Weekend Racing at Santa Anita : Lady’s Secret Won’t Run Sunday

Despite an opinion from another trainer 3,000 miles away, Wayne Lukas will not be running Lady’s Secret, the 1986 Horse of the Year, in Sunday’s $300,000 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita.

Lukas figures that Lady’s Secret, who won the Santa Margarita last year, is good enough to beat a talented field while carrying 129 pounds, seven more than anyone else, in this year’s running. But his considerations are for the rest of the year, when the 5-year-old gray mare would carry 130 pounds and more if she won at 129 in March.

Another consideration is that Lukas has three other fillies--Family Style, Life at the Top and North Sider--that he believes are capable of winning Sunday, and all three have been entered.

At Hialeah the other day, where trainer LeRoy Jolley was surveying the national racing scene, Jolley said: “Based on the other fillies I’ve seen in that division, Lady’s Secret could carry a safe and still win her races.”

Maybe so, but Lady’s Secret will wait before making her 1987 debut. With her on the sidelines Sunday, all but one of the other nominated horses are running, and the field looks like this, in post-position order:

Shywing, with Alex Solis riding; Winter Treasure, Fernando Toro; Family Style, Gary Stevens; Fran’s Valentine, Pat Valenzuela; North Sider, Angel Cordero; Life at the Top, Pat Day; Miraculous, Gary Baze; Sari’s Heroine, Antonio Castanon; Frau Altiva, Laffit Pincay; Infinidad, Corey Black; Seldom Seen Sue, Bill Shoemaker, and Top Corsage, Eddie Delahoussaye.

Fran’s Valentine is now the high weight, at 122 pounds, with Family Style and Life at the Top next at 120 pounds apiece. Lukas’ three horses will run as an entry.

Speaking of weights, the assignments for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap a week from Sunday were announced Friday.

Of the horses expected to run, Snow Chief will carry the top weight, 126 pounds. After him come Ferdinand at 125; Skywalker, 124; Broad Brush, 122; Bedside Promise, 121; Epidaurus, 115, and Bruiser, 113. Outside possibilities are Nostalgia’s Star, 118; Hopeful Word, 116, and Bozina, 110.

Skywalker, winner of the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Nov. 1, is scheduled to run under Pincay today in the Arcadia Handicap, in which he will face 10 challengers. Skywalker and Al Mamoon have been assigned high weight, 123 pounds.