With Only 2 Horses to Beat, Ferdinand Easily Wins Cabrillo Handicap

The 22nd running of the Cabrillo Handicap almost turned into a match race Saturday when Hopeful Word was scratched, reducing the field for the $125,900 stake to three horses.

Instead of a match race, the Cabrillo was a mismatch. Ferdinand, not once feeling the sting of Bill Shoemaker’s whip, caught Super Diamond on the far turn, toyed with him until they straightened out in the stretch and coasted to a two-length victory before 24,870 fans.

Nostalgia’s Star, the only other starter and a horse who usually comes from far back, tried to run with Super Diamond early and wound up third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Ferdinand.

Ferdinand, carrying 126 pounds to 124 for Super Diamond and 116 for Nostalgia’s Star, ran 1 1/6 miles in 1:47 2/5 and paid $5 with only win betting offered. Super Diamond went off the 7-10 favorite, based on his victory in the San Diego Handicap three weeks ago.

Both Shoemaker and Charlie Whittingham, Ferdinand’s trainer, added to their matchless career statistics. Shoemaker, who had one other winner on Saturday’s program, has 8,690 career victories, 980 in stakes races and 242 in races worth $100,000 or more.

Earlier in the day, Whittingham phoned in a winner to Chicago, where his assistant, Rodney Rash, saddled Ifrad for a winning run in the Arlington Handicap. That win and Ferdinand’s give Whittingham a career total of 497 stakes victories.

The Cabrillo, worth $86,400 to the winner, marked the first time that Ferdinand has won consecutive races in a career that has netted 6 victories in 21 starts and purses of $1.89 million. Saturday was the first start for the 4-year-old son of Nijinsky II and Banja Luka since he won the Hollywood Gold Cup two months ago.

The Gold Cup was Ferdinand’s first major win since he won the 1986 Kentucky Derby. In the Derby, Shoemaker found out one thing--that Ferdinand doesn’t take to whipping.

“I hit him like hell that day, but he didn’t do anything,” Shoemaker said. “Since then, I’ve pretty much quit hitting him. He just doesn’t like the stick.”

The surprise in the race was Nostalgia’s Star, who broke from the inside post and stayed right with Super Diamond, the outside horse, in the run to the first turn. Going down the backside, however, Ferdinand took over second place, and Nostalgia’s Star dropped back to third as the pace picked up, the tote board reading 1:09 1/5 for three-quarters and 1:34 4/5 for the mile.

“Laffit (Pincay, aboard Super Diamond) and Bill (Shoemaker) had strangleholds on their horses coming out of the gate,” said Gary Stevens, who was riding Nostalgia’s Star. “I didn’t want them going twenty-three (seconds for the first quarter-mile) and me behind them.

“Then there would have been no way possible to catch them. When Shoe came up and hooked Super Diamond, I thought that was great, because I was hoping that the two of them would wear each other out. But Shoe had too much horse.”

Whittingham didn’t give Shoemaker any instructions.

“He knows his horse,” the trainer said. “I just told him not to let the other horse get too far out in front. This is a handy horse; he can go to the front or come from the back.”

Shoemaker said he probably could have taken the lead sooner, but with Ferdinand, that can be dangerous.

“Sometimes when this horse gets a length, a length and a half in front, he tries to ease himself up,” Shoemaker said. “But maybe he’s learning, because today he didn’t try to pull himself up at all, and he’s been better in the mornings that way, too.”

Pincay was as surprised as Shoemaker by Nostalgia’s Star’s quick start.

“I could have made a much easier lead, but he (Super Diamond) shot out there and made my horse go,” Pincay said. “It could have made a difference. My horse got really tired the last part of the race.”

Whittingham doesn’t have any immediate plans for Ferdinand. There’s a possibility that the colt might not run again until the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Hollywood Park on Nov. 21.

Super Diamond’s owners have been talking about supplementing their 7-year-old gelding, at a cost of $360,000, for the Classic. But the way Ferdinand put away Super Diamond Sunday, there may be some second thoughts about that.

Horse Racing Notes

Gary Baze rode Ifrad to victory in the Arlington Handicap. Corey Black was a substitute rider on fifth-place Le Belvedere for Pat Valenzuela, who will not be riding at Del Mar for an indefinite period because of what has been called “personal problems.” Valenzuela was the leading rider at Del Mar last year with 55 victories but only has 9 in 120 tries this season. Valenzuela also did not ride at the end of the Santa Anita meeting this spring. . . .Indiana basketball Coach Bob Knight was with trainer Wayne Lukas at Del Mar Saturday and presented the trophy to Ferdinand’s owner, Elizabeth Keck, in the winner’s circle. . . .Del Mar goes from a 3-horse stakes field to 13 today when the $150,000 Del Mar Oaks will be run. Included in the field are Future Bright and Chapel of Dreams, who ran 1-2, separated by three-quarters of a length, in a division of the San Clemente Stakes Aug. 14. Davie’s Lamb, a $32,000 claim by trainer Julio Canani at Santa Anita in March, will be trying for her second straight stakes victory, having won the other division of the San Clemente.