Gate Dancer Has Found His Place--and Show

Gate Dancer, meet Alydar.

It would be only fitting that the most celebrated runner-up of the 1970s be introduced to this year’s horse who’s always there, but seldom there in time.

Alydar, despite having won 14 races in 26 starts, will be better remembered for his nine seconds, all but one of them in races won by Affirmed during their epochal rivalry in 1977-78.

It’s been an Alydar-type year for Gate Dancer in 1985, although the 4-year-old colt’s bete noire hasn’t been just one horse.

Gate Dancer’s proclivity for finishing second and third actually started late last year, in the first Breeders’ Cup Classic at Hollywood Park. He ran second to Wild Again, then was moved back to third by the stewards for squeezing Slew o’ Gold near the finish line.

This year started with three straight thirds at Santa Anita, among them a troubled trip in the Charles H. Strub Stakes in which Gate Dancer finished only half a length behind the winning Precisionist.

The end of this year has been marked by three straight seconds in some of New York’s most important races--the Marlboro Cup, the Jockey Club Gold Cup and again in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, this time at Aqueduct--but this time a finish that wasn’t altered because of a foul.

Gate Dancer’s only win this year was in the Cornhusker Handicap at Omaha’s Ak-Sar-Ben in July.

Never has a horse earned so much by finishing first so seldom. Gate Dancer’s ’85 purses have totaled $1.2 million, which ranks him sixth on this year’s list.

The horses ahead of him--topped by Spend a Buck’s record $3.5 million--also include Proud Truth, Creme Fraiche, Chief’s Crown and Vanlandingham, and they’ve each won at least five races, some at the expense of Gate Dancer.

Gate Dancer could move into third, ahead of Creme Fraiche, with a win today in the $100,000 Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park. But another second is a possibility, since the six-horse field includes Lord at War, who may be more suited for a mile.

Lord at War is going to stud next year, but Gate Dancer will race as a 5-year-old, primarily on the dirt. “The Santa Anita Handicap (March 2) is a million-dollar race,” said Jack Van Berg, Gate Dancer’s trainer. “That’s what we’re shooting for.”

Gate Dancer’s million-dollar year is the main reason Van Berg ranks third in the country among trainers in purses, behind Wayne Lukas and Charlie Whittingham, who trains Lord at War. Van Berg’s total is $4.4 million, about $300,000 more than he registered last year, when he won the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer.

Van Berg and some partners, incidentally, are going to develop about 7,500 acres of land in Hesperia, in San Bernardino County, into a complete training facility.

Horse Racing Notes Gate Dancer ranks eighth on the lifetime earnings list with $2.3 million. A win today would move him into seventh, ahead of Affirmed. . . . Laffit Pincay will ride Gate Dancer today for the first time since last March. Chris McCarron, who had ridden Gate Dancer since then, will be at Bay Meadows today to ride Silveyville in the $300,000 Bay Meadows Handicap. Silveyville and Bob Back are high-weighted at 121 pounds, but Barberstown might go off as the favorite. . . . Ten fillies and mares were entered for Sunday’s Dahlia Handicap at Hollywood. Capricorn Belle and Justicara are top weights with 118 pounds apiece, followed by Savannah Dancer at 117. . . . El Asesor closed with a rush through the stretch and won Friday’s $42,900 Lemhi Gold stakes race. Ridden by Bill Shoemaker, El Asesor finish a half-length in front of the 4-5 favorite, Capture Him, ridden by Chris McCarron. Time for the 1 1/8 miles over the turf course was 1:49 4/5,and El Asesor paid $6.80 to win.