Horse Racing : Pincay Replaces Santos on Cryptoclearance for Belmont

Before the Kentucky Derby, trainer Scotty Schulhofer demanded that Jose Santos ride Cryptoclearance because Santos and his agent indicated that they were considering a switch to Gulch at Churchill Downs.

Now, after a ride on Cryptoclearance in the Preakness that was called “dumb” by Schulhofer, Santos won’t ride the 3-year-old colt in the Belmont Stakes on June 6 and has been replaced by Laffit Pincay, who in the last five years has won the race three times and finished second twice.

The 26-year-old Santos, who led the country in purses last year with $11.3 million, had Cryptoclearance on the rail through most of the Preakness. The going there was heavy all day, and when Santos tried to move Cryptoclearance outside, he was trapped by other horses.

Cryptoclearance finished third, two lengths behind the victorious Alysheba. In the Derby, Cryptoclearance finished fourth after a troubled trip that was due more to the overcrowded 17-horse field than the ride by Santos.

“I guess we didn’t communicate too well, but my instructions in the Preakness were to stay off the fence,” Schulhofer said.

Santos, a Chilean-born jockey who rode his first American race in Florida in 1984, speaks English, but other trainers have said that communication with him is a problem. Wayne Lukas used Santos on one of his New York horses last year, and after his instructions weren’t followed, he had a Spanish-speaking assistant in the paddock with Santos the next time.

“Pincay was the only jockey I considered after we decided to make the change,” Schulhofer said. “He’s the best in the country, he’s strong and he’s got experience in the Belmont.”

After four unsuccessful tries, Pincay tied a record by winning three straight Belmonts--all for trainer Woody Stephens--with Conquistador Cielo in 1982, Caveat in 1983 and Swale in 1984. The last two years, Pincay has been second with Stephan’s Odyssey and Johns Treasure.

Just as owner Tom Gentry said, War, the winner of the Blue Grass Stakes (after the disqualification of Alysheba) and the 13th-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, was not sold Tuesday at the Fasig-Tipton spring auction at Santa Anita.

Gentry, one of the country’s most prominent breeders but a horseman whose debts have been estimated at $25 million, has been under pressure from Citizens Fidelity, a Kentucky bank, to sell most of his horses.

War, whose worth has been estimated to be between $500,000 and $1 million, was consigned to the Santa Anita sale, but Gentry withdrew him and said that he plans to run the horse in the $300,000 Illinois Derby on Saturday at Sportsman’s Park.

Gentry must pay a $500 fee to the sales company because War wasn’t offered on Tuesday.

“It was my mistake to put him in there to begin with,” Gentry said. “That sale is no place to test the market. The average older horse went for just over $4,000 last year.”

The average price for an older horse this year was $4,400, with the 2-year-olds averaging $12,700. Gentry sold 10 horses for $122,500.

Jerry McMahon, general manager of Fasig-Tipton in California, said earlier this month that there was a court order requiring that Gentry sell War on Tuesday. Officials of Citizens Fidelity could not be reached on Wednesday for comment.

“The bank had a representative at the sale,” McMahon said. “I don’t believe they are accepting that War wasn’t sold, and they are weighing their options.”

Chick Lang, general manager at Pimlico since 1969, is resigning, effective almost immediately.

It was a foregone conclusion that Lang would not be retained after Frank De Francis and his partners bought Pimlico from the Cohen brothers for slightly more than $30 million last year.

Any doubts that Lang would be gone were removed when he made several recent public remarks that couldn’t have pleased the new ownership.

Lang grew up with racing, his father having ridden Reigh Count to victory in the 1928 Kentucky Derby. Chick trained horses and later booked Bill Hartack’s mounts when he was national riding champion for three straight years in the 1950s.

Lang was credited with the growth of the Preakness as a community event in Baltimore, with crowds topping the 80,000 mark in recent years. Several times Lang was offered more lucrative jobs at other tracks, including the general manager’s posts at Churchill Downs and Arlington Park, but he turned them down, saying that he had too much loyalty to the Preakness.

Lang was so devoted to the Preakness that he considered it tyranny when a Kentucky Derby winner wouldn’t run in the race, as was the case with Gato Del Sol in 1982 and Spend a Buck in 1985. Some of the things Lang said about Eddie Gregson, the trainer of Gato Del Sol, were tantamount to slander, but Lang’s emotions couldn’t be controlled when it came to the Preakness.

The De Francis regime--his group also owns Laurel Race Course--is off to a good start in Maryland, mainly because of De Francis’ lobbying skills on behalf of racing in Annapolis, the state capital. It’s unfortunate that the new era at Pimlico won’t include Lang, a nuts-and-bolts guy whose full-steam-ahead style helped the game much more than it hurt.

Horse Racing Notes A second round of tests on Demons Begone, the Kentucky Derby favorite who bled and was pulled up in the race, reveal no physical problems, owner John Anthony said. Anthony said the new tests verified the initial findings, which were negative. . . . Jorge Velasquez, one of the leading riders in New York, is returning after an unsuccessful attempt to win in Europe. Velasquez wasn’t over there long enough to test the territory but said that he must leave because his family had difficulty adjusting to life in France. . . . If Alysheba wins the Belmont on June 6 to sweep the Triple Crown, Chris McCarron will have ridden the winners of the last four winners in the series--Alysheba in this year’s Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont, and Danzig Connection in last year’s Belmont. The last jockey to win four straight Triple Crown races was Ron Turcotte, who won the 1972 Belmont with Riva Ridge, then rode Secretariat to his Triple Crown in 1973. . . . Also, should Alysheba win the Triple Crown and the $5-million guarantee, his earnings will soar to $5.4 million, moving him past Spend a Buck as the richest colt in history. Spend a Buck, helped by a $2-million bonus at Garden State Park, earned $4.2 million. Alysheba would still be short of the No. 1 horse, John Henry. The 12-year-old gelding, whose last race was in 1984 after eight years on the track, earned $6.5 million, $500,000 of which was bonus money. . . . Trainer Jack Van Berg, eyeing his share of Alysheba’s $5 million: “I’m getting close to getting out of debt.” . . . Pete Rose, manager of the Cincinnati Reds, owns a one-fifth of 1% interest in Bet Twice, who earned $170,000 for finishing second to Alysheba in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Rose’s share of those purses was $340. A $50 across-the-board bet on Bet Twice in both races would have brought a return of $635.