Weekend Racing at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree Meeting : Saratoga Passage Finds that Eight Is Enough

To a thicket of rich stakes winners running in two major races at Santa Anita this weekend comes Saratoga Passage, a huge 2-year-old colt whose victory chances are as improbable as his owners.

Helen Beck, who with her husband Mel owns one of the eight shares in Saratoga Passage, has never been to Santa Anita before, but she knows the difficulty of the colt’s assignment in today’s $200,000 Norfolk Stakes. Three of the last five Norfolk winners--Roving Boy, Chief’s Crown and Capote--went on to be national divisional champions.

“We’re inside a giant bubble with our horse,” Helen Beck said. “All someone has got to do is prick it.”

Saratoga Passage is big in stature. But in terms of winning, the big horses in the Norfolk are Success Express and Bold Second. Speedy Success Express, a $150,000 yearling, won the seven-furlong Sport of Kings Futurity at Louisiana Downs by 15 lengths in his last start. Bold Second was a neck better than Word Pirate, another starter in the 1 1/16-mile Norfolk, in the Sunny Slope at Santa Anita Oct. 14.

There are seven starters in the Norfolk, four fewer than are entered in the $400,000 Oak Tree Invitational at 1 1/2 miles on the grass Sunday. The Oak Tree field includes the three-horse entry of trainer Charlie Whittingham--Rivlia, Ifrad and Louis Le Grand--and River Memories, the 3-year-old French filly who was second to Theatrical in the Turf Classic at Belmont Park and then won the Rothmans International at Woodbine two weeks ago.

Three weeks ago at Longacres, near Seattle, Saratoga Passage overcame the No. 13 post and won the 1 1/16-mile Gottstein Futurity by five lengths. Unanimously, the colt’s owners then voted to pay the $10,000 supplementary fee that was required for him to run in the Norfolk.

Besides the Becks, who own a small breeding farm north of Seattle, the other owners of Saratoga Passage include an optometrist, a plumber, the owner of an electronics store and a real estate broker. All are friends of the Becks. The trainer, Bob Leonard, has been a commercial airline pilot for more than 20 years.

Saratoga Passage, with earnings of about $130,000, has already enabled the syndicate to turn a profit. It paid $20,000--$2,500 a share--for a yearling whose parents are Pirateer, who stands at Wildwood Farm in Washington for a stud fee of $2,500, and Loridown, a broodmare that the Becks bought for $5,500.

Saratoga Passage is named after a body of water that connects Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, with the mainland. The colt had two rough races at the start of his career before he won a small stake at Longacres.

In his next start, Saratoga Passage took the lead on the stretch turn, then lost interest and finished second. Blinkers were added for the Gottstein and when Saratoga Passage took the lead this time on the far turn, there were no distractions.

The owners did consider one other race, a stake for 2-year-olds at Bay Meadows in a week, but they feared rain, and Saratoga Passage may not like an off track. There’s a chance of rain today, but the Bay Meadows race is only for $100,000. It wouldn’t have been the giant bubble.

Horse Racing Notes Joe Steiner, who has been riding Saratoga Passage and has the mount today, was the No. 2 apprentice at Santa Anita in 1983. . . . Village Star, ridden by Jose Santos, has the rail for the Oak Tree Invitational and outside him, in order, are Louis Le Grand, with Pat Valenzuela; Circus Prince, Antonio Castanon; Rivlia, Laffit Pincay; Allez Milord, Chris McCarron; Captain Vigors, Gary Stevens; River Memories, Angel Cordero; The Medic, Sandy Hawley; Schiller, Martin Pedroza; Ifrad, Bill Shoemaker; and Wolsey, Gary Baze. All of the starters will carry 126 pounds except The Medic and Wolsey, who have 122 apiece, and River Memories, who has 119. . . . There are reports in Europe that Alan Clore, the French financier who owns River Memories, was hurt by the recent stock market drop and is selling all of his horses.

Allez Milord, who was leading the Turf Classic at Belmont before he bled and finished last, will race with medication Sunday. . . . Although he was not impressive Friday in winning the Breeders Futurity at Keeneland by a nose over Hey Pat, Forty Niner may have clinched the 2-year-old colt championship with his fourth straight stakes victory. Forty Niner is skipping the Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park Nov. 21.