Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita : Ferdinand Hauls 127 Pounds From Last to One-Length Victory

In the walking ring before Saturday’s $179,000 Goodwood Handicap, trainer Charlie Whittingham was needling Tom Robbins, Santa Anita’s racing secretary. Robbins and his staff had given Whittingham’s Ferdinand an assignment of 127 pounds, which meant he had to spot the other 4 starters from 4 to 12 pounds.

“This horse isn’t an elephant, you know,” Whittingham said.

Minutes later, after Ferdinand had rallied from last place for a one-length win over Candi’s Gold, it was suggested to Whittingham that possibly his 4-year-old colt really is an elephant.

“He might be, at that,” Whittingham said. “The only thing he hasn’t got is the trunk.”

The Goodwood was as perfect a prep as Whittingham could hope for, with Ferdinand scheduled to run next in the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Hollywood Park on Nov. 21. One of the other horses Ferdinand beat Saturday--Skywalker--won the event last year. Skywalker set a slow pace on a muddy track in the Goodwood before finishing third, three-quarters of a length behind Candi’s Gold.

By a dime, Skywalker went off the 3-2 favorite over Ferdinand Saturday, probably because trainer Michael Whittingham, Charlie’s son, had brought him back from a season at stud with an impressive win over a sloppy track at Santa Anita two weeks ago.

Ferdinand was running for the first time in more than two months and he hadn’t faced an off track since finishing third in the Belmont Stakes in June of 1986.

“The track didn’t bother Ferdinand, and that was my only worry,” Charlie Whittingham said.

Running the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50 4/5, Ferdinand paid $5.20, $3 and $2.10. Candi’s Gold, who has been second to good horses--Temperate Sil, Alysheba and now Ferdinand--in three of his last four starts, paid $3.20 and $2.10 and Skywalker’s show price was $2.10.

Ferdinand earned $102,500 for his owner, Elizabeth Keck, and is now less than $5,000 short of the $2-million mark.

Bill Shoemaker was aboard, for win No. 8,702, 982 of which have been in stakes races and 244 in a race worth six figures or more.

“This horse knows how to run now,” Shoemaker said. “He still pricks his ears, but he doesn’t pull himself up anymore. It used to be that he’d just stick his toes into the ground and quit after he made the lead.”

Frank Olivares, Skywalker’s accustomed companion in the mornings but riding him in a race for the first time, had the 5-year-old on the lead from the gate until mid-stretch. The pace--:48 3/5 for a half-mile and 1:13 1/5 for six furlongs--was so leisurely that it could have given Ferdinand trouble in overhauling the leaders.

“You could put him in front, he has the speed to do it,” Charlie Whittingham said. “But Bill got him back where he was supposed to be.”

Candi’s Gold, ridden by Gary Stevens, began to close ground on Skywalker on the far turn, but Skywalker resisted. Ferdinand, meanwhile, was circling on the outside and traveling faster than anyone. He took the lead inside the eighth pole and then Skywalker wilted enough at the end for Candi’s Gold to take second.

Olivares said that Skywalker didn’t like the track and Michael Whittingham felt that the horse tired. The Classic is still on Skywalker’s schedule.

“He’ll be fitter next time,” Whittingham said. “At first, I thought he was going to hold on, but then he tired when Candi’s Gold made a run at him and left him.”

The elder Whittingham had Ferdinand cranked up for this one. On Wednesday, with Shoemaker in the saddle, Ferdinand worked with Epidaurus, another stakes-winning horse in the same barn, and was clocked in an excellent :59 2/5 for five furlongs on a sloppy track.

“You’ve got to work him in company to get him to do something,” Charlie Whittingham said. “You wear out some good horses doing that, but that’s what it takes.”

Before Ferdinand won the Kentucky Derby, Whittingham worked him with the good filly, Hidden Light. It probably took its toll when Hidden Light ran poorly in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs the day before the Derby.

“I think this is the best horse in the country right now,” Whittingham said. “Alysheba doesn’t bother me. If Ferdinand wins the Breeders’ Cup, he ought to get the Eclipse (for horse of the year).”

Shoemaker is equally confident. “If he stays like this,” the 56-year-old jockey said, “he should be tough.”

But he issued one caveat: “You know what Charlie says about horses--they’re like strawberries and are always capable of spoiling overnight.”

Whittingham isn’t likely to let this one spoil. Not when he’s this close to a purse worth $1.35 million.

Horse Racing Notes

Charlie Whittingham isn’t a trainer who runs fillies against colts very often, but in order to get Jeanne Jones ready for a possible start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Stakes, he’s running her today in the sub-feature, the Flying Paster. It’s only Jeanne Jones’ second career start and she’ll be facing colts who have already won stakes. “If she does well here, they’ll have to let her run in the Breeders’, even though she doesn’t have any points,” Whittingham said. A point system based on high finishes in stakes determines the first nine horses in each Breeders’ Cup race, with the other five selected by committee. . . . Deputy Governor, winner of the Del Mar Derby, heads the field in today’s Koester Handicap. . . . Through Friday, the Oak Tree attendance was down 7% from last year, but the handle for the season was even, because the daily per-capita bet has risen more than 7%, to $209. Saturday’s crowd was 32,537. . . . Autumn Glitter, winner of the Las Palmas Handicap, will run in the Breeders’ Cup Turf instead of next Sunday’s Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita. . . . Al Mamoon, who earned $1.2 million, has been retired and will be sent to Cardiff Stud in Creston, Calif. . . . Perchance To Dream, winner of this year’s Hollywood Oaks, suffered an ankle injury in her stall and will be pointed toward the stakes for 4-year-old fillies at Santa Anita next year. . . . Hasty Pasty, a 2-year-old filly who was a stakes winner at Del Mar, had a blood disorder and will miss the Breeders’ Cup. . . . Fernando Toro rode the California-based Nostalgia’s Star to victory Saturday in the $462,400 Hawthorne Gold Cup at Hawthorne Park near Chicago, with Creme Fraiche and Laffit Pincay finishing seventh. . . . At Aqueduct, Goodbye Halo was a $76 surprise in the Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies and Batty won the Remsen for 2-year-old colts.