Owner Itching to Get Coakley in Breeders’ Cup : . . . And One More Scratch Will Do It for Juvenile Filly With Only Two Starts

It happens almost every year in the Kentucky Derby. An ego-stricken owner runs a horse that has no business in the race. But the owner gets four box seats at Churchill Downs and can tell his grandchildren about the time he ran a horse in America’s most famous horse race.

In the first two years of the Breeders’ Cup, the 14 races have been reasonably clear of horses that don’t belong. It costs about the same these days to run in the Derby, $20,600 or $23,000, as it does to run in a $1-million Breeders’ Cup race, either $20,500 or $22,500, providing the farm that owns the sire has nominated him.

Probably the most out-of-place horse that has run in the Breeders’ Cup was Vacarme, a European colt who started in the Sprint Stakes last year at Aqueduct. Vacarme had won only one race in two years, hadn’t raced in more than four months and was being asked to run on dirt for the first time.

The bettors at Aqueduct weren’t blind. They sent Vacarme off at 160-1--the longest price for a Breeders’ Cup starter. He finished 11th in a 14-horse field.

This year’s Vacarme--the horse that doesn’t belong--is Coakley, providing she gets the chance to run in the $1-million Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Santa Anita a week from today.

When Coakley was surprisingly pre-entered Monday, at a cost to her owner of $10,000, 16 other 2-year-olds were also made eligible. Since the limit in a Breeders’ Cup race is 14, three fillies that hadn’t accumulated enough points, or didn’t catch the fancy of the second-stage selection committee, were placed on the also-eligible list, meaning there would have to be scratches in order for them to run.

The committee didn’t need much time to make Coakley an also-eligible. She has only had two starts, both in the last two weeks, and has a second-place finish and a win against maidens at Longacres, a track on the outskirts of Seattle. The best thing to be said about Coakley is her breeding. She’s a granddaughter of Northern Dancer, and her sire, Staff Writer, also begot two recent major stakes winners, Timely Writer and Fact Finder.

Being three scratches away from running in the Breeders’ Cup didn’t deter John Roche, however. On Tuesday, Coakley’s owner, a Yakima, Wash., apple grower who also bred the filly, instructed his trainer, Mike Chambers, to van the horse to Los Angeles.

Chambers trains 20 horses for Roche, and last year they won the Hollywood Juvenile Championship and the Sapling Stakes at Monmouth Park with Hilco Scamper, a brilliant but brittle sprinter.

The day after Coakley broke her maiden with a seven-length win last Saturday, Roche walked up to Chambers at his barn and said: “Sit down, and be in a good mood.”

Chambers answered: “Don’t tell me you’re putting a horse in the Breeders’ Cup.”

“Yes, I am,” Roche said.

Since Coakley arrived at Santa Anita, good things have happened for Roche. Fancy Freeze, another horse whose owners hoped to run in the Juvenile Fillies, got sick and was declared out of the race. Ghanayim, a guaranteed starter in the stake, is staying in England.

So now Coakley is one scratch away from making the race. Roche isn’t wishing anybody bad luck, but with the horse on the grounds, he’s doing some bit-champing of his own, hoping he gets the chance to pay the next $10,000 that goes with Coakley running.

Chambers is philosophical. He had already been through a lot with Coakley, even before she ran her first race. First, the filly had sore shins, not an uncommon ailment for 2-year-olds. Then, jogging the wrong way on the track, she ran into the rail, suffering injuries that sidelined her another month.

The Juvenile Fillies will decide the divisional championship. The race includes three undefeated stakes winners--Personal Ensign, Tappiano and Prankstress--plus Sacahuista, a stakes winner on both coasts, and Brave Raj, who’s won four straight.

In racing, you can’t win what you don’t enter. Could Coakley be added to the list of winning Breeders’ Cup longshots that includes Lashkari at 53-1, Wild Again at 31-1, and Outstandingly at 22-1?

One more scratch by a week from today and Roche, Chambers and the world will all know.

Horse Racing Notes Mike Chambers says that Hilco Scamper, despite numerous physical problems that have kept him away from the races since July of 1985, is one workout away from running. . . . Flying Lieutenant, who’s scheduled to run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is running today in the $100,000 B.J. Ridder Stakes for California-breds at Santa Anita.