War Is Given Victory After Winner Alysheba Disqualified to Third

If there is destiny for horses, then Alysheba is destined never to win a race again.

This erratic-running, trouble-making son of Alydar will go through life finishing second and third again and again, while his owners and trainer pull their hair out. Jack Van Berg, the trainer, has little hair left as it is.

Alysheba has earned almost $450,000, even though he can still run in races for non-winners of two races, and the latest chapter in his short but eventful career came Thursday in the bizarre 63rd running of the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

In the last major prep for the 113th running of the Kentucky Derby a week from Saturday, Alysheba reached the wire first by a head over War in a three-horse photo finish that also involved Leo Castelli. But about six minutes later, after interviewing the jockeys and reviewing the videotapes, the stewards disqualified Alysheba to third place, gave the win to War and moved Leo Castelli to second.

The stretch drive had War on the rail, trying to fight back as Alysheba was edging ahead, with Leo Castelli running fastest of all after Jose Santos left the rail and pulled him to the outside.

War, ridden by Herb McCauley, brushed with Alysheba with about 70 yards to go. Alysheba, who had lugged in and misbehaved at least twice in races in California and jumped the tracks from the starting gate at Keeneland last year, was hit by Chris McCarron’s whip from the left side and ducked out.

Alysheba’s hind quarter bumped Leo Castelli’s shoulder hard, almost knocking Leo Castelli’s legs out from under him. His momentum gone, Leo Castelli wound up third, beaten by a head by War.

Theoretically, without the foul, the finish probably would have been Leo Castelli, Alysheba and War. But under racing rules, the stewards had no choice but to move up the bothered horse--Leo Castelli--by one position over the horse that committed the foul.

The stewards said that Alysheba jumped a path--the tracks from the starting gate again--before he came out on Leo Castelli.

Tom Gentry, the financially troubled breeder and owner of War--he is in a bankruptcy proceeding totaling about $25 million--was standing on the track waiting for the stewards’ decision. When they changed the numbers on the tote board, Gentry jumped more than Alysheba did, and raced across the track to the infield winner’s circle.

As the result of a court order, War and 13 other Gentry horses are scheduled to be sold at the Fasig-Tipton spring sale on May 19 at Santa Anita.

“War might be consigned to the sale, but he won’t be there,” Gentry said.

Jerry McMahon, who is managing the sale for Fasig-Tipton, has a copy of the court order.

“The way it reads, Gentry would be in contempt of court if he didn’t perform the way the order asks him to,” McMahon said from Arcadia. “I’ve talked to the lawyer from Citizens Fidelity, the Kentucky bank that’s involved, and it’s the bank’s intention to sell the horse.”

It is possible, of course, that Gentry could try to sell War privately before the Santa Anita sale. Judge Angelucci, another Gentry horse who won the San Bernardino Handicap at Santa Anita this month, races in the name of Gentry’s 20-year-old son, Olin. Judge Angelucci is not part of the FasigTipton sale.

Although War, the result of a mating between Majestic Light and Victorian Queen, won $148,135 of the $227,900 Blue Grass purse, that is small potatoes compared to Gentry’s overall debt.

War, running 1 1/8 miles in 1:49, which was 1 3/5 seconds off the track record, became only the second Blue Grass winner by disqualification, the first being Ruhe at the expense of Sonic in a division of the stake in 1951.

War, winner of the Lexington Stakes here on April 11, was sent off the second choice behind 9-10 Alysheba in a crowd of 18,416 and paid $8.20, $3.60 and $2.40. Leo Castelli paid $4.20 and $2.60 and Alysheba’s show price was $2.20. Leo Castelli finished eight lengths ahead of Valid Prospect, who isn’t eligible for the Kentucky Derby, and trailing the field was Avies Copy, who won’t run in the Derby if his owner accepts the sentiments of his trainer, Dave Kassen.

“I thought the other horse (War) bothered me,” McCarron said of the squeeze play in the stretch. “I thought my horse was running straight, but I guess the stewards didn’t think so.”

Irrespective of money gained and lost--the difference in Alysheba’s amount because of the foul was $125,000--the handlers of the first three finishers were all encouraged by the race and they’ll try again in the Derby.

Van Berg had no complaint about the stewards’ decision. Alysheba, who has undergone a minor throat operation and survived a fever already this year, raced with a new bit in his mouth Thursday and Van Berg said there might be more equipment changes. There has been no mention of earmuffs, which Van Berg eventually put on another trouble-making horse, Gate Dancer. It was Gate Dancer who became the first runner ever to be disqualified on the track in the Kentucky Derby when the stewards moved him from fourth to fifth following a sideswiping attempt in the stretch at Churchill Downs in 1984.

Alysheba’s only win came at Turfway Park, near Cincinnati, in a maiden race last September. In 10 starts, Alysheba has been second five times and third twice. It is somewhat unfair to say that Alysheba is just like his sire, Alydar, who is at stud about a $3 cab ride from Keeneland. But Alydar, for all of his major stakes wins, will still be remembered as the horse who was usually second, finishing just behind Affirmed in all three Triple Crown races in 1978.

“One thing about the Derby and Alysheba,” said Van Berg, trying to find roses among Thursday’s ashes, “there won’t be any tracks from the starting gate for him to jump. They start the Derby up the chute.”

Horse Racing Notes Trainer LeRoy Jolley will start an entry--Wood Memorial winner Gulch and Leo Castelli--in the Derby. Because Jose Santos is committed to Cryptoclearance, Jolley needs riders for both colts. . . . Trainer Wayne Lukas, whose three-horse Derby entry will be War, Capote and Talinum, is staying in New York with Capote and he was represented by his son, Jeff, in the Blue Grass. . . . Eight horses are entered in Saturday’s $50,000 Derby Trial at Churchill Downs, where No More Flowers will be favored. Funny Tunes, David L’s Rib and On the Line--a Lukas trainee--are also eligible for the Derby, and the rest of the field consists of Gretna Green, Samerkand, Santa Clara Chief and Contractor’s Tune. . . . Lady’s Secret probably won’t run Sunday in the Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct. The 1986 Horse of the Year, fifth at Gulfstream Park in her only start this year, reportedly suffered a cut mouth in the race and it hasn’t completely healed.