Weekend Racing at Hollywood Park : Futurity Candidate Judge Smells Breaks Down

Shortly before he was going to be entered in Sunday’s $1-million Hollywood Futurity, Judge Smells, Calumet Farm’s undefeated 2-year-old colt, broke down Friday morning at Hollywood Park, and his racing career is in jeopardy.

Judge Smells, named after the character Ted Knight played in the movie “Caddyshack,” was finishing a gallop near the finish line when he pulled up.

It was determined that Judge Smells broke the cannon bone, between the ankle and the knee, of his left foreleg. X-rays showed that the colt has a jagged break rather than just a hairline fracture, and Tom Walker, who trains the West Coast string for Calumet, said the horse would have surgery today.

Cannon bones can be repaired in an operation that requires the insertion of screws in the horse’s leg. Roving Boy, who won the Hollywood Futurity and the 2-year-old championship in 1982, suffered a hairline fracture of the cannon bone in his left foreleg early the following year and was sidelined for nine months.

Roving Boy then was destroyed in November 1983 after his two hind legs collapsed just past the finish line as he won the Alibhai Handicap at Santa Anita.

Judge Smells, who was purchased by Calumet for $200,000 as a weanling, would have been one of the favorites in the Futurity. When Judge Smells won the Hollywood Prevue Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths Nov. 23, Calumet decided to supplement the colt into the Futurity at a cost of $50,000, a sum that was not due until entry time Friday.

The Prevue was Judge Smells’ third straight win. He broke his maiden by 8 1/2 lengths at Santa Anita in October, then won the Juaneno Stakes at Los Alamitos about three weeks later.

Chris McCarron, the leading rider at Hollywood, who was scheduled to ride Judge Smells, quickly picked up another mount in the Futurity. McCarron, who won the first running of the race with Stalwart in ‘81, will be aboard another undefeated 2-year-old, David Cassidy’s Majestic Island, who has won over maidens and in an allowance race in his only two starts.

Ten horses are entered in the mile race. Drawing the inside post was Raised on Stage, with jockey Pat Valenzuela. The others, in order: Ferdinand, with Bill Shoemaker; Electric Blue, Eddie Delahoussaye; Majestic Island, Chris McCarron; Imperious Spirit, Jack Kaenel; Family Style, Laffit Pincay; Mustin Lake, Pat Day; Darby Fair, Antonio Castanon; Snow Chief, Alex Solis, and Scat Dancer, Santiago Soto.

Family Style, the only filly in the field, had to be supplemented for $50,000, as did Mustin Lake, Darby Fair, Snow Chief and Scat Dancer. Family Style could take the Eclipse Award for 2-year-old fillies with a win over colts. The 2-year-old colt title appears to be between Tasso and Ogygian, who are through racing for the year.

With Judge Smells no longer a factor, Walker figures that Mustin Lake is the horse to beat. Mustin Lake has won three of four starts, his last race a victory on an off track in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Mustin Lake, who is owned by John Ed Anthony, a Fordyce, Ark., lumberman, is now trained by Rusty Arnold. Shug McGaughey has left all of Anthony’s horses but Vanlandingham to accept a training job with the Ogden Phipps family in Florida and New York.

Mustin Lake, a son of Fappiano, began his career with a maiden win at Saratoga in August. In his next race, two months later, he ran second at Churchill Downs, and he has followed that with two wins at the Louisville track.

“The time he lost, it wasn’t the horse’s fault,” Anthony said. “We got him beat. He had a shin problem after Saratoga, and we were too anxious to run him in his next race.”

Horse Racing Notes Electric Blue and Ferdinand were surprise entries. Ferdinand, a Nijinsky II colt trained by Charlie Whittingham, has a win over maidens in four starts. Electric Blue, trained by Neil Drysdale, has won his only two races. . . . Whittingham has taken over the training of Banner Bob, who will make his California debut today after scoring stakes wins this year in Florida, Kentucky, Illinois and New Jersey. Banner Bob and Turkoman are co-high weights at 121 pounds in the Affirmed Handicap.