Greinton Ends Up Winning Big ‘Cap, but How ‘Bout That Herat : 70,177 at Santa Anita Watch as 157-1 Longshot Fails to Hold Lead

It had been said about Greinton that every time he ran with the television lights turned on, he turned off.

Taking the long way home, the English-bred horse finished second, less than a length behind Teleprompter, in the Budweiser-Arlington Million last August.

Going to New York, Greinton ran into traffic problems and finished fourth as the favorite in the Marlboro Cup at Belmont Park.

Both races were on national television, as was Greinton’s seventh-place finish in November in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes at Aqueduct.

Greinton’s owners--Howell Wynne, Mary Jones Bradley and trainer Charlie Whittingham, who owns 25%--must have been tempted to pay off ESPN and send the network on its way prior to Sunday’s $1,139,500 Santa Anita Handicap.

But this time, the red light went on and Greinton didn’t blink. The 5-year-old horse ran the race Whittingham always thought he was capable of, overhauling Herat, a 157-1 longshot, and winning the Big ‘Cap by three-quarters of a length before 70,177 fans.

Herat, who hadn’t won a race since last July, protected second place, two lengths better than Hatim, who finished a neck in front of his stablemate, Alphabatim, in fourth place.

Precisionist, the 6-5 favorite, was in contention throughout, running behind Herat much of the way, but he lacked a late run and wound up sixth.

The group in the winner’s circle was a familiar bunch after this race. It was Whittingham’s seventh Big ‘Cap win--no other trainer has won more than two--and jockey Laffit Pincay picked up his fifth win in the stake. Whittingham and Pincay clicked in the 1973 Big ‘Cap with Cougar II, who was also owned by Bradley.

Greinton, paired with another Whittingham horse, Dahar, in Sunday’s betting, paid $8, $4.60 and $4, earning $689,500 for running the 1 miles in 2:00, which was 1 2/5 seconds off Affirmed’s Big ‘Cap record.

Herat paid $80 and $18.60 and Hatim’s show price was $4.60.

There is more of a similarity between Greinton and Cougar II than just owner, trainer and jockey. Second to Ack Ack and Triple Bend in the two previous Big ‘Caps, Cougar II had run in the ’73 race off only workouts. Sunday’s win was Greinton’s first start since his disappointing Breeders’ Cup race, Whittingham having been forced to scratch him from the San Antonio Handicap a couple of weeks ago because of an off track.

“He was still ready,” Whittingham said. “He had been training well all along, and in that last mile-and-a-quarter work (in 2:04 on Feb. 22), he finished up strong, going the last eighth in just over 11 seconds.”

Eddie Delahoussaye, riding Hatim, thought Herat was going to be the biggest longshot winner in the 34-year history of the Big ‘Cap.

“The rabbit almost stole it,” Delahoussaye said. “You give a horse a lead on this track, and if he’s got a big heart, he’s tough to catch. I saw him at the quarter pole and he looked like a winner.”

Whittingham didn’t think so. “My horse has a good kick,” the trainer said. “He always finishes well. He should have won the Million and he should have won the Marlboro, but what you should do and what you do in this game are two different things.”

Through the stretch, Greinton and Pincay had moved up from fourth to third place. They had Precisionist measured, but Herat wasn’t backing up.

“Oh, man, that one horse just kept running,” Pincay said of Herat. “I was surprised to see he wasn’t stopping. I had a tough time going by him. He just kept on going. Who was he, anyway?”

Don MacBeth, who finished eighth on the Eastern shipper, Vanlandingham, after running third behind Herat and Precisionist going down the backstretch, was another jockey who couldn’t believe that Herat would last. MacBeth deliberately swung Vanlandingham to the outside because he didn’t want to be directly behind Herat when he stopped.

“When I asked my horse hard to run, he didn’t respond,” MacBeth said. “Greinton, who was outside me, just ran by, and so did a lot of other horses.”

Precisionist had come into the Big’ Cap with a disturbingly torrid workout, six furlongs in 1:08 3/5 last Tuesday.

“I had him on the outside because I was trying to get him to relax,” said Chris McCarron, Precisionist’s jockey. “He was running good and straight, but the trouble was, he just wasn’t running fast enough. He didn’t run his race. He didn’t fire.”

McCarron took the blame for the Tuesday workout. “That killed him,” he said. “It’s my fault, I screwed it up. I was afraid of that. If he had any excuse at all, I wouldn’t put my finger on anything but that. That work couldn’t have helped him in any way.”

Gate Dancer’s excuse was more recent. Coming out of the gate, he brushed the stall doors and turned sideways. Gate Dancer was last in the 13-horse field for three-quarters of a mile before rallying to finish fifth.

“I couldn’t position him, the way be broke,” jockey Jorge Velasquez said of Gate Dancer. “I think we would have won if he hadn’t broke bad.”

Greinton, who finished second to Lord At War in last year’s Big ‘Cap, was purchased for $550,000 and arrived in California from France in the fall of 1984. The Big ‘Cap win was his 10th in 21 career starts and increased his earnings to $1.9 million.

“All the good luck we had today made up for the bad luck we had last year,” Wynne said. “This is a vindication for all that, and it was a great training job by Charlie Whittingham, getting the horse ready for this race after being off for three months. As for his luck running out when the TV cameras are on, I guess we did away with that, too.”

Whittingham said he gave Pincay no pre-race instructions. “In a big field like this, you can’t plan anything,” the trainer said.

John Franks, the Louisiana oilman who owns Herat, congratulated Whittingham as he left the winner’s circle.

“Your horse really hung in there,” Whittingham said.

“You did a super job,” Franks said. “The best horse won. Nobody can train ‘em like you train ‘em.”

You need only refer to the history of the Santa Anita Handicap for further proof of that.

Horse Racing Notes Besides Cougar II, Charlie Whittingham’s other previous Big ‘Cap wins were with Corn Husker (1957), Pretense (‘67), Ack Ack (‘71), Stardust Mel (‘75) and Lord At War (‘85). . . . Whittingham’s Perrault finished first in ‘82, but was disqualified for interference in the stretch and the win was given to John Henry, another horse who won the ‘Big Cap just on works. . . . Laffit Pincay’s previous Big ‘Cap winners were Cougar II, Crystal Water (‘77), Affirmed (‘79) and John Henry (‘81). . . . Bill Shoemaker, who holds the Big’ Cap record for jockey wins with 11, finished fourth Sunday with Alphabatim. . . . Fast Account was running in fifth place when he bolted on the turn for home and wound up 10th. “He was laying easy going into the turn,” jockey Gary Stevens said. “When I pulled him up, he had his tongue over the bit, so maybe that’s what caused it.” . . . Sunday’s handle of $11.1 million was the second highest in Santa Anita’s history, behind the $12.6 million that was bet on Big ‘Cap day a year ago. . . . Dahar broke through the gate, delaying the start of the Big ‘Cap. . . . Whittingham said Greinton’s win is better than Cougar’s because he owns a piece of this horse. Mary Jones Bradley, who is from Santa Monica, and Howell Wynne, from Houston, each own 37%.