner of the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top apprentice in 1981 but a jockey whose successes have been infrequent in recent years.

“This colt’s shown he’s a horse to be reckoned with,” Migliore said. “We got lucky today because he had a good pace.”

The win gives Eternal Prince a lifetime record of four victories and two seconds in eight starts. His $177,900 payoff raised career earnings to $342,740.

“I’m not sure what really went wrong, except the winner was a sure winner,” said Jorge Velasquez, Proud Truth’s jockey.

Angel Penna Jr., who trains Rhoman Rule, said he considered scratching his colt because of the off track.

“I still think Chief’s Crown (last year’s 2-year-old champion who’s scheduled to make his last pre-Derby start in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Thursday) is the horse to beat in the Derby,” Penna said. “He’s still the classiest horse around. We had three things against us today --the mud, the inside post position and carrying 126 pounds for the first time, which was 14 more than the last time.”

Steinbrenner didn’t go to the paddock before the Wood, his son Hank telling friends that his father didn’t want to bring Eternal Prince any bad luck.

After the race, though, Steinbrenner’s low profile was over and he was prominent in the winner’s circle, more consistent with his flamboyant style. He was greeted by a small contingent of fans who chanted, “Let’s go, Mets” from their niche overlooking the trophy presentation.

The man’s had a Derby starter before, Steve’s Friend winning the Hollywood Derby and finishing fifth at Churchill Downs after jumping the tracks of the starting gate during the stretch run.

Asked about this year’s Derby, Steinbrenner said: “That’s up to Butch Lenzini. I don’t tell my trainers or my managers what to do.”

Billy Martin and all of the other ex-Yankee managers would have washed out their ears after they heard that.