Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Not One Foreign Horse in This Million

Arlington Park calls the week that ends with Sunday’s Budweiser-Arlington Million its International Festival of Racing, but this year that billing is a misnomer.

Arlington invited seven English and five French horses to run in the Million, and last Monday the last of them--the French mare, Triptych--dropped out. This left the track with nine American horses, which will be the smallest field since the race was first run in 1981. Foreign horses, which made up 40% of the fields for the first six Millions, will not be represented in the stake for the first time.

The absence of European horses has upset the local press and disappointed Dick Duchossois, Arlington’s image-conscious owner, but no serious handicappers are complaining.

Except for races with first-time starters, the most difficult handicapping is evaluating foreign horses, because they run on such a variety of courses at a variety of distances back home and information on their performances is less detailed than it is for American runners. Handicappers didn’t know what to do with the two foreign horses that won the Million--Tolomeo, the Irish-bred 3-year-old who paid $78.40 in 1983, and Teleprompter, the English gelding who was worth $30.40 for a $2 bet two years later.

The International Racing Bureau has been responsible for securing foreign horses for the Million, and Nick Clarke, the managing director of that English-based group, tried to explain why this has become the All-American Million.

According to Clarke, cost was not a consideration for the European owners. A cargo jetliner, capable of holding all the European horses that would be running, costs about $140,000 for the 8,000-mile round trip. Clarke said that European owners forfeited more than $100,000 in nominating and eligibility fees by not running.

“Olivier can do Othello on crutches, but if a horse is hurt, he can’t run,” Clarke said.

Three of the Europeans--Mtoto, who is undefeated this year, Bellotto and Then Again--reportedly aren’t here because of injuries. Jockey Pat Eddery, who knows the territory because he won the Million aboard Tolomeo, told Bellotto’s trainer, Jeremy Tree, that the 3-year-old colt was good enough to win the Million, even though he’s been unable to beat Mtoto and Reference Point, the English Derby winner, this year.

But what about Triptych, who cost her owner, Frenchman Alan Clore, $2.15 million at a Kentucky yearling sale? She has already traveled to North America and Japan to run, has earned more than $1 million and appears to be at the top of her game. Triptych will be running this weekend in Ireland for far less money.

The explanation has been that Triptych’s trainer, Patrick-Louis Biancone, has only one goal this year, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris Oct. 5. She finished third, two lengths behind the victorious Dancing Brave, in last year’s race and Biancone apparently believes that a trip to the United States, which includes 48 hours in quarantine, would disrupt this year’s timetable for the Arc.

“I can’t make water flow uphill,” Clarke said. “It’s gotten doubly tough to convince Europeans that they have a chance to win against the tough opposition the Americans will be running in this Million.”

Manila, last year’s North American male grass champion, won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes in November at Santa Anita, beating Dancing Brave by more than six lengths. Dancing Brave was considered to be one of the finest horses ever produced in England.

But Manila’s nine-race winning streak was ended last month at Saratoga, and also in the field are Theatrical, second by a neck to Manila in the Breeders’ Cup and winner of three major grass races this year; and Dance of Life, who beat Theatrical at Belmont Park a month ago, only to be disqualified for interference in the stretch.

Rounding out the field for the Million are Explosive Darling, Spellbound, Glaros, Sharrood and the Charlie Whittingham-trained pair of Rivlia and Forlitano.

“This is a better field than last year’s Breeders’ Cup,” Mike Shannon said.

But it would have been a more intriguing race with the European stars. The interpreters who are usually used for the post-race interviews can have the day off.

Horse Racing Notes Joe Kelly is the trumpeter who calls the horses to post during the day at Arlington Park, then he plays a hot jazz horn at a nearby hotel at night. Kelly was away from both jobs for a couple of days recently because of the horn player’s curse--a fat lip. . . . Trainer Wayne Lukas, talking about Lady’s Secret: “We’ve got four races in mind for her--the three she won at Belmont Park last year and the Breeders’ Cup. But she won’t run in any of them unless she’s 100%. We’ve had her examined head to toe and can’t find anything wrong with her.” Lukas’ name was linked to a horse psychiatrist a few years ago. Any chance that such a specialist might look at the slump-ridden 1986 horse of the year? “I never bought any of that stuff,” Lukas said. “That gal hung around my barn for a few days and then said she had my support. But she never did anything for our horses.”

That bruised foot Alysheba suffered in the Travers is keeping him out of the Woodward Stakes today at Belmont Park. . . . Maybe Talakeno should be running in the Million. He beat both Manila and Glaros in separate races at Saratoga. . . . The Breeders’ Cup, trying to schedule the more attractive races at the end of the day to improve television ratings, will run them in this order Nov. 21 at Hollywood Park: Sprint, Juvenile Fillies, Distaff, Mile, Juvenile Colts, Turf and Classic. The big change is moving the Juvenile Colts from the first to the fifth race. . . . Trainer Charlie Whittingham has won the Million with Perrault and Estrapade, but he also had the best horse two years ago when Greinton finished three-quarters of a length behind Teleprompter. Greinton had a wide trip almost all the way.

Teleprompter, now a 7-year-old gelding, has been retired because of a bad back. . . . Arlington Park, its grandstand destroyed by fire in 1985, is still a track with tents and temporary bleachers for its fans. Racing will be suspended next year during a $110-million rebuilding project that is expected to be completed by May of 1989. Hawthorne and Sportsman’s Park, two other area tracks, are interested in the Arlington summer dates and Arlington will run its week-long Million festival at another track, possibly Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Asked if Europe’s snubbing of the Million would carry over to the Breeders’ Cup, Nick Clarke said: “Some of our horses that ran in the first Breeders’ Cups didn’t have that much quality and were just there to be foreign standard bearers. Owners will be more realistic now. There will be fewer horses, but they will be of higher quality.” . . . All of the American winners of the Million were California-based--John Henry in 1981 and 1984, Perrault in 1982 and Estrapade in 1986. Estrapade, the only female to win the Million, was bred to Nijinsky II this spring. . . . Wayne Catalano, who trains at Arlington, won 349 races as a jockey in 1977, but finished second to apprentice Steve Cauthen, who won 487. Catalano, who won at least one race a day for 41 straight days in Detroit that year, still talks about returning to the saddle.