Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Fever Ousts Alysheba From Santa Anita Derby Field

Alysheba, whose string of runner-up finishes continued when he ran second recently to Chart the Stars at Santa Anita, will miss Saturday’s $500,000 Santa Anita Derby because of a fever.

The absence of Alysheba reduces the probable field to six for the 1 1/8-mile race, one of three stakes Saturday that will affect the status of favorites for the Kentucky Derby May 2.

Masterful Advocate, winner of three straight this year, will be favored in the Santa Anita Derby.

Others expected to run include Chart the Stars, who beat Alysheba in the San Felipe Handicap March 22; Temperate Sil, who ran third in the San Felipe, 3 1/2 lengths behind Chart the Stars; Lookinforthebigone, undefeated in two starts at six furlongs; Flying Flags, third in the Lafayette Stakes at Golden Gate Fields March 14; and Something Lucky, who led the San Felipe for three-quarters of a mile and finished fourth.

Jack Van Berg, who trains Alysheba, said the colt showed a fever late last week. It went down for a day but then flared up again over the weekend and Van Berg said he lost too much time to run Saturday.

Van Berg still has Kentucky Derby hopes for the late-running Alysheba, who has earned more than $400,000 with close finishes, even though his only win in nine starts was against maidens at Turfway Park in Kentucky last September. Alysheba’s biggest paycheck was the $108,000 he earned for finishing third, behind Capote and Qualify, in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita in November.

Possibilities for Alysheba’s next race are the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park or the California Derby at Golden Gate April 18; and the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland April 23.

Racing fans at Pimlico may have the most fun Saturday. They will be able to bet and watch via television the Santa Anita Derby, the Gotham Stakes from Aqueduct and the Florida Derby from Gulfstream Park. All that besides nine live races that include the $150,000 John B. Campbell Handicap, which has drawn local hero Broad Brush.

After winning the Santa Anita Handicap, Broad Brush returned to Pimlico and remains there to run under 124 pounds in the Campbell, even though he could have been sent to last Sunday’s Gulfstream Park Handicap, where the impost would have been a pound lighter.

A bigger difference, of course, is that in the Campbell, Broad Brush won’t have to face Skip Trial, Creme Fraiche, Snow Chief and Wise Times, who crossed the finish line in that order in the four-horse Gulfstream.

Broad Brush’s opposition at Pimlico includes Proud Debonair, who is next in the weights at 116, and Little Bold John, who has drawn 113 pounds after beating Lady’s Secret and others at 55-1 in Gulfstream’s Donn Handicap.

Capote’s handlers are hoping for a better trip in the Gotham Stakes than last year’s champion 2-year-old colt had in getting from California to New York.

Capote left California on schedule Tuesday, but when high winds closed La Guardia airport in New York, the colt’s plane stopped in Lexington, Ky., where he spent the night at Keeneland.

Capote finally arrived at Belmont Park Wednesday morning. There is a chance that Aqueduct’s track might be off Saturday, with rain and possibly snow forecast for New York Friday.

Mel Stute, who won the Santa Anita Derby last year with Snow Chief, doesn’t have a horse in this year’s race and will be an analyst for ABC on Saturday’s telecast. The network’s “Wide World of Sports” also is carrying the Florida Derby, with both races being shown on a delayed basis in Los Angeles, since Channel 7 carries the program from 4:30 to 6 p.m. here.

With post time at 12:10 p.m. for Santa Anita’s first race Saturday, the Santa Anita Derby--the fifth race--will be run at 2:43, about 15 minutes after the Florida Derby.

Today, Stute will deliver the eulogy at Rose Hills Cemetery in Whittier for Carl Grinstead, Snow Chief’s co-owner, who died at 73 Sunday.

The future of Snow Chief is complicated, because Grinstead was a 50-50 partner with Ben Rochelle in that horse and about 34 others. By written agreement, Grinstead made all the decisions regarding the stable. Grinstead’s survivors include his wife Pearl and several of their children from previous marriages.

Arlington Park officials have given up hope of renewing their contract for this year’s Budweiser-Arlington Million with NBC-TV, which reportedly has a scheduling conflict with the race next Sept. 6.

ABC says that it has time available that day and there have been discussions between that network and Arlington.

Dropping the Million means that NBC’s only racing coverage this year will be the seven-race Breeders’ Cup from Hollywood Park in November. CBS, at one time the leader in racing coverage, is not carrying any races this year.

Horse Racing Notes English trainer Clive Brittain won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes at Aqueduct with Pebbles in 1985 and finished second in last year’s Kentucky Derby with Bold Arrangement, but his trip to the United States this year was a disaster. Rumboogie, one of the horses Brittain nominated to this year’s Triple Crown races, was seriously injured last week at Turfway Park and Bengal Fire, his other top 3-year-old, ran last in the Jim Beam Stakes. Bengal Fire refused to work upon his arrival at Turfway and Brittain was a bizarre sight, trying to whip the horse into action during the mornings there.

After 398 3-year-olds were nominated for the Triple Crown at a payment of $600 apiece, 24 were added after paying a late fee of $3,000 that was due by March 17. In 1986, the first year horsemen had to nominate for the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont and the Preakness at the same time, payments for 422 horses were made early, followed by 30 others. Of the $3,000 stragglers, only Johns Treasure was a factor, finishing second in the Belmont. This year’s late nominees include No More Flowers, second to Bet Twice in the Fountain of Youth and a probable starter Saturday in the Florida Derby.

Although Demons Begone won easily in the Rebel at Oaklawn last Saturday, Fast Forward, the second-place finisher, appeared to be an improved horse while running for the first time on an anti-bleeding medication. . . . With Angel Cordero riding Talinum Saturday in the Florida Derby, Vincent (Jimbo) Bracciale will ride Broad Brush for the first time since they finished third in last year’s Kentucky Derby. . . . Momentus, fourth in the Jim Beam, is headed for Keeneland to run in the Lexington April 11. Momentus has only $25,000 in graded-stakes earnings, which probably wouldn’t be enough to qualify if more than 20 horses showed up for the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs had to invoke the money rule.

According to the Daily Racing Form, attendance at North American tracks last year was 52 million, the lowest total since 1973. Betting, helped by the continued growth of off-track wagering, totaled $8.3 billion, an increase of 1.5% over 1985. . . . The four horses that made up the field in the Gulfstream Park Handicap--Skip Trial, Creme Fraiche, Snow Chief and Wise Times--had prerace earnings of more than $8 million. The 11 horses that ran in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic had earned $10.3 million going into the day, but the Gulfstream race may have set the record--an average of $2 million a horse.