Yankee Valor Handicap : It’s a $360,000 Gamble for Sahms

The $360,000 question that faces Roland and Ramona Sahm of Rancho Santa Fe is whether they want to risk that much in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with the chance of barely being able to double the money if their 7-year-old gelding, Super Diamond, wins the race.

Logically--and economically--it seems to be a foolhardy proposition, because Super Diamond is a fragile horse, like a piece of fine china resting near the edge of a table, and he would be no better than the third choice in the $3-million race, behind Ferdinand and Alysheba.

But logic and economics have been known to take the hindmost when Breeders’ Cup decisions are made. In 1984, the Black Chip Stable risked a $360,000 supplementary fee to run Wild Again, a 31-1 longshot who couldn’t even win at Bay Meadows in his previous race, and he rewarded its daring with a thrilling victory.

The same year, Sam Rubin, the owner of John Henry, elected to supplement him to the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes. “My friends tell me I’m crazy, but I’m going to pay it, anyhow,” Rubin said.

A few days after Rubin paid the first, non-refundable installment of $133,000, John Henry was injured and had to be scratched from the race.

Super Diamond didn’t make the decision any easier for the Sahms by working hard to win Monday’s $115,500 Yankee Valor Handicap by three-fourths of a length before 21,904 at Santa Anita.

There’s a possibility that trainer Eddie Gregson might run Super Diamond one more time--in the Goodwood Handicap on Nov. 7 at Santa Anita--before the Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park on Nov. 21. Super Diamond won the Goodwood last year. The deadline for the first payment of $120,000 on the $360,000 is two days later.

In the Goodwood, Super Diamond would be meeting Ferdinand, who beat the Sahms’California-bred by two lengths in late August at Del Mar.

“Putting up the money to run in the Breeders’ Cup is like an even-money bet,” said Gregson, who will meet with the Sahms to discuss the situation later this week. “As a business venture, it doesn’t figure, but if you want to go in as a pure sportsman, then maybe you’ll put your money up.

“The tragic thing about the Breeders’ Cup is that you’re really not running for your own money--the $360,000 isn’t added to the purse. It can keep out horses like mine and Creme Fraiche (another top horse who would have to be supplemented because he wasn’t nominated). Another thing is that you have to pay the supplementary year after year. After you pay all that money once, it ought to be good for a horse’s lifetime.”

To avoid the expensive supplementary fee for the Breeders’ Cup, a horse’s sire must be nominated for the same amount as his stud fee and the horse himself must be subscribed as a yearling for $500. Pass the Glass, Super Diamond’s sire, was an eligible stallion for a fee of a few thousand dollars, but Super Diamond himself wasn’t nominated.

For a risk of $360,000, the Sahms would really only be running for $720,000.

The winner of the Classic gets $1.35 million, but the jockey and the trainer each receive 10% of that--a total of $270,000. And of course, the $360,000 is deducted.

“I’m going to remind the owners what the bottom line is,” Gregson said. “Then I’ll try to handicap the race and the soundness of the horse will also be a factor. On ability and how the horse is doing, it would seem like a go. They’ve never had a horse like this and may never again. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing and the Breeders’ Cup is in California.”

There are some other considerations. Gregson seems to think that Laffit Pincay, who made the Yankee Valor his third stakes win in as many days, will continue to ride Super Diamond if he runs in the Breeders’ Cup, and he also thinks his gelding is a candidate for Horse of the Year.

“If Super Diamond, Alysheba or Ferdinand wins the Breeders’ Cup, that horse should be Horse of the Year,” Gregson said.

Java Gold, who was the favorite for Horse of the Year, was upset by Creme Fraiche and Pincay Saturday in the $1-million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. Java Gold bruised his foot and is finished for the year.

It was a $75,940 weekend for Pincay, who besides the Gold Cup and the Yankee Valor also won Sunday’s Burke Handicap at Santa Anita with Rivlia.

“This horse is tough, consistent, carries weight and is nice to ride,” Pincay said of Super Diamond. “I was able to rate behind the top two (Stop the Fighting and On the Line), which was where I wanted to be because he was carrying so much weight.

“I thought I was going to win at the top of the stretch, but the leader (Stop the Fighting) got really tough.”

Super Diamond, carrying 125 pounds and spotting his four opponents either 9 or 11 pounds apiece, ran 1 1/16 miles on a damp but fast track in a good 1:40 4/5. He paid $2.60, $2.40 and $2.10.

Stop the Fighting, who protected second by 2 1/2 lengths, paid $3.40 and $2.40. Infinidad, the only female in the field, returned $2.40 to show.

Infinidad, coming into the day with three straight stakes wins, needed the race as her final prep for the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Judge Angelucci, another Charlie Whittingham-trained entrant, was scratched. Whittingham said that he didn’t want to run Judge Angelucci on a wet track and plans to send him to the Bay Meadows Breeders’ Cup Stakes on Oct. 24.

Super Diamond’s $61,500 purse pushed him over the $1-million mark. That’s big money, but if the Sahms are willing to roll the dice in the Breeders’ Cup, there’s even bigger money possibly ahead.

Horse Racing Notes

Bold Second, who finished second in the Del Mar Futurity, heads a nine-horse field for the $60,000 Sunny Slope Stakes Wednesday at Santa Anita. Others running include Mixed Pleasure and Word Pirate, who bled in the Arlington Washington Futurity last month. . . . Triple Sec, trained by Ron McAnally, won the Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap Monday at Louisiana Downs. . . . Eddie Gregson feels that Super Diamond will run better at Hollywood Park than Santa Anita. “I was concerned about the track for this race,” Gregson said after the Yankee Valor. “He’s not a sure-footed horse and likes it dry and fast.”. . . . Good Command, a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, broke a track record held by Round Table and others when he ran 1:46 4/5 for 1 1/8 miles in winning the Fayette Handicap at Keeneland Saturday. Good Command is due back at trainer Gary Jones’ barn at Santa Anita today.