Weekend Racing at Santa Anita : Ferdinand to Make Grass Debut Sunday

Not all of Charlie Whittingham’s material is his own. The 73-year-old trainer delivered an epigram Friday, then had the honesty to cite the source.

Whittingham told the story about Murph Hirschberg, who owned Dinner Gong, playing in a card game when somebody who had been to the racing office walked into the room.

“How much weight did they put on my horse?” Hirschberg asked.

Told that Dinner Gong had been assigned 130 pounds, Hirschberg said: “What do they think he is, an elephant?”

Another player in the game said: “You going to run him, Murph?”

“Sure,” Hirschberg said. “What do you think I got him for, a watchdog?”

Whittingham borrowed Hirschberg’s quip when somebody asked him if he was running Ferdinand in the $200,000 San Luis Rey Stakes Sunday at Santa Anita.

Like Dinner Gong, Ferdinand is no watchdog.

Having won the San Luis Rey four of the last five years, Whittingham is not only using the race as the grass debut for the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, but he’s also starting two more horses, which give him half the field in the 1 1/2-mile stake.

Whittingham’s other San Luis Rey entrants are Louis Le Grand and Rivlia. Here is the field in post-position order:

Long Mick, to be ridden by Angel Cordero; Ferdinand, Bill Shoemaker; Chinoiserie, Gary Baze; Louis Le Grand, Gary Stevens; Rivlia, Laffit Pincay; and Zoffany, Eddie Delahoussaye. All will carry 126 pounds and the Whittingham horses, who have different owners, will not be combined in the betting.

Long before Ferdinand gave Whittingham his first Kentucky Derby win, the trainer envisioned a grass campaign for the chestnut colt. Ferdinand’s sire, Nijinsky II, raced exclusively on the grass in Europe, lost only two starts and in 1970 became the last horse to sweep the English Triple Crown by winning the Epsom Derby, the St. Leger Stakes and the Two Thousand Guineas.

Whittingham said of Ferdinand: “Besides his breeding, he’s along-striding colt and those kind have a chance to do well on the grass.”

Whittingham kept Ferdinand on the main track until now because he was earning $1.4 million on dirt. But for two noses--against Snow Chief in the Strub Stakes and Broad Brush in the Santa Anita Handicap--Ferdinand would have added another $541,750 to his total.

Whittingham believes that this is the right spot for Ferdinand’s first grass appearance. “He’s carrying equal weight,” the trainer said. “If this were a handicap, he’d be giving weight to these horses. And it’s not a very big field, which can help a horse that comes from behind.”

The field is formidable, however, with Zoffany and Louis Le Grand having won stakes at Santa Anita this season, Zoffany going over the $1-million purse mark with his victory. The bettors may not know what to do with Long Mick, a 6-year-old gray with a peculiar record--he wins races every other year.

Long Mick was bred in France and won his only two starts there as a 2-year-old in 1983. In 1984, Long Mick didn’t win in seven tries, including a sixth in the French Derby and a seventh at 99-1 in Sagace’s Arc de Triomphe.

In 1985, after winning twice in France, Long Mick was bought by West Coast interests and under trainer Eddie Gregson didn’t win in five American starts. He ran a creditable fifth in the Oak Tree Invitational in his only Santa Anita start.

Last year, in the care of Angel Penna Sr., Long Mick was stabled at Belmont Park, but didn’t run a race because of sore feet.

Penna brought Long Mick back to the races this year in Florida, where he won two out of three starts and just missed catching Theatrical at the wire in the Hialeah Turf Cup.

Because of Long Mick’s ownership, Penna brought the horse to Santa Anita last Sunday and they may stay if they’re invited to run in the $400,000 San Juan Capistrano on April 19. That could depend on what Long Mick does Sunday. At least it’s his year to win a few races.

Horse Racing Notes In his last workout before running as the favorite in the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby a week from today, Masterful Advocate ran a mile between races Friday in 1:37 1/5 and galloped out another eighth of a mile in 1:50 1/5 under regular jockey Laffit Pincay. Trainer Joe Manzi said that he had been hoping for a workout of about 1:37. . . . In another Santa Anita Derby development, Chris McCarron has been named to ride Alysheba.