Dahlia Handicap : ‘Ugly’ Aberuschka Looks Good in Victory

Carolyn Lee, the European apprentice jockey, and Pat Valenzuela were standing near a television monitor outside Hollywood Park’s jockeys’ room, watching a rerun of Sunday’s $135,900 Dahlia Handicap.

“She’s so ugly,” Lee said, talking about Aberuschka, the 4-year-old Irish-bred filly that Valenzuela had ridden in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.

“Yeah, she’s not good looking,” Valenzuela said. “But she can still be pretty, running like she did today.”

Aberuschka, rated close behind Tax Dodge and Infinidad as they set snail-like early fractions, took the lead at the top of the stretch and held on for a one-length win over An Empress before 28,668 fans.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the holder--the holders of tickets on Aberuschka, who, as the slight favorite over An Empress, paid $5.40, $2.60 and $2.40. An Empress, who went into the Dahlia a double stakes winner at the Hollywood Park meeting, paid $2.80 and $2.60, finishing 1 lengths ahead of Reloy, who paid $2.80 for running third. Aberuschka’s time was a creditable 1:41 3/5 as she earned $80,740 for owners Jerry and Ann Moss of Los Angeles.

An Irish bloodstock agent recommended that Bobby Frankel buy Aberuschka in 1985 and the Mosses’ trainer made the purchase without seeing the filly. The first time Frankel saw her run, Aberuschka won the Kingstand Stakes, a major five-furlong race against top English sprinters at Royal Ascot.

“To be honest,” Frankel said, “if I had seen her ahead of time, I wouldn’t have bought her. She was so thin and slight.”

Even now, the daughter of Thatching and Veruschka is not carrying any extra weight.

“She’s a good doer (eater),” Frankel said. “To look at her, you’d think that she never eats, but actually she eats everything in sight.”

Frankel is surprised that he has been able to extend Aberuschka beyond sprint distances and get her to win. Going 1 1/16 miles is just about her optimum, though. Since coming to the United States, she’s been unable to handle an extra sixteenth of a mile on two occasions. Sunday’s win was Aberuschka’s ninth in 17 starts and raised her career earnings to more than $440,000. She’ll continue to race as a 5-year-old.

Frankel said that the Dahlia, with seven starters, would be a three-horse race, and the two rivals he feared, An Empress and Reloy, finished immediately behind Aberuschka. Tax Dodge, after leading for three-quarters of a mile, faded badly and finished last.

“If you get along with this filly, she’ll run her eyeballs out for you,” Valenzuela said. “She figured to be a sprinter, but the way she’s been running, that’s not true any more. She picked it up on her own and finished strong today.”

Valenzuela was unseated and jammed his left wrist while bringing a horse back after a win on Dec. 10. The jockey missed only two days of riding, then learned Thursday, the same day he rode three winners, that there was a small crack in the wrist. He’s now wearing a protective metal brace that won’t come off for about three weeks.

Valenzuela, who says his riding is unaffected, has been whipping with both hands and switching his stick effectively. Aberuschka’s victory was part of a four-win day for him Sunday.

“I never thought I was going to catch the winner,” said Fernando Toro, who rode An Empress. “My horse accelerated, but not enough to make up the ground.”

Toro was back at Hollywood Park Sunday after riding Palace Music to victory Saturday in the $300,000 Bay Meadows Handicap. That race was a major disappointment for Frankel, whose Al Mamoon finished sixth, about 15 lengths back, with no excuse. Saturday’s Hollywood Turf Express Handicap also came up ragweed instead of roses for Frankel, who saddled favored River Drummer and watched him finish last.

So Aberuschka was a bailout for the trainer. “It started out to be a disastrous weekend,” Frankel said, “but at least it ended good. But that’s the way this game is, isn’t it? At least I was in a position to win three stakes, which doesn’t happen to a lot of trainers.”

Horse Racing Notes

Aberuschka is the third straight foreign-bred to win the Dahlia Handicap. Capricorn Belle, the winner last year, and Lina Cavalieri, who finished first in 1984, were both bred in England. Bobby Frankel also trained Lina Cavalieri. . . . Brigade Speciale, Carolyn Lee’s mount in the Dahlia Sunday, is an English-bred who ran sixth in her first American start. Brigade Speciale, who needed an equipment adjustment prior to the start, was fractious before she got into the gate and then broke last, trying to jump into the air. . . . Trainer Charlie Whittingham said he received a phone call at 6 o’clock Sunday morning from Russell Baze, apologizing for his foul claim in Saturday’s Bay Meadows Handicap. Whittingham won the race with Palace Music and his Swink, with Baze riding, finished fourth. Nelson Bunker Hunt has an ownership interest in both horses. Baze’s claim, which was against the first two finishers, couldn’t have moved Swink up any higher than second and would have cost Palace Music the win if it had been allowed by the stewards. . . . Hollywood Park’s last day of racing is the season windup on Wednesday, with a 12:30 post, and 12 horses are entered in the Seabiscuit Stakes, running for claiming prices of $500,000 or $600,000. . . . Santa Anita opens Friday with the $100,000 Malibu Stakes. . . . Angel Cordero, who usually rides in New York and Florida during the winter, plans to ride the first two weeks at Santa Anita, with the possibility of staying. . . . With the retirement of handicap standout Turkoman, trainer Gary Jones’ stable is at low ebb. “We’ve gone from trying to win the eighth race to trying to win the ninth race,” Jones said.