Marikian, Pincay Still Hoping for a Banner Day : Encolure Figures to Be More Than Just a Longshot in San Fernando Stakes

Trainer Chuck Marikian looked at Tony Matos, Laffit Pincay’s agent, at Santa Anita the other morning and smiled.

“Banner Bob’s out,” said Marikian, referring to today’s running of the San Fernando Stakes.

“What’s wrong with him?” Matos asked.

“Nothing,” Marikian said. “He’s just not running.”

Marikian’s and Pincay’s hope in the San Fernando is Encolure, who always seems to be running second to some good horse. Encolure finished second to Banner Bob in the Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26. Earlier in his 3-year-old season, the son of 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner Riva Ridge was second to Tank’s Prospect in the Arkansas Derby, to Skip Trial in the Ohio Derby and to Creme Fraiche in the Super Derby in Louisiana.

Despite winning only 3 of 13 starts in 1985, Encolure earned almost $500,000. At 104-1 odds, he ran 10th in the Kentucky Derby.

The absence of Banner Bob, whose stamina has been questioned at 1 1/8-mile distances like the San Fernando, gives Encolure a tactical boost today. Encolure, like Banner Bob, likes to run fast early and that’s how Marikian figures he’ll be going, with Pincay riding him for the first time. Chris McCarron, who had the mount on Encolure in the Malibu, is committed to Fast Account in the San Fernando.

Even if Banner Bob ran in the San Fernando, the horses to beat still would have been Proud Truth and Will Dancer. Proud Truth, who hasn’t run in 10 weeks, was one of last year’s stars, winning the Fountain of Youth, the Florida Derby, the Peter Pan and the Breeders’ Cup Classic and finishing second in the Flamingo and the Wood Memorial. Think what owner John Galbreath’s colt might have done if he hadn’t missed four months with a fractured leg.

Will Dancer was sired by Green Dancer, who also begot Greinton, winner of the Californian and the Hollywood Gold Cup last year, and this colt could be just as good. In his first start in the United States and his first race on dirt, Will Dancer and Bill Shoemaker needed a road map to get through a busy field on Jan. 2 but still won by almost two lengths. Before going to trainer Charlie Whittingham’s barn at Santa Anita, Will Dancer was one of Italy’s best runners for the past two years.

Encolure, who has been sold at auction twice, for $25,000 and $65,000, doesn’t seem to fit with this caliber, but Marikian, mostly a claiming trainer, has worked magic before in the Strub series, which consists of the Malibu, the San Fernando and the Charles H. Strub Stakes on Feb. 2.

In 1982, Marikian had Swing Till Dawn, who hadn’t won a stakes in his life. After running fifth in the Malibu and fourth in the San Fernando, “the Lone Ranger horse,” as the gray colt was called, sprung a 38-1 upset in the Strub.

Marikian has already had a big week, even if his win last Wednesday at Santa Anita was only in a $32,000 claiming race. The horse was Bootin Ben, named after one of his owners, Ben Agajanian, the former placekicker whose long pro career included time in three leagues--the All-American Conference, the National Football League and the American Football League.

“What are you going to name this horse?” Agajanian asked when he first bought into the $10,000 colt.

Marikian told Agajanian he’d think of something. “Ben didn’t know what we named him until he first saw the horse show up in the entries last October at Santa Anita,” said Marikian, himself a former football player at Cal State Los Angeles.

A week ago, the wife of one of the other owners, Dave Bradley, asked Marikian if it was possible to run Bootin Ben last Wednesday, which was her husband’s 50th birthday.

“The horse hadn’t won a race (in five starts) and I didn’t think there was much chance,” Marikian said. “But then 20 horses entered and it split into two divisions and we got in.”

Agajanian, 67, is a kicking coach for the Dallas Cowboys and this past season he was stopped one day on the field by quarterback Gary Hogeboom.

“I’ve got a horse, too,” Hogeboom said.

“What’s his name?” Agajanian asked.

“I called him Dallas Quarterback,” Hogeboom said.

“Oh,” Agajanian said. “Named him after Danny White, did you?”

White’s presence with the Cowboys is the reason Hogeboom recently asked to be traded. Hogeboom apparently considers himself a longshot to be the starting quarterback next season, though not the longshot Bootin Ben was last Wednesday at Santa Anita. He won at 28-1.

Horse Racing Notes

Fact Finder and Capichi, who ran 1-2 in last year’s San Gorgonio, are entered in the same stake Monday . . . The next start for Snow Chief will be in the $250,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows on Feb. 2 . . . Proud Truth, who worked three furlongs Saturday in :37, is scheduled to remain at Santa Anita after today’s race and then run in the Strub on Feb. 2. After that, he will be sent to trainer John Veitch’s barn at Hialeah before returning for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 2 . . . It took Proud Truth and his assistant trainer, Charlie Rose, 7 1/2 hours to fly from Miami to Los Angeles last week because only a prop airplane could be obtained for the trip . . . Savannah Dancer, who cost Allen Paulson $2.5 million at a Keeneland auction in 1983, may not run again because of a fractured knee. The 4-year-old filly, a daughter of Northern Dancer, has career earnings of $360,600. When Paulson bought her, the price tied the record for a filly at auction and since then only two other fillies have been sold for more.