Weekend Racing at Hollywood Park : At Age 8, Tonzarun Has Been There and Back

The 8-year-old Tonzarun is a horse for all seasons. The racing season, the breeding season--Tonzarun has seen the country and done it all.

A horse with an undistinguished record but an estimable bankroll, Tonzarun is not the sort who had many people asking about him after he quietly ran what was supposed to be his last race in September 1985. The son of Arts and Letters and the Buckpasser mare Passakiss was going to be retired to stud, after 54 races, 6 wins and earnings of $380,000.

Tonzarun did go to Sherwood Hill Farm in Anthony, Fla., where he serviced 39 mares, an average booking, early this year. But after the breeding season ended, Sherman Armstrong, a former jockey who owns the farm, returned Tonzarun to training.

Then on Oct. 25, about 10 months after he had run his last race, Tonzarun popped up in an overnight stake at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. He almost scored his first win since April 1984, leading the Wild Again going into the stretch, but Charging Through passed him with about 40 yards to go, and Tonzarun finished second.

The Wild Again was run at about 11 at night. By noon the next day, Tonzarun’s plane had brought him to Los Angeles, and now he has popped up again, to run Sunday in the $100,000 Vernon O. Underwood at Hollywood Park.

The turf course, where the Underwood will be run at 1 1/16 miles, is not foreign to Tonzarun. In November 1984, owner Donald Everett’s horse ran in the first Breeders’ Cup, and although Tonzarun finished sixth in the Mile, he was only 3 lengths behind Royal Heroine, who was setting the American grass record for the distance, running it in 1:32 3/5.

Tonzarun is attempting to copy Silveyville, a California-bred horse who has spent two seasons at stud and been able to win when brought back to the races. In 1984, the horses were in the same race, the Burke Handicap at Santa Anita. Silveyville won it, and Tonzarun finished fourth.

Tonzarun, with Herb McCauley riding, has drawn the No. 5 post for the Underwood and will carry 111 pounds, which makes him the light weight along with Pre Emptive Strike.

The 10-horse field, in post-position order, consists of Nasib, Will Dancer, Skip Out Front, Coarazenay, Tonzarun, Barbery, Perfect Match, Salvate Tel, Epidaurus and Lofty. There are two couplings in the betting, Will Dancer with Epidaurus and Coarazenay with Lofty, who may not start, according to trainer John Gosden. The high weight is Salvate Tel with 118 pounds.

Horse Racing Notes Alfred Shelhamer, a former jockey and racing official who would have been 68 Nov. 30, died Friday of cancer. Shelhamer began riding in 1935 and was forced to retire after he was seriously injured in a spill at Santa Anita in 1945. He was a steward at the major tracks in Southern California before failing health forced him to retire last July. . . . Palace Music, who rallied from last place but lost by a head to Last Tycoon in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Mile a week ago, is at Laurel, Md., being prepared to run next Saturday in the Washington D.C. International. Soft going, which is frequently the way the course is for the Maryland race, should help Palace Music, who will be ridden by Gary Stevens.

Hatim, who finished next to last in the Mile, suffered a small crack in a bone just above the ankle, trainer John Gosden said. Hatim had been scheduled to be sent to stud even before the injury. . . . Trainer Ross Fenstermaker said that owner Fred Hooper still hasn’t decided about retiring Precisionist, who could make two more starts even if he does go to stud--in the Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park Dec. 13 and in the San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita in January. Precisionist, third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic but still a candidate for the title in the handicap-male division, won the San Pasqual this year. . . . Melair, a candidate for the year’s 3-year-old filly title, has returned to training and is scheduled to have her first breeze in a few days. Melair, undefeated in five starts, was rested after winning the Silver Screen Handicap July 5.

Trainer Jack Van Berg said that Herat threw his two rear shoes in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Herat led the race for three-quarters of a mile, then finished last. To suggestions from the Precisionist camp that Herat didn’t belong in the race, Van Berg said: “Anybody’s got the right to run. We almost beat Greinton, a real good horse, going 1 miles in the Santa Anita Handicap this year, so why not try again at 1 miles in the Classic? The truly good horses should be able to win no matter who’s in the race. They shouldn’t have to have the race set up perfectly for them in order to win.”