Racing at Del Mar : Super Diamond’s Contribution Is a Half-Length Victory

A year ago, Roland and Ramona Sahm of Rancho Santa Fe couldn’t justify paying a supplementary fee of $360,000 to make Super Diamond eligible for the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic, even though their horse had won three straight stakes, including a victory over the same Santa Anita track where the Classic was going to be run.

This year, the Sahms have another chance to risk $360,000 to win a $1.35-million purse when the Breeders’ Cup is run at Hollywood Park in November, and the possibility has been the topic of lively conversation whenever they gather with friends.

The other night, someone the Sahms know suggested that they syndicate the horse just for the Breeders’ Cup, which would enable them to split up the cost with other investors.

“How much would you put up?” Ramona Sahm asked.

“Oh, maybe $5,000,” was the answer.

“Well, that’s good,” Ramona Sahm said with a laugh. “That leaves me with only $355,000 to go.”

Super Diamond himself made a contribution to the Sahms’ Breeders’ Cup fund Saturday before 25,123 fans at Del Mar, winning the $90,800 San Diego Handicap by a half-length in a remarkable performance that was worth $48,050 to his owners.

The 7-year-old gelding, making his first start in 8 1/2 months against fit horses and conceding as much as 12 pounds to his six rivals, was the best in a stretch battle with Nostalgia’s Star and Good Command.

“He was not completely fit, and I was worried at the head of the lane,” trainer Eddie Gregson said. “But he reached down and got more.”

Super Diamond won the San Diego Handicap in 1985. One ankle operation and several leg problems later, he has become only the fourth multiple winner of the stake. Native Diver, another tough gelding, won it three straight times in the 1960s, and Eddie Schmidt and Prevaricator were double winners before him.

Super Diamond, the slight second choice behind Tasso, was ridden by Laffit Pincay for his third win of the day. He paid $5.20, $3.20 and $3.20. Nostalgia’s Star, who momentarily looked as if he might win the race with a rush along the fence, returned $5.40 and $3.80, and Good Command, the early pace-setter who refused to collapse in the stretch, finished 1 1/2 lengths behind Super Diamond and paid $5 to show.

Tasso, who went off at 3-2, ran fifth, and his jockey, Eddie Delahoussaye, speculated that an excessively quick morning workout could have been responsible for the dull performance.

Super Diamond, increasing his earnings to $958,000 with his fifth straight win and 13th victory in 29 starts, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:40 4/5, which was fourth-fifths of a second slower than what Native Diver and Windy Sands did in winning the stake.

Nostalgia’s Star, who keeps adding to his million-dollar bankroll even though he’s only won three races in the last two years, was carrying 116 pounds, 7 fewer than Super Diamond. Good Command had a 9-pound weight advantage over the winner.

Good Command, under Gary Baze, went to the front and reeled off quick fractions over a Del Mar strip that’s been playing fast. But Pincay had Super Diamond in a good position right behind him.

On the turn for home, Good Command wasn’t weakening, even though Nostalgia’s Star and his rider, Gary Stevens, found room on the inside and Super Diamond began to accelerate on the outside.

Just about the time that Nostalgia’s Star was pulling even with Good Command, a sixteenth of mile from the wire, Super Diamond responded to Pincay’s right-handed whipping and passed them both.

“At the three-eighths pole, he didn’t respond, and I thought he might be tired,” Pincay said. “But then in the stretch he did respond. He won on class. He’s a top horse.”

Stevens thought Nostalgia’s Star was going to win at the top of the stretch.

“It didn’t look like Laffit’s horse was going to fire,” Stevens said. “Then he saw my horse and took off again.”

If Super Diamond is class, the son of Pass the Glass doesn’t get it from his dam. One Chicken Inn wasn’t much of a runner, and she hasn’t been much of a broodmare, either.

The Sahms bought One Chicken Inn after she won a couple of races, but she did no winning for them. She wasn’t competitive and would usually loaf in her races.

Super Diamond was One Chicken Inn’s first foal--the Sahms had the good sense to change his name from the original Super Chicken--and he is her only foal who’s made it to the races.

In fact, Super Diamond is the only horse the Sahms have in training. But he’s made up for all the others who have gone the wrong way.

Horse Racing Notes

Something Lucky, who will probably be favored in today’s $75,000 La Jolla Handicap, will be running with a stronger dose of Lasix, the medication that is supposed to reduce a horse’s chance of bleeding from the lungs. Something Lucky has bled three times this year, without Lasix when he was eighth in the Lafayette Stakes at Golden Gate Fields in March, and with the medication when he was fourth in the San Felipe Handicap at Santa Anita a week later and when he finished last in the Swaps at Hollywood Park on July 26. “We’re guessing, but it may be a breathing difficulty more than anything else when this horse bleeds,” said Bud Johnston, the breeder and one of Something Lucky’s owners. “There seem to be certain conditions that make him bleed, a combination of stress and humity, maybe. In the Swaps, he got bumped at the start and that might have put more pressure on him than he usually gets.”

Trainer Charlie Whittingham watched Java Gold win the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on television and said the 3-year-old colt will be the horse to beat in the Travers Aug. 22. Whittingham will run Temperate Sil. “Java Gold’s a fresh horse, he didn’t have to go through the Triple Crown races, and he’s got a race over the track,” Whittingham said. . . . Gene Klein started a $950,000 yearling, Contempt, for the first time Saturday at Del Mar and he had to be eased by Laffit Pincay toward the end of the run down the backstretch. “He felt sore, and I didn’t ask him to extend himself,” Pincay said. . . . In the next race, Pincay rode Olympic Prospect to a 7 1/2-length win as the 3-year-old gelding ran six furlongs in 1:08, two-fifths of a second slower than the track record, and covered five furlongs in :55 4/5, which was three-fifths of a second faster than the track record. He probably didn’t need the whip, but Pincay dropped his stick near the sixteenth pole. . . . Besides Olympic Prospect, Pincay rode Powerfull Paul, another John Sadler trainee, to victory Saturday. . . . Wayne Lukas said Lady’s Secret will run Monday at Saratoga in an allowance race. The trainer won’t have a starter in the Travers, unless Pledge Card runs a strong race today in the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. . . . Late Request, a 55-1 shot, broke down on the backstretch in the San Diego Handicap.