$158,000 San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita : Precisionist, McCarron Make Unbeatable Pair

Precisionist and Chris McCarron, they are two redheads who stick together. The horse and the jockey, the race and the winner’s circle. They are as inseparable as hay and oats.

In all but four of Precisionist’s 27 lifetime starts, McCarron has been the chauffeur. Terry Lipham rode the 5-year-old chestnut for the first two starts of his career, back in 1983, but when owner-breeder Fred Hooper saw that McCarron was available for race No. 3, he gave him the job.

It’s an assignment that McCarron has skipped only twice since then, and for good reason. In May 1984, the jockey was committed to ride the filly Althea in the Kentucky Derby, and Precisionist ran sixth under Walter Guerra in the Spotlight Handicap at Hollywood Park.

In September of that year, Bill Shoemaker and Precisionist were run down by Gate Dancer in the final yards of the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs. The jockey change was needed because McCarron was at Belmont Park, winning the Turf Classic with John Henry.

On Saturday, Precisionist won the 11th stakes race of his career, all with McCarron on his back, and the 4 1/2-length victory in the $158,000 San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita was little more than a warmup for more important dates to come--such as the $200,000 San Antonio Handicap on Feb. 16 and the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 2. Precisionist’s sire, the late Crozier, won the Santa Anita when it was a $145,000 race in 1963.

Precisionist and McCarron frequently make the opposition see red for reasons other than their hair, because it is so frustrating running against them when the horse is right. Bare Minimum, carrying 113 pounds, 13 fewer than Precisionist, kept the winner company for three-quarters of a mile Saturday, but Frank Olivares, riding Bare Minimum, knew that it was only a matter of time.

“We were up there,” Olivares said, “but Chris and his horse were just waiting.”

Bare Minimum, who had won two straight small stakes at Bay Meadows, persevered to take second at 34-1. Bare Minimum was three-quarters of a length better than My Habitony in the field of six, with Strawberry Road II, the world traveler, expectedly scratching out in favor of today’s San Marcos Handicap on grass.

Precisionist, timed in 1:41 1/5, a second slower than the track-record 1 1/16-mile that Ancient Title ran in the same race in 1978, earned $90,000, increasing his career total to more than $1.9 million. Fifteen horses have earned more, topped by John Henry with $6.5 million, but only two--Gate Dancer and Proud Truth--are still active. Coincidentally, all three might share the starting gate in the Santa Anita Handicap.

After Precisionist won the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Aqueduct last Nov. 2, clinching the year’s sprinting championship, Hooper said he was offered $12 million for the horse by an unnamed Frenchman. Hooper thought about the money, but not for long. At 88, Hooper still likes to see his horses run.

“If I had sold him,” Hooper said, “he would have gone to stud. The horse was perfectly sound, and I wanted to see him win some more.”

In the paddock Saturday, there were whispers of a match race between Precisionist and Phone Trick, the brilliant sprinter who missed most of last year but has since forged an unbeaten record. Match races are Hooper’s style--in the 1950s in Florida, he beat a top quarter horse with his Olympia--but after the San Pasqual, the owner said he hadn’t heard about anything regarding Phone Trick, and he didn’t act interested.

Besides, Precisionist’s trainer, Ross Fenstermaker, doesn’t think the horse is a sprinter anymore. They ran six furlongs in the Breeders’ Cup through necessity--Precisionist had sore feet all summer, and Fenstermaker didn’t have enough time to prepare the horse for a longer distance.

McCarron feels that Precisionist has learned how to relax. “When he was a 3-year-old,” the jockey said, “he used to come smoking out of the gate all the time. Now he goes easier in the first part of his races. That’s why he’s able to fight the others off through the lane.

“This is a smart horse. As smart as John Henry? Yeah, I’d say so. My thanks to Mr. Hooper for keeping him on the track. The way he’s going, this horse is going to give us a lot of fun this year.”

Precisionist was a 3-10 choice of the crowd of 38,853 and paid $2.60, $2.40 and $2.10. Bare Minimum paid $8.40 and $3, and My Habitony’s show price was $2.40. That’s not much of a return for betting on the two redheads, but it sure beats red ink.

Horse Racing Notes Valdez and Cajun Prince share the Santa Anita record for 1 1/16 miles with Ancient Title. . . . Sandy Hawley, inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame Friday, was ill upon his return Saturday and took the day off, resulting in a win for Darrel McHargue aboard Missean in the seventh race. . . . Chris McCarron rode three winners, giving him 36 for the season and a 14-race lead over Pat Valenzuela.. . . Roo Art, a recent addition to the Wayne Lukas barn in New York, won Saturday’s Assault Handicap at Aqueduct. . . . Precisionist’s win was the 39th for Fred Hooper at Santa Anita, tying a record held by William Haggin Perry. Oak Tree winners are not included. Hooper’s first Santa Anita win was with Olympia in 1949. . . . McCarron says he’s never ridden a good horse for as long as he has Precisionist. McCarron rode John Henry for the last 14 races over the final two years of his career.