Dahar’s Win in Century Handicap Surprises Everyone but Whittingham

To say that Charlie Whittingham is a sly old fox, is like saying Meryl Streep can act.

It’s common knowledge, but just when everyone thinks they’ve got the 72-year-old trainer figured out, along he comes with a crafty sleight-of-hand that leaves handicappers wondering about that fifth ace he must have up his sleeve.

Sunday afternoon in the $150,000 Century Handicap at Hollywood Park, Whittingham had the early speed in Lord at War, a winner of five straight stakes races, including a 1 3/4-length victory in the Santa Anita Handicap.

Although Lord at War had been off since March 3, his works coming up to the Century were impressive. So impressive, in fact, that a crowd of 36,371 sent Lord at War off as a 4-5 favorite in the 1 1/8-mile race on the turf.

Indeed, before the race, trainer Eddie Gregson, saddling Tsunami Slew, said that Lord at War was the best horse in America.

But Whittingham is a man who likes a sure thing, even when it looks as if he’s got the sure thing. So, just in case the high weight of 127 pounds proved too much of a handicap to Lord at War, he entered Dahar, whose strong stretch runs earlier this year at Santa Anita earned victories in the San Gabriel and San Marcos handicaps.

“Lord at War is fit enough,” Whittingham said before Sunday’s race. “In fact, he was dead fit at Santa Anita and his work here has been excellent. But weight will get any great horse. I mean this is the only business in the world where they penalize the best.

“Someone could catch him in the stretch.”

Whittingham didn’t have a twinkle in his eye when he said “someone,” but the someone, of course, turned out to be Dahar, who blazed through the stretch, with Chris McCarron up, to overtake his stablemate and snatch a 2 1/2-length victory, collecting $122,800 for his owners, the Summa Stables.

Lord at War’s fast early fractions and Dahar’s finishing kick accounted for a stakes record time of 1:46 3/5. Handicappers clever enough to unravel Whittingham’s little mini-mystery were rewarded with a payoff of $16.20, $6.40 and $5.40. Second-place finisher Both Ends Burning, with Laffit Pincay up, returned $4.40 and $4.20, while Majestic Shore beat a tiring Lord at War to the wire for third, returning $6.60.

Lord at War was making his first start on the turf in the United States, but jockey Bill Shoemaker didn’t think the surface was a factor, believing his mount just wore down in the stretch. That’s the way McCarron saw it, too.

“Charlie told me when we came out of the gate to take hold of him and keep him covered up,” McCarron said. “I grabbed him the first jump out of the gate and he settled down. Then in the backstretch, I didn’t have to hit him because he was really eating them up. When we came off the turn I didn’t know how much horse Shoe and Eddie (Delahoussaye, aboard Tsunami Slew) had, but he was running real good. And he finished as good as a horse can finish.”

McCarron’s use of the word covered was apropos because Whittingham, who won his fourth Century--no other trainer has won it more than once--had all the angles covered Sunday. He had a tremendous front-runner backed by a tenacious closer.

Horse racing is a simple game, really, it’s just that Whittingham seems to play it better than anyone else.

Racing Notes

Bill Shoemaker’s victory aboard Charging Falls Saturday was his first win in 33 runnings of the Los Angeles Handicap. It was his 921st stakes win. . . . Hollywood Park patrons wagered $1,192,408 on the Kentucky Derby Saturday, a single-race record for the Inglewood track, breaking the mark of $1,129,352 in the 1981 Gold Cup.