Preakness Journey a Long Trip for Hajji’s Treasure

All the owner and trainer of Hajji’s Treasure ask is for the 3-year-old colt to have a better trip in Saturday’s $545,700 Preakness Stakes than he did in a circuitous journey from California to Pimlico Race Course last week.

Stan Hodge, the Pleasanton glass sales agent who paid $9,200 for Hajji’s Treasure at a yearling auction for California-breds at Golden Gate Fields in 1983, is still boiling about how the winner of the California Derby made it to Baltimore.

Hajji’s Treasure was vanned last week from Golden Gate Fields to Ontario, kept overnight and then put on a plane that stopped in Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City and Louisville before landing in New York. The last leg of the trip was a 200-mile van ride to Pimlico, where the horse arrived about midnight May 8.

“This wasn’t a trip that came up at the last minute,” Hodge said. “It was two weeks in the planning. Something might have been said about a stop in Louisville, but the other stops, I knew nothing about. Apparently the Salt Lake City stop was for fuel.

“And to make it worse, the horse was put in a barn with a bunch of mares before leaving California, so he got no sleep all night. I was deceived and lied to. It’s something I’ll never do again.”

Hajji’s Treasure’s travel ordeal hasn’t affected Hodge’s confidence for the Preakness, although the Pimlico linemaker doesn’t share that confidence. Hajji’s Treasure was installed as a 15-1 longshot Thursday after 11 horses were entered for the 1 3/16-mile race.

The importance of this year’s Preakness as the second jewel in the Triple Crown series is nil since Spend a Buck, winner of the Kentucky Derby, is bypassing Pimlico to run in the Jersey Derby at Garden State Park May 27. There, a win would be worth $2.6 million to Spend a Buck’s owners. First place in the Preakness will bring a record $423,200.

Chief’s Crown, who finished third as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, is listed as the 8-5 choice for the Preakness, followed by Eternal Prince at 5-2.

The field, in order of post position, consists of Southern Sultan, with James Terry in the saddle; Tajawa, with Patti Cooksey, the first woman to ride in the race; Chief’s Crown, with Don MacBeth; Eternal Prince, with Chris McCarron; I Am the Game, with Donnie Miller; Tank’s Prospect, with Pat Day; Sport Jet, with Ron Allen; Cutlass Reality, with Vincent Bracciale; Sparrowvon, with Wayne Barnett; Skip Trial, with Chris Antley, and Hajji’s Treasure, with Joe Judice.

“If we didn’t think we had a chance to win, we wouldn’t be here,” Hodge said. “We’ve got better things to do with our time than run in a race we can’t win, and we wouldn’t have come if we thought we might embarrass California racing by running.”

Because Hodge didn’t nominate Hajji’s Treasure for $200 by the deadline of Feb. 15--the same as the Kentucky Derby deadline--it is costing him $20,000 to supplement the colt. He must also pay the $7,500 that it costs owners to run nominated horses in the race.

“I’m not accustomed to nominating horses to the classics,” Hodge said. “I knew the deadline for the Kentucky Derby was Feb. 15, but we were thinking Preakness, not Derby, with this colt and I just assumed that because the Preakness is run two weeks after the Derby, the difference in nominating would be the same time span. But even with paying the $20,000, we’re still ahead with this horse.”

Indeed he is. Hajji’s Treasure’s 2 1/2-length victory in the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields April 20, at 25-1 odds, was worth $134,200, which boosted his career total to $181,430.

Since Hodge bought his first horse about four years ago, he says his racing operation has shown a profit. A 4-year-old, Hajji Baba, was bought for $6,800, has won about $60,000 and is now running in the $35,000 claiming ranks. A filly, Hajji’s Lady, cost $12,000, earned $20,000 and then was claimed for $20,000.

Hodge names all of his horses after the nickname he had when he was growing up in Newark, N.J. His ranch, 110 acres near Pleasanton, is called Hajji Farm.

Hajji’s Treasure’s victory in the California Derby was his third in 11 starts and the first time in 70 years that a Northern Californian horse had won the race. Trainer Monty Jackson started him out as a 2-year-old in the $12,000 Peri Memorial Stakes at Stockton last August and he won by 1 1/2 lengths at 11-1. The only time he’s been favored, in an allowance race at Golden Gate in February, he also won by 1 1/2 lengths.

“I’m glad we’re not running against Spend A Buck,” Jackson said. “We might have been here, anyway, if he had gone in the Preakness, but we were sure we were coming when he dropped out of it.”

Jackson, 35 is a former exercise rider who started training on his own 10 years ago. His father was an exercise rider and groom and he can remember following him around at tracks since he was 9 or 10.

Judice, Hajji’s Treasure’s Preakness rider, is a 24-year-old native of New Orleans who began riding in the Bay Area after stints in Louisiana, Detroit, Chicago and Miami. Judice, who arrived in Baltimore late Thursday, has never ridden at Pimlico, where the turns are sharp, similar to the turf course at Golden Gate.

Judice hopes to ride at least one horse at Pimlico today and perhaps in an early race or two on Preakness day. Paul Nicolo, who also rides at Golden Gate, is familiar with the track here and has told Judice what to expect.

“The track’s shaped like an egg,” Judice said. “The first turn isn’t bad, but the far turn is real sharp. The track should fit my horse.”

But the outside post position doesn’t. Mickey Rooney told some jokes at Thursday’s draw, but the No. 11 spot for Hajji’s Treasure brought no smiles from Hodge or Jackson.

“I would have preferred to be closer to the rail,” Jackson said. “What it means is that Joe will have to hustle the horse out of the gate more, to make sure he gets a good position.”

Judice had not been on Hajji’s Treasure until he worked him out the day before the California Derby. He got the mount because several Los Angeles riders either had other commitments in the stake or were engaged elsewhere.

“I’ve fallen into a gold mine with this horse,” Judice said. “Maybe it will get better.”