BREEDERS CUP : HE’S BACK : Speedy Herat Returns to Santa Anita, Where He Almost Ran Off With the Big ‘Cap

Herat has returned to the scene of the crime.

It was almost eight months ago that the 4-year-old son of Northern Dancer stole the show at Santa Anita.

That was on March 2, Santa Anita Handicap day, the day Herat turned an otherwise unspectacular race into a memorable occasion.

Going off at an astonishing 157-1, the longest longshot in a field of 13, Herat stunned the crowd of 70,177 by sprinting to the lead and holding it until the final sixteenth of a mile.

In the end, Herat and jockey Rafael Meza were beaten by Laffit Pincay aboard Greinton, but only by three-quarters of a length.

So unexpected was Herat’s performance that afterward Pincay was left asking: “Who was that, anyway?” The bay colt’s second-place finish earned him a spot in the Santa Anita record books as the longest-priced horse ever to finish in the money in the 51-year history of the Big ‘Cap.

To further gain perspective on Herat’s effort, among those he left in the dust that day were 1986 Horse of the Year candidate Precisionist, the 6-5 favorite.

Now, Herat is back.

Saturday, he’ll be making his first start at Santa Anita since the Big ‘Cap when he takes on Precisionist, Turkoman, Mogambo, Bold Arrangement and the rest of an imposing field in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, the richest race ever run at the track.

This time, there’s no chance that Herat will go off at 157-1 or anything close to it. Still, trainer Jack Van Berg concedes that he’s going to be a longshot.

After he watched Herat work a mile in 1:40 3/5 Monday morning, Van Berg was asked about his colt’s chances in the Classic. To judge by his answer, Herat figures to be a spoiler, not a winner.

“He’s got speed, and anybody that goes with him, well, they’re not going to beat nobody,” Van Berg said. “He goes to the front, and if they go with him, well, it just kills them all because they get to going too damn fast.”

Herat’s early speed is something that troubles other trainers, who would just as soon not see their entries try to keep up and thereby burn themselves out like Precisionist did in the Santa Anita Handicap. On the other hand, if they let him get too far ahead, there’s a chance they might not catch him.

The weight factor will work against Herat this time, however. Like all of the other horses in the Classic, he’ll be carrying 126 pounds. For a colt who’s barely 15 hands and 900 pounds, that might be too much to overcome.

“He’s matured, he’s gotten stronger, he’s filled out somewhat (since March),” Van Berg said. “But I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t know whether he can carry the 126 pounds around with those kind of horses.

“I don’t want to sound skeptical, but it’s asking a hell of a lot of him. All of those horses have been carrying 126 all along and been running with it. This horse is a small horse, very small.”

Ross Fenstermaker, who trains Precisionist, is relieved that the weights will be equal this time. He’s tired of giving Herat and others an advantage.

“It’s going to help us a lot,” Fenstermaker said. “We’ve been giving so much weight all year to everybody. I think the last time we ran with Herat, we gave him something like 14 pounds.”

Actually, it was 13 pounds in the Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park on July 20, when Precisionist again chased Herat and again lost the race. Precisionist finished third, Herat fourth.

Herat comes into Saturday’s race off a victory in the Maryland Classic at Laurel on Oct. 18. There, he covered the 1 miles--the same distance as the Breeders’ Cup race--in 2:03 1/5, one-fifth of a second shy of a 17-year-old track record.

That win, Herat’s eighth in 29 lifetime starts, raised his career earnings to $771,415. Owned by John Franks, a Shreveport, La., oilman, Herat is the richest of Northern Dancer’s offspring, having surpassed even Nijinsky II.

Monday morning’s work under exercise rider David Leal was Herat’s final tuneup for Saturday’s race, when Jerry Bailey will be aboard.

“He ran a week ago and he went strong again this morning and that’s all he needs,” Van Berg said. “He’ll just jog the rest of the week.”

As far as temperament goes, Van Berg said Herat could not be better.

“You can’t ask for a nicer horse to be around,” he said. “He’s so sweet he’s just like a damn pony in the stall.”

A pony that can cause Precisionist, Turkoman and the rest all kinds of trouble.

Turkoman, one of Herat’s opponents in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, was shipped from Hollywood Park to Santa Anita Monday after he and jockey Pat Day covered six furlongs in 1:10 3/5 in their final work on Sunday. Trainer Gary Jones said Turkoman will gallop up to the race. “He doesn’t need to do too much--he just went a mile and a half (on Oct. 4 at Belmont),” Jones said.

Precisionist, meanwhile, is scheduled to work five furlongs at Santa Anita this morning in his final tuneup, while Nostalgia’s Star will cover the same distance Wednesday morning.

If Precisionist’s rivals want to improve their chances of beating the favorite Saturday, they could do worse than hire an airplane to fly over the track at race time.

“He loves airplanes,” Fenstermaker said. “When he sees an airplane, he’ll stop and look at it.”

Another Classic competitor, Mogambo, will be ridden by Angel Cordero Jr., trainer Leroy Jolley confirmed Monday.

Dancing Brave, winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, had his first gallop on the Santa Anita turf course Monday morning.

Trainer Guy Harwood’s main concern was to get the son of Lyphard accustomed to the dirt crossing where the grass course and the dirt track intersect.

“All we were doing this morning was just getting him used to going from turf to dirt to turf,” Harwood said. “It’s like nothing he’s seen before, so we want him to be prepared.”

Dancing Brave appeared untroubled by the heat and smog, although Harwood was not overly pleased with having to take his horse onto the track late in the morning. Quarantine regulations forbid imported horses from working alongside their U.S. counterparts.

“The worst thing, possibly, is the heat, having to go out on the track at half past nine when it’s really got quite hot,” Harwood said. “It means that you’re losing more weight just exercising than you really would quite like.”

Pat Eddery, Dancing Brave’s jockey Saturday, arrives in California Thursday.

Trainer Charlie Whittingham on his two Turf entrants, Estrapade and Dahar: “If they aren’t sharp now, they’ll never be.”

John Henry, thoroughbred racing’s all-time leading money-winner, will make a special appearance during Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup program.

Trainer Ron McAnally said the 11-year-old gelding will be paraded on the track between races in what will be his farewell to California.

John Henry, who won $1,696,550 of his record $6,597,947 at Santa Anita, will be retired to the Kentucky Horse Farm after his Breeders’ Cup appearance.

Breeders Cup Notes Jockey Fernando Toro will be aboard the Argentine mare Paradies in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, trainer Jack Van Berg confirmed Monday. . . . Outstandingly, another Distaff entrant, breezed five-eighths of a mile “in :59 and change” Monday, according to trainer Laz Barrera, while trainer Jerry Fanning’s Shywing worked six furlongs in 1:15. . . . Breeders’ Cup Mile favorite Sonic Lady, who has seven firsts and a third in eight lifetime starts, got her first look at the track Monday. Her trainer, Michael Stoute, arrives today. . . . Palace Music will work five furlongs this morning under Gary Stevens in his final tuneup for the Mile. Palace Music owns the track record of 1:35 for the distance set Oct. 4. . . . Groovy, the favorite to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, galloped a mile and half Monday “just to keep him in shape,” according to trainer Jose Martin. . . . Trainer Wayne Lukas’ entrants in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Sacahuista and Anything For Love, have completed their preparatory work for the race. “With Sacahuista, all we’ll do is gallop her through the stretch either Thursday or Friday and that will be it,” Lukas said. “I may do a little more with Anything For Love, but most of the work is done with her, too.” . . . Bet Twice, one of the favorites in the highly competitive Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, will be flown in from New Jersey on Wednesday, trainer Jimmy Croll said, while Polish Navy arrived Monday afternoon from New York. . . . Bill Shoemaker rode Alysheba for the first time Monday, covering seven furlongs in 1:26 3/5 for trainer Van Berg.