Racing at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree Meeting : Saratoga Passage Likes the Slop

The trick for seven 2-year-olds running in Saturday’s $301,900 Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita was to handle a quagmire that most of them had never experienced before.

The sloppy going was a treat only for Saratoga Passage as the 12-1 longshot upset Success Express and Bold Second, scoring a 2-length win before 21,730 fans.

The Norfolk made for a nice story--eight owners who paid $2,500 apiece for an interest in Saratoga Passage winning a major race and a purse of $181,140--but it did nothing for the Breeders’ Cup and moved Forty Niner, already a Breeders’ Cup defector, a giant step closer to the divisional championship.

None of the first three Norfolk finishers--Purdue King was second, a head in front of Bold Second--is eligible for the Breeders’ Cup, and it’s unlikely that the owners will pay a supplementary fee of $120,000 apiece for them to run in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile race at Hollywood Park Nov. 21.

“It’s not a very good gamble,” said Charlie Whittingham, Bold Second’s trainer. “Because of the track, today’s race wasn’t the kind that suits my horse. Coming from way behind in the slop isn’t easy to do.”

Bold Second was the second choice, with Success Express going off at 3-2 based on three straight wins in New York, Minnesota and Louisiana. Success Express, who led until the field reached the eighth pole, finished fourth, more than eighth lengths behind Saratoga Passage. Success Express was the only Norfolk starter who had run on an off track, breaking his maiden at Belmont Park in the mud, and while trainer Wayne Lukas didn’t use the slop as an excuse, jockey Jose Santos thought it was a factor.

Saratoga Passage was ridden by Joe Steiner, a one-time top apprentice under trainer Johnny Longden’s tutelage at Santa Anita, who now rides at Longacres and Bay Meadows. The horse’s trainer, Bob Leonard, is a full-time commercial-airline pilot who flies about 360,000 miles a year.

When Saratoga Passage broke his maiden in a minor stake at Longacres in September, Leonard was in Honolulu on a flying assignment, and his assistant, Brad Bennett, saddled the horse. Leonard, 45, flew back and forth three times to Santa Anita last week from Minneapolis, where he’s training to fly 747s.

“I may be able to fly tonight without an airplane,” Leonard said after the Norfolk.

Saratoga Passage had to survive a foul claim by Gary Stevens, Purdue King’s jockey, for possible interference at the sixteenth pole. Steiner, who like Leonard had never won a major race before Saturday, said that Purdue King’s owner, John Valpredo, had asked Stevens to make the claim.

“I thought my horse came in slightly while the other horse came out a bit,” Steiner said.

Stevens said that while Purdue King might have been intimidated, the incident came after Saratoga Passage had almost passed his horse.

Saratoga Passage, a Washington-bred son of Pirateer and Loridown, paid $27, $8.80 and $4. Purdue King paid $6.40 and $3.80 and the show return on Bold Second was $3.40. The winning time of 1:45 for 1 1/16 miles was nothing special; one race later, $20,000 claimers ran faster.

Although Saratoga Passage’s pedigree indicates he would like mud--Pirateer is a son of Roberto--Leonard said there was serious thought given to scratching the horse because of the track condition. The owners had paid a non- refundable supplementary fee of $10,000 to make him eligible for the race.

Saratoga Passage was in fourth place going down the backstretch while Success Express set the pace with Purdue King right alongside. At the top of the stretch, Success Express began to drop back, leaving Purdue King on the lead, but Saratoga Passage, on the outside, started making up ground. Saratoga Passage had been on the inside, but he ducked out on Steiner leaving the turn.

“He was closing on them slowly,” jockey Gary Baze said of Bold Second. “He didn’t have as big a kick as usual. He swallowed a lot of mud. I thought he handled the track all right, though.”

Because flights for horses from Seattle are limited, Saratoga Passage and Bennett came to Santa Anita by van, a 31-hour ride that was interrupted only by stops to water the horse.

Saratoga Passage came into the Norfolk with two wins in five starts, and three weeks ago he scored his biggest win by taking the Gottstein Futurity at Longacres.

After the Gottstein, the 26-year-old Bennett said that Saratoga Passage was a better horse than Chinook Pass. Bennett, working for trainer Mike Chambers, had been Chinook Pass’ groom when he was voted the nation’s top sprinter in 1983.

Chambers, it was said, didn’t appreciate Bennett’s opinion. “They forced me to say it,” Bennett said, not wanting to burn bridges. “I wouldn’t have said it if they hadn’t made me.”

After Saturday, Leonard said that Bennett could quit apologizing for the comparison.

Horse Racing Notes

Chinese Gold twice broke through the gate before the start of the Norfolk and finished last. . . . At Yakima Meadows, where trainer Bob Leonard also runs horses, there was betting on the telecast of the Norfolk, and local favorite Saratoga Passage paid only $12.60 to win. . . . Leonard said Saratoga Passage would be nominated for next year’s Triple Crown races. The trainer thinks that the horse’s best distance would be the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes. . . . The turf is bound to be soft for today’s $400,000 Oak Tree Invitational. Trainer Charlie Whittingham, who has won the 18-year-old stake nine times, has a three-horse entry that has been made the 2-1 favorite by Santa Anita linemaker Jeff Tufts. Whittingham feels that the soft going will help Ifrad, but isn’t sure how it will affect the chances of Rivlia and Louis Le Grand. River Memories, the 3-1 second choice, has won on soft turf in both France and Canada. . . . Bill Shoemaker reached the 8,700 mark in victories with two wins Saturday. . . . Santa Anita took wagering Saturday on the Bay Meadows Oaks, which was won by Soft Copy. Like Saratoga Passage, Soft Copy is a Washington-bred who has been running at Longacres. . . . Sacahuista won Saturday’s Spinster by three lengths over Miss Margi at Keeneland, with stablemates North Sider and Julie the Flapper finishing off the board. Top Corsage, who won the Spinster last year, was fourth this time. . . . Dave Patton, injured in a spill Friday at Santa Anita, was released from the hospital Saturday after staying overnight. Patton, who was suspended by the stewards for five days starting Saturday, will have lost his apprenticeship when he returns to action.