In Clutch, Gulch Finds Groove; Capote Is Fourth in the Wood

Gulch has a split personality. Run this 3-year-old colt in California, and he’s just another horse. But in New York, he’s like Jimmy Walker or Fiorello LaGuardia--there’s no room for anyone else.

The question is, how will Gulch react when he runs halfway between the two coasts in the Kentucky Derby May 2?

Trainer LeRoy Jolley would probably like to re-run Saturday’s Aqueduct race at Churchill Downs and take his chances. In the 1 1/8-mile, $590,500 Wood Memorial, Gulch came flying through the stretch to beat Gone West by a head at the wire, eliminating several would-be Derby candidates and dimming the Louisville chances of a few others.

Capote added to the formless form that has held true in all but one of the six major Derby prep races. The son of Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew was the fifth favorite to fall, losing the lead at the head of the stretch and finishing fourth, almost eighth lengths behind Gulch, after being sent off as the 6-5 choice by a crowd of 20,586 on a muddy track.

Both trainer Wayne Lukas and jockey Angel Cordero thought that the off track contributed to Capote’s finish. Last year’s champion 2-year-old colt, making only his second start this season, was hardly better than his tiring fourth-place finish on another off track in the Gotham Stakes here two weeks ago.

Shawklit Won, who stayed close to Capote through the first three-quarters of a mile, wound up third, sixth lengths behind Gone West and 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Capote. After Capote, the order of finish was Marine Command, K.C.’s Best Turn, Pleasant Variety and Mixed Emotions, with Battle Man being scratched because of the mud.

A slight second choice over Shawklit Won, Gulch paid $9.20, $4.40 and $3.20.

Gone West paid $5 and $3.80 and Shawklit Won returned $3.40. A $2 exacta on Gulch and Gone West was worth $40.40.

Gulch, carrying Derby weight of 126 pounds along with all of the others, was timed in 1:49 after the early fractions of :47, 1:11 3/5 and 1:36 2/5. Gulch’s time was faster than previous Wood winners Pleasant Colony and Seattle Slew, who went on to win the Derby.

The win was worth $354,300 to Peter Brant, the Greenwich, Conn., newsprint manufacturer and magazine publisher who bred Gulch through a mating between Mr. Prospector and the Rambunctious mare, Jameela.

Gulch has now earned $957,050 with 7 wins in 11 starts. The horse’s reputation had suffered since last fall, however, when he finished second and fifth at Santa Anita as Capote won the Norfolk Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Gulch had been undefeated in five New York races before stumbling in California. This year, he was fourth in Florida in his first start, then won the Bay Shore at Aqueduct before being far back early and running a distant third in the Gotham.

“That was my fault in the Gotham,” Jolley said. “I gave instructions (to jockey Jacinto Vasquez) that had him back too far at the start.”

Jose Santos, the Chilean jockey who will be 26 a week from today, has won with Gulch the only two times he’s ridden him. The leading rider in the country last year with purses of $11.3 million, Santos had Gulch on the inside most of the way, where footing was the best because most of the horses in earlier races stayed in the middle of the track.

After Gone West, who was ridden by Robbie Davis, passed Capote at the top of the stretch, Santos swung Gulch to the outside with about 70 yards to go and was all out to overtake Gone West in the last jump before the wire.

“Santos wins a lot of races by heads, necks and noses,” Jolley said. “In many races, he’s the difference between winning and losing.”

Santos, however, may not ride Gulch in the Derby, since he’s also been riding Cryptoclearance, the Florida Derby winner who is already at Churchill Downs. Santos said that he and his agent, Frank Sanabria, would make a decision by the middle of this week. One factor could be that Santos also rides Manila, the champion grass horse, for Brant and Jolley.

Gulch was sixth after a half-mile Saturday, but moved up to fourth on the turn and was only a length and a half behind when Gone West passed Capote at the top of the stretch.

“In the stretch,” Santos said, “I hit my horse with my left hand and he responded right away. In the last sixteenth, I had plenty of horse. He was 100% better today than he was when I rode him in the Bay Shore.”

As a 2-year-old, Gulch ran on the front end, but after his fifth straight win, in the Belmont Futurity last September, Jolley decided that the horse would benefit from different tactics.

“He got bored running up front, with no horses to run at, in the Futurity,” Jolley said. “We probably sacrificed a race or two trying to change his style. You never know until you try. Sometimes you look stupid trying to stick with something that isn’t working, but in this case it finally worked out.”

Lukas-watchers said that Capote’s trainer appeared to be less optimistic after the Wood than he was after the colt’s race in the Gotham.

“We would have loved to win this race, but the race we’re trying to win is the Derby,” Lukas said. “The three horses that finished ahead of us are good horses. I think my horse didn’t care for the mud. I’m not using that as an excuse, but it’s something that we’ve had to live with in both his races here.”

Cordero, who rode Gulch until he was dismissed by Jolley after what the trainer thought was an unsatisfactory ride early this year, also talked about Aqueduct’s mud.

“This horse was sick over the winter,” Cordero said, “so it wasn’t an ideal situation for him to start out with two races on off tracks. He was strong all the way down the backside and ran a powerful mile. But he couldn’t do it today. I think he’s likely to improve.”

The Derby is even farther than the Wood, by an eighth of a mile. It seems unlikely that Capote could improve that much in so little time.

Horse Racing Notes

Some people think that the best 3-year-old in the country may have run in an earlier race Saturday at Aqueduct. Java Gold, a top 2-year-old last year, won his second straight race this year, taking the Best Turn Stakes by three lengths over High Brite. But Mack Miller, who trains Java Gold for breeder/owner Paul Mellon, is not planning to run him in the Kentucky Derby. “I’m from Kentucky originally,” Miller said, “and you’re supposed to do these things (run in the Derby) back there. But I’m a bit older and, hopefully, also wiser.” Miller’s plan is to run Java Gold in the Withers at Belmont Park on May 6, then shoot for the Belmont Stakes on June 6. . . . Sandy Hawley, who won Saturday’s Ashland Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Keeneland with Chic Shirine, will ride Candi’s Gold in the Kentucky Derby. . . . Only five horses--Alysheba, Leo Castelli, Avies Copy, War and Coaxing Chad--may run Thursday at Keeneland in the Blue Grass, which is the last major race before the Derby. . . . LeRoy Jolley, who trains Leo Castelli, says that the colt will have to win the Blue Grass in order to run in the Derby.