California Breeders’ Champion Stakes : Longshot Proves Committed Enough to Win Stakes Race

On paper, it looked as though No Commitment would be tripping on his tongue by the time he reached the finish line of Sunday’s seven-furlong, $136,500 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes.

No Commitment had won three races in eight starts, but none of the victories was beyond six furlongs, and the only time he tried to run farther, the 3-year-old gelding finished a badly beaten ninth at a mile.

On top of all that, No Commitment’s dam, Premarital, was a five-furlong runner at best.

But the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes is run on the loam at Santa Anita, not on paper, and although No Commitment might have been rubber-legged at the end, he still had enough left to beat Sure Swift by two lengths before 33,523 fans.

Sure Swift finished 1 lengths ahead of Aloha Prospector, a winner by seven lengths in his only previous race and the second betting choice at 19-10.

Drouilly’s Boy, the 3-2 favorite who took an undefeated record of three wins into the stake, ran on a fast track for the first time and finished sixth in the eight-horse field, with his jockey, Frank Olivares, suspecting that the colt might have bled from the lungs in the race.

No Commitment, who is owned by his trainer, Lloyd Mason, and his assistant trainer, Barbara Hagan, paid $27, $8.40 and $4.40. Sure Swift’s payoffs were $4.80 and $3.20 and the show price on Aloha Prospector was $2.80.

No Commitment, timed in 1:23 1/5, earned $80,250 in sending his total purses to almost $150,000. He was purchased by his owners for $9,500 at a sale of 2-year-olds at Santa Anita last May.

“What we liked about him is that he walked into the ring on his hind legs,” Hagan said. “And we had previously bought two horses out of that sale who went on to win races.”

A couple of days after the sale, No Commitment was castrated. “We wanted a horse (who could win races), not a stud prospect,” Hagan said.

Three prominent horses who might have run in Sunday’s stake were on the sidelines. Mr. Game Player and Flying Victor had minor ailments and Purdue King’s handlers were waiting for another day.

But Mason committed No Commitment to the race 10 days ago, when he shipped the Search for Gold gelding to Santa Anita from his Bay Meadows headquarters.

In his last start before Sunday, No Commitment had won a six-furlong allowance race by seven lengths at Bay Meadows. The mile race was about two weeks before that, when No Commitment got his tongue over the bit and started choking. A tongue tie was added for the race on Dec. 16.

Eddie Delahoussaye, who won two races before the stake and is now tied with Gary Stevens for the meeting’s jockey lead with 14 victories, rode No Commitment in a race for the first time.

“The only thing I was worried about was whether he could run seven-eighths of a mile,” Delahoussaye said. “He shortened his stride in the stretch, but there was nobody back there who was running at us.”

Although Aloha Prospector stayed close to the pace-setting No Commitment most of the way, before being overtaken by Sure Swift for second place, jockey Chris McCarron had trouble early.

“He hopped in the air at the start,” McCarron said. “He wasn’t settled. He was pulling way too hard down the backside.”

Sure Swift also had trouble in the gate, stumbling when the door opened, and his jockey, Jorge Velasquez, thought he might have won, otherwise.

This was the biggest win for the 44-year-old Mason, who ended a career as a rider of jumpers to start training eight years ago.

No Commitment will remain at Santa Anita. A $300,000 race, the El Camino Real Derby, will be run at his home track, Bay Meadows, on Jan. 24, but the distance is 1 1/16 miles, which is considered to be too far for him. That’s if the adage is true about never asking a horse to do something he’s never done before. No Commitment has already shattered it once.

Horse Racing Notes

Sunday was a day for geldings. Of the six races for male horses, four were won by geldings. . . . Two jockeys--Alan Sherman and Aaron Gryder--have been handed suspensions by the stewards after their horses were disqualified, Sherman’s ban going through next Sunday and Gryder’s ending on Friday. . . . Jockey Luis Ortega, injured in a spill at Hollywood Park on Dec. 19, had a swelling in the ankle, learned that it was broken and will be sidelined for three to four weeks. . . . Alysheba, expected to run in the San Fernando Stakes next Sunday, worked a mile in 1:36 4/5, satisfying trainer Jack Van Berg.