Weekend Racing at Santa Anita : Whittingham Derby Hopes Ride on Ferdinand

At entry time Friday, the appearance of Bugarian, a California-bred gelding who is winless in his last eight races, was the only surprise for Sunday’s $500,000 Santa Anita Derby.

When the local Derby is run for the 49th time, it would be a lesser surprise, but a surprise nevertheless, if Ferdinand, a strapping son of Nijinsky II, came home the winner. Ferdinand is trained by Charlie Whittingham, who has won more than 400 stakes in a remarkable 49-year career, but the Santa Anita Derby has been his albatross.

In numerous attempts, Whittingham has never won the stake, finishing second five times. Last year, the trainer’s son, Michael, beat him to the winner’s circle when Skywalker won.

Ferdinand, along with six other starters Sunday, will have to beat Snow Chief, who with four straight stakes wins at four different tracks has been installed as the 4-5 favorite.

The eight-horse field, in post-position order, consists of Variety Road, with Chris McCarron riding, at 7-2 odds; Ferdinand, Bill Shoemaker, 3-1; Snow Chief, Alex Solis, 4-5; Bugarian, Jack Kaenel, 30-1; Jetting Home, Darrel McHargue, 30-1; Big Play, Gary Stevens, 20-1; Icy Groom, Eddie Delahoussaye, 10-1, and Imperious Spirit, Laffit Pincay, 20-1.

All of the 3-year-olds will carry 122 pounds. Because of ABC’s national telecast, which will be shown on a delayed basis locally, first post Sunday will be at noon, and the Santa Anita Derby, the fifth race on the program, will go off at about 2:40 p.m.

In Ferdinand, Whittingham has a late-running colt whose best distance might be 1 1/2 miles--the Belmont Stakes distance--rather than the 1 1/8 miles of the Santa Anita Derby.

The Kentucky Derby, at 1 miles, is a distance in between, and Whittingham, who will be 73 a week from Sunday, continues to talk as if he might be in Louisville May 3, even though the Triple Crown opener has never been his favorite assignment.

“There’s no use going to the Kentucky Derby unless you’ve got a top horse,” Whittingham said Friday, and later added: “We’ll see how Ferdinand runs Sunday. He’s big and strong and looks like a Derby horse. If he’s in the first group and runs a creditable race, we’ll probably go to Kentucky.”

Whittingham and Shoemaker figure to be at Churchill Downs the day before the Derby, anyway, since Hidden Light, the undefeated 3-year-old filly, will be one of the favorites in the Kentucky Oaks.

While it takes one hand just to count Whittingham’s runner-up finishes in the Santa Anita Derby, his total appearances in the Kentucky Derby can be ticked off pronto. At Churchill Downs, there were Gone Fishin’, who ran eighth in 1958, and Divine Comedy, who was ninth in 1960.

A younger Whittingham obviously hadn’t yet formulated his top-horse theory for the Kentucky Derby in those days. Gone Fishin’ hadn’t won a stake and was 20-1. Divine Comedy, not even stakes tested, was 61-1.

Actually, Whittingham’s best 3-year-old in 1960 was Eagle Admiral, who was third in the Santa Anita Derby and winner of the Fountain of Youth. But the horse stumbled leaving the gate and cracked his knee in the Florida Derby.

Whittingham’s seconds in the Santa Anita Derby have been Social Climber in 1956, Saber Mountain in ‘66, Tumble Wind in ‘67, Quack in ’72 and Balzac in ’78. Saber Mountain was injured in the race and never ran again, and Balzac, finishing eight lengths behind eventual Triple Crown champion Affirmed, chipped his knee.

Balzac was owned by Howard Keck, the Los Angeles oil man who bred Ferdinand and races him with his wife, Libby.

After finishing far back in his first start at Del Mar last September, Ferdinand has not been worse than third in seven races, winning the Santa Catalina by half a length over Variety Road on Jan. 29.

When those two horses met again in the San Rafael three weeks later, Shoemaker made a premature move and, after getting the lead, Ferdinand tried to pull himself up in the stretch as Variety Road ran by to win by the same half length. A rubber match didn’t materialize in the San Felipe Handicap March 16. Variety Road won by six lengths over Big Play while Whittingham kept Ferdinand in the barn because of a sloppy track.

“When Ferdinand gets to the lead, he pricks his ears and then loafs,” Whittingham said. “He should get over that with more racing. If he ever does get over it, he’ll be awesome.”

With a 50% chance of rain in the forecast, Sunday’s race, like the San Felipe, might be run on an off track. Mud would help Icy Groom the most, but Snow Chief and Variety Road have also won in the slop.

“Like most horses who run from way back, Ferdinand would prefer a fast track,” Whittingham said. “Closers don’t like mud in their kissers and don’t like to have to plow their way through it.”

Not lost on Whittingham and Bruce Headley, who trains Variety Road, is that this time their colts are not racing one another but Snow Chief, who’s also the Kentucky Derby favorite.

Headley, whose frequent stabs at doggerel probably make him the poor man’s Muhammad Ali, made reference in verse Friday to trainer Mel Stute, who has run the well-traveled Snow Chief at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, Bay Meadows and Gulfstream Park for his last four wins.

“The way Mel’s shipped around, it’s time for Snow Chief to slow down,” Headley said.

Horse Racing Notes Santa Anita, host track for the third Breeders’ Cup day during the Oak Tree meeting on Nov. 1, has announced how fans can apply for about 25,000 available seats. Ticket applications can be made only by mail on order blanks that will be published in the Daily Racing Form and other newspapers and will also be available at the track. Deadline for applications is Aug. 11, with ticket recipients being determined by a random computer selection. Prices will be the same as the regular season at Oak Tree--$6 for clubhouse and $2.75 for general admission. . . . Last year, Aqueduct called a similar system for its Breeders’ Cup day a lottery, but that’s an unspoken word at Santa Anita. . . . Sunday’s eighth race at Santa Anita will be the $100,000 Hill Rise Handicap, marking the first time the track has scheduled a turf race at a mile. Palace Music, at 124 pounds, is the high weight in the 10-horse field.

Gary Stevens, shaken up in a spill Thursday, was back at work Friday and he likes Big Play’s role as a 20-1 outsider in the Santa Anita Derby. “I rode Fast Account in the race last year and he was a longshot (25-1), too,” Stevens said. “He only got beat a nose (by Skywalker). It’d be nice to surprise again this year.” . . . Big Play’s trainer, Wayne Lukas, has won the Santa Anita Derby three times--with Codex in 1980, Muttering in 1982 and Marfa in 1983. . . . Bill Shoemaker and Laffit Pincay, who share the record, are going for their eighth wins in the Santa Anita Derby.