Attention Span Short After Loss : More Free Time a Benefit for Losers

Two races that were run April 4--one in Florida, the other in California--abruptly made frauds of a couple of horses that had been previously considered Kentucky Derby favorites.

Bet Twice, the 7-10 favorite in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, ran fifth, finishing four lengths behind the winner, Cryptoclearance.

Masterful Advocate, the 2-5 choice in the Santa Anita Derby, was a badly beaten second, 5 1/2 lengths behind Temperate Sil.

Now, Bet Twice and Masterful Advocate are at Churchill Downs, preparing for the 113th running of the Derby on Saturday, and their trainers are being virtually ignored by the press. It’s as though Bet Twice didn’t run impressively in his first two starts as a 3-year-old, and as though Masterful Advocate hadn’t won three straight stakes before his Santa Anita Derby flop.

“I don’t see how you can let one race bother you too much,” says Bobby Perna, Bet Twice’s exercise rider. “You can have the pre-race attention. Give me the post-race attention.”

Joe Manzi, Masterful Advocate’s trainer, received just about as much media attention two years ago, when he saddled his first Derby starter, Floating Reserve. That colt was 134-1--the longest price for a Derby starter in 21 years--and finished eighth.

“We’ll do our talking after the Derby,” Manzi said, when asked about the incredible decline in popularity of Masterful Advocate.

At this Derby, Manzi has been outnumbered in interview requests by someone known as Happy Alter, the trainer of No More Flowers, who has never won a stake and who was second, 6 1/2 lengths behind On The Line, in last Saturday’s Derby Trial. Alter is an academician, a raconteur and a bad poet, which apparently counts for something.

Manzi, 51, doesn’t have the charisma of a Happy Alter, but the Brooklyn-born trainer has had his moments here this week. He was asked the other day if Masterful Advocate’s loss at Santa Anita had resulted in any desertions by members of Advocate’s Army, co-owner David Leveton’s band of followers who wear hats and shirts with the horse’s name and the stable colors on them.

“Some of them went to Russia, but we got ‘em back,” Manzi said.

“We didn’t want to be the favorite in the Derby, anyway,” says Sandra Manzi, the trainer’s wife and the barn historian. “A favorite hasn’t won the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979.”

Joe Manzi has replayed a tape of the Santa Anita Derby several times, and he always comes to the same conclusion.

“I knew we were in trouble after the first eighth of a mile,” he said. “We had the rail, and coming out of the gate the No. 3 horse (Lookinforthebigone) came over on the No. 2 (Chart the Stars), who bumped my horse.

“Then on the turn, instead of the speed (Lookinforthebigone) going on, it backed up into my horse’s face.

“Laffit (Pincay) had to avoid running over the top of Lookinforthebigone, so he went outside, and there was Something Lucky. My horse had to jump over his heels.”

Afterward, there was talk that Pincay, who had originally chosen Masterful Advocate over Capote, might not ride for Manzi in the Kentucky Derby. Convinced that there was nothing wrong with Masterful Advocate, Pincay kept the mount.

“I really didn’t have to do that much talking to get Laffit to stay on the horse,” Manzi said.

Manzi figures that Masterful Advocate will be running near the pace on Saturday.

“Some people are saying that this is a weak bunch of 3-year-olds,” Manzi said. “I don’t think they’re that weak. You’ve got a bunch of horses coming from all directions, and most of them are winners.”

Manzi’s former boss, trainer Charlie Whittingham, is out of the Derby because his horse, Temperate Sil, lost four days of training last week with a virus.

The first time Whittingham ever started a horse in the Derby, Gone Fishin’ in 1958, the horse’s exercise rider was 23-year-old Joe Manzi.

Gone Fishin’ ran eighth, but the real disappointment from California was Silky Sullivan, the late-running Santa Anita Derby winner who was typically far back early and stayed there, beating only two horses at Churchill Downs.

Silky Sullivan wasn’t much better in the Preakness, with Gone Fishin’ finishing third, and after the race Manzi rode home to California on the same train with the two horses.

“It’s something I’ll never forget,” Manzi said. “Every place we stopped along the way, loads of people would come out and ask for Silky Sullivan, and applaud him before we got going again.

“The horse didn’t run much in those two races back here, but he was still the big favorite of the people. He still had his fan club. They weren’t demoralized.”

Because of one race, Masterful Advocate and Joe Manzi have gone from Derby luminaries to nobody’s favorite. On Saturday, the plan out of the barn is for Advocate’s Army to sneak up on the opposition.