Notebook : Vasquez Has a Smile From Start of Sprint

To hear jockey Jacinto Vasquez tell it, all Smile had to do to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint was get out of the gate standing up.

“I have to worry about him coming out of the gate too fast,” Vasquez said. “If he comes out too fast he lands on his head. Today he came out on his feet.”

Vasquez certainly needed that little intricacy of horse racing--running with his feet rather than his head--considering he was facing heavily favored Groovy.

But for the first time in his career, Groovy didn’t break on top. It didn’t get any better as he finished fourth.

“Groovy broke OK but he didn’t blow out like he did the other day,” starter Tucker Slender said.

There was some question which race Smile was going to run. Owner Frances Genter and trainer Flint (Scotty) Schulhofer debated as to whether to run Smile in the Sprint or the Mile. Last year at Aqueduct in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Smile finished second to Precisionist.

“His best distance is a mile and two turns,” Schulhofer said. “But obviously, we made the right choice today.”

Jockey Pat Valenzuela’s thoughts wandered back to 1984 when the inquiry sign flashed on the board after the running of the Juvenile Fillies race.

It was at the first Breeders’ Cup that Valenzuela rode Fran’s Valentine in the Juvenile Fillies to an apparent victory. However, he was disqualified for interference and Outstandingly was awarded the victory.

On Saturday, the inquiry sign was lit after Valenzuela rode Brave Raj to victory in the Juvenile Fillies.

The stewards took little time dismissing a claim of interference by jockey Dave Penna, aboard Ruling Angel.

“Well, it’s official thank God,” Valenzuela said. “I guess I accomplished something over the last one. I needed to get this one back after the last one.”

Owner Dolly Green was also, and expectedly, happy: “It was quick short and wonderful, wasn’t it?”

The Breeders’ Cup was bet in 38 different locations across the United States and Canada on Saturday. More than $19 million was bet.

It set a Breeders’ Cup record, breaking the mark of $13.5 million set last year at Aqueduct.

Not counting the money bet at Thistledown, which did not report its handle, $19,375,528 was wagered.

The largest amount was bet at New York City’s OTB, which handled $2,702,152.

None of the four horses that were supplemented to the card made money.

Hatim and Truce Maker, both of which paid $120,000 to enter the Mile, finished 13th and 14th, respectively, in a 14-horse race.

Classy Cathy, which paid $120,000 to run in the Distaff, finished fourth and won $70,000. And Estrapade, which paid $240,000 to run, finished third earning $216,000.

Lady’s Secret owner, Eugene Klein, said he was offered $7 million before the race to sell the horse. “That wasn’t an offer, that was an insult,” he said. Lady’s Secret won the distaff and quite probably the horse-of-the-year honors in the process.

There were two races after the conclusion of the Breeders’ Cup series. River Drummer, with Gary Stevens aboard, won the Morvich Handicap, and Aberuschka, with Valenzuela aboard, won the Midwick Handicap. Both were turf races.

Census, the 8-5 betting choice after favored Flatterer was scratched, held off a late charge by Kesslin to win the $250,000 Breeders’ Cup Steeplechase at Fair Hill, Md. The 8-year-old gelding covered the 16-jump, 2 3/8-mile course in 4:27 3/5.

Capote’s wire-to-wire win in the Juvenile came as no surprise to jockey Laffit Pincay.

At a Breeders’ Cup party Thursday night at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, across the street from Santa Anita, Pincay was asked by track commentator Trevor Denman during a television interview how he thought the colt would perform.

“Well, the horse couldn’t come into the race any better,” Pincay said. “He’s really going to be tough to beat.”

Pincay might have known his own horse, but he did less well in handicaping the opposition. Asked where he thought Capote’s stiffest challenge would come from, Pincay picked Gulch, unbeaten until he was edged by Capote in the Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 11.

“I think the horse that (Angel) Cordero has (will be the toughest),” Pincay said. “He’s had a race over the track and he’s gone 5 for 5, so I think he’s really the horse to beat.”

Gulch finished fifth, almost seven lengths behind the winner, Smile.