Oak Tree Invitational : Estrapade’s Win Might Be Costly to Her Owner

Estrapade, leading from start to finish, won the $400,000 Oak Tree Invitational by 2 lengths Sunday at Santa Anita, but her owner, Allen Paulson, is only breaking even. It will cost Paulson $240,000, Estrapade’s share of the Oak Tree purse, to make her eligible to run in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

Although Estrapade’s trainer, Charlie Whittingham, is not in favor of supplementing the 6-year-old mare to the Breeders’ Cup, Paulson said he would put up the money. First place in the Breeders’ Cup race is worth $900,000.

“I wouldn’t put up the money,” Whittingham said. “I went through that last year, you know, with Greinton. By the time you take out 10% for the jockey and 10% for the trainer, that’s a lot of money to risk for what the owner gets back.”

Whittingham, one of Greinton’s owners, ran him as a $240,000 supplemental in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last year at Aqueduct and he finished seventh, not earning any purse money. For Paulson to turn a profit with Estrapade, she would have to finish at least second, which pays $400,000.

But as Fernando Toro said about supplementing Estrapade, “I don’t think Mr. Paulson will mind.” Toro, who has won five of eight starts riding Estrapade, was aboard again Sunday, just as he was for the Vaguely Noble-Klepto mare’s win against males on Aug. 31 in the Budweiser-Arlington Million.

The 64-year-old Paulson, listed by Forbes magazine as one of America’s 400 wealthiest people, sold his share in Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. for more than $600 million in 1985, and he has invested more than $100 million since he started a racing stable in 1982.

Actually, Paulson earned more than $240,000 in the Oak Tree. He started three horses, and Theatrical picked up $48,000 for finishing second and Gallant Archer returned $24,000 for fourth. Paulson has a 50-50 partnership in Theatrical with Bert Firestone.

Uptown Swell prevented Paulson’s horses from scoring a 1-2-3 sweep, finishing third, 7 1/2 lengths behind Estrapade.

Estrapade, the only female in the race, increased her career earnings to $1.7 million, which moved her past Dahlia and into fifth place on the money list among fillies and mares. Ranking ahead of her All Along, Trinycarol, Lady’s Secret and Life’s Magic. Paulson, who already owned 20% of Estrapade, bought her at auction for $4.5 million last November, two days after she won the Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita.

At the time, it appeared that Estrapade would be retired for breeding, but Paulson decided to keep running her. “She was in her prime and there was no sense retiring her,” Paulson said.

Running 1 1/2 miles on the turf in 2:26, which was more than two seconds slower than the stakes record, Estrapade returned $2.80, $3.20 and $2.10 to the winners in the crowd of 35,775. Theatrical’s prices were the same because he ran coupled with Estrapade, and Uptown Swell returned $3.60.

Even running alone, Estrapade would have been a heavy favorite in the Oak Tree. The 10-horse field included six horses that were either winless or had won only one race this year, and Estrapade thrives on Santa Anita’s turf course. She has a record there of five wins, two seconds and a third, and the Oak Tree was her fourth stakes win at Santa Anita.

“She was relaxed all the way around,” Toro said. “Every time another horse came to us, she took off. And distance is no problem; she can run all day. I was keeping pretty busy (with the whip) through the stretch, because I like to cross the wire in time.”

Toro, who during a long career has enjoyed riding on grass just as much as Estrapade loves running on it, won the Oak Tree for the first time in his 15th start. Toro won the Breeders’ Cup Mile on turf with Royal Heroine in 1984 at Hollywood Park.

“It’s hard to compare the two,” Toro said. “Royal Heroine was a different type, a horse who was best at a mile, a mile and sixteenth. This mare, she likes to go a mile and a quarter, a mile and half.”

Her distance on Breeders’ Cup day will be the same 1 1/2 miles as Sunday. That’s another reason for Paulson to go to his checkbook.

Horse Racing Notes

After Lady’s Secret won Sunday’s Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park by a half-length over Coup de Fusil, trainer Wayne Lukas said that the 4-year-old filly would run in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. Lukas, who remained at Santa Anita while his son Jeff saddled Lady’s Secret Sunday, had also been considering running her against males in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. . . . Mille Et Une, winner of a $30,000 race at Santa Anita on Oct. 4, was disqualified after a post-race test showed that she had been treated with an illegal tranquilizer. Pete Pedersen, a Santa Anita steward, said that it hasn’t been determined whether trainer Darrell Vienna would be suspended because of the incident. . . . Brave Raj, a Santa Anita-based filly trained by Mel Stute and ridden by Pat Valenzuela, won Sunday’s $400,000 My Dear Girl Stakes by three-fourths of a length at Calder. . . . Charlie Whittingham has won the Oak Tree nine times. . . . A single winning ticket on Sunday’s Pick Nine returned $366,490.80. . . . Groovy, a New York-based speedster scheduled to run in the Breeders’ Cup, is the high weight at 123 pounds for Wednesday’s Ancient Title Handicap at Santa Anita. Others in the eight-horse field are Fifty Six Ina Row, Rosie’s K.T., Fortunate Prospect, Sun Master, Mogambo, American Legion and Bedside Promise.