Precisionist Gets Even With Greinton, 4-4 : He Wins San Bernardino Handicap by a Neck to Tie Up Their Rivalry

Even in the weights, even on the tote board, Precisionist and Greinton were virtually even at the eighth pole in Sunday’s $242,700 San Bernardino Handicap at Santa Anita.

When the 1 1/8-mile race was finished, these two evenly matched 5-year-olds were even in still another way. Precisionist’s victory by a neck before 51,002 fans made it four wins for him and four wins for Greinton in a give and take that started in January of 1985.

Sunday’s win snapped Greinton’s three-race winning streak against Precisionist, and nobody in either horse’s camp is suggesting that they quit this head-butting.

Coming off the track, Charlie Whittingham, Greinton’s trainer, sounded eager for the next rematch.

“Well, we’re even up now,” Whittingham said. “It looks like we’re ready for another match race.”

Whittingham and Greinton won last year’s San Bernardino, beating Precisionist by a neck on the trainer’s 72nd birthday. On Sunday, Whittingham turned 73, and earlier in the day several of his owners presented him with a large portrait by artist Anthony Alonzo, but this time there was no added reason to celebrate.

“We had no excuses,” Whittingham said of Greinton, who beat Precisionist by 3 lengths when he won the Santa Anita Handicap and his rival finished sixth on March 2.

Precisionist set fast early fractions and still had enough in reserve to win, covering the distance in 1:47 3/5. He paid $3.60 and $2.20, with no show wagering in a race reduced to four starters with the scratches of Fast Account and Protect Yourself, who would have run as an entry with Precisionist.

Greinton, who had weight advantages of between four and eight pounds in the previous seven races, carried the same 126 as Precisionist Sunday. They were listed as 4-5 co-favorites on the board, although Precisionist was a slight favorite because he drew about $5,600 more than Greinton in the win pool.

Greinton paid $2.20 to place, finishing eighth lengths ahead of Encolure. It was another 14 1/2 lengths back to the trailing horse, Innamorato, who cooked himself by trying to run with Precisionist for the first half-mile.

At the eighth pole, Chris McCarron, Precisionist’s jockey, would have bet on Greinton.

“I thought Greinton had me when he got close,” McCarron said. “My horse didn’t have that immediate response like he usually does, it was more of a grinding response. But I guess he would have had to be some kind of an absolute freak to take off at that point, after the early fractions we ran.”

Precisionist didn’t put Greinton away, but he covered the last eighth of a mile in :12 3/5 after early fractions of :22 1/5, :45 1/5 and 1:09 3/5. He earned $148,200 for his owner and breeder, 88-year-old Fred Hooper, joining 14 other horses on the list of $2 million earners. Greinton, who started the day less than $1,000 behind Precisionist in purses, missed going over the $2 million mark with his $40,000 share for second.

“These are two pretty darn equal horses,” said Ross Fenstermaker, who trains Precisionist. “I wasn’t concerned about the early fractions, but when I saw Greinton coming up there, that’s what concerned me.”

Laffit Pincay, fearful that Precisionist might get away as the field headed down the backstretch, moved with Greinton sooner than he wanted to, he said.

“The other horse (Innamorato) wasn’t putting that much pressure on Precisionist,” Pincay said. “The leader was just galloping down the backside.”

In the stretch, where McCarron thought he might be losing the race, Pincay sensed that this was Precisionist’s day.

“My horse tried, but Precisionist was tough,” Pincay said. “He didn’t stop. He kept coming back for more. Close to the wire, I knew I wasn’t going to catch him.”

Sandy Hawley, riding Innamorato, didn’t want to get into a speed duel with Precisionist, but on the first turn it looked as if Hawley’s mount might be taking the lead.

“I couldn’t get him to relax after that,” Hawley said. “He was finished at the half-mile pole.”

Whittingham saw Innamorato as no factor, even when he was close to Precisionist.

“Precisionist could have blown by that other horse any time he wanted to,” Whittingham said.

Fenstermaker gave McCarron no instructions. McCarron, who scored his meet-high 16th stakes win, has ridden Precisionist in all but 4 of his 29 career starts.

“There were no orders,” Fenstermaker said. “There was no need to--Chris knows this horse. When you win, it always comes out like you planned.”

This was the 14th lifetime victory for Precisionist, who won the Eclipse Award for sprinting last year, taking the title after he won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint Stakes at Aqueduct in November. Fenstermaker didn’t have time to train the son of Crozier and Excellently for anything longer, because Precisionist missed four months of racing due to tender feet.

From here, both horses go to Hollywood Park, Fenstermaker talking about the Californian and the Hollywood Gold Cup for Precisionist.

Whittingham doesn’t have a spot picked out for Greinton. But it’s safe to assume that where Precisionist goes, Greinton will follow. The rivalry might be eight races old, but for the people behind these horses, it’s only beginning.

Horse Racing Notes Howell Wynne, the Dallas investor who owns 37 1/2% of Greinton, had better luck in New York Sunday. Wynne is also part owner of Phone Trick, the undefeated 4-year-old colt who scored his eighth straight win, taking the Bold Ruler Stakes at Aqueduct by 3 1/2 lengths over Love That Mac. Phone Trick ran six furlongs in 1:08 4/5, which was three-fifths of a second slower than the track record. . . . Bedouin, attempting to become the third horse to win six races in one season at Santa Anita, finished eighth in Sunday’s ninth race. . . . Mountain Bear, the 5-year-old mare who is undefeated in six starts on grass at Santa Anita, is expected to join the field for the $400,000 San Juan Capistrano Handicap next Sunday. Other probables are Dahar, Strawberry Road II, Jupiter Island, Semillero, Truculent and Talakeno. The only females to win in the previous 46 runnings of the San Juan were Miss Grillo in 1949 and La Zanzara in 1975. Jupiter Island, third in last year’s Washington D.C. International at Laurel, has been training in Europe and is scheduled to arrive at Santa Anita on Wednesday. Laffit Pincay took the mount after Tony Ives had originally been announced to ride. Jupiter Island is trained by Clive Brittain, who saddled Pebbles to win last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes, a victory that clinched the North American female turf championship.