Horse Racing : Security Is Missing Ingredient in Jockey Agent’s Job

When Sam Goldwyn said that a verbal contract “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on,” he might have been thinking about jockeys’ agents.

A jockey’s agent scurries around the backstretch in the mornings, a condition book from the racing office on one side and a hand for stroking trainers on the other. He is well-paid--usually, he gets 25% of what his rider earns--but his bond is a handshake, and that gives him all the security of a cop patrolling the graveyard beat in the South Bronx.

Jockeys and their agents have been known to part between races of the daily double. Bill Shoemaker and the late Harry Silbert did business together for more than 35 years, which the more you think about it is as outlandish as a maiden winning the Kentucky Derby.

Even the best jockeys hit slumps, and that’s when the rider-agent relationship is likely to be strained. The jockey might accuse the agent of putting him on too many stiffs; the agent counters by telling the rider that he’d look better on an elephant.

Eddie Delahoussaye, who won the Kentucky Derby with Gato Del Sol in 1982 and with Sunny’s Halo in 1983, hasn’t been in a slump for some time. In 1987, the Daily Racing Form listed Delahoussaye 10th in the country, with 218 winners and $7.2 million in purses. This year, Delahoussaye is already over the $1-million mark in purses, battling Gary Stevens for the lead in the Santa Anita standings.

So when Delahoussaye recently fired his agent of seven years, replacing Craig O’Bryan with former jockey Terry Lipham, the timing seemed all wrong. Would a restaurateur bounce his chef right after the place got a five-star rating?

Delahoussaye talked about his split with O’Bryan the other day.

“In 1986, we had problems,” Delahoussaye said. “I told myself that if things didn’t work out better in ‘87, I’d find somebody else.

“Well, ’87 was a real good year. But then this year started out like ‘86, and that’s when I felt I had to make a change.

“Craig wasn’t around in the mornings like he should have been. Trainers were naming me on horses at entry time even though he wasn’t there. In ‘86, when we were struggling, I was lax, too, not tending to my business. But Craig was getting really lax.

“It’s not that hard of a job, really, and that’s the sad part. An agent gets the mounts in the morning, and then he can even take a nap in the afternoon. I’m out there working horses in the morning, and then I’m lucky if I even get a sip of soda while I’m riding in the afternoons.”

O’Bryan, who has not yet picked up another rider, said he was “shocked” when Delahoussaye dumped him. Delahoussaye won six races in two days last weekend, including two stakes.

“Those were my horses that Eddie won with,” said O’Bryan, the son of a veteran agent. “And he’s been on more horses than almost anybody else at the meeting.

“But I’m not bitter. Eddie’s a great rider, and it’s his prerogative to change agents if he wants to.”

Lipham, forced to retire from riding because of several serious injuries, was as surprised to get a call from Delahoussaye to be hired as O’Bryan was stunned to be sacked.

“There really aren’t that many top agents around, but I think Terry will be a good one,” Delahoussaye said. “He knows horses, he’s a workaholic, he enjoys the game and he did a good job for Corey Black. And I want to keep working hard. I can’t be a lawyer or a journalist--riding horses is all I know.”

The other day, the unemployed O’Bryan took his 7-month-old son to the zoo, something he’d hardly have the time for if he were still booking mounts.

“Paul Westhead won the NBA title (with the Lakers), and the next year he was fired,” O’Bryan said. “If you can figure out sports, give me a call.”

With three six-furlong races at the meeting having already been run in 1:08, Golden Gate Fields seemed due for some track records.

But when Caros Love, a 4-year-old colt from the claiming ranks in Southern California, ran a mile there last Sunday in 1:33, it seemed an aberration. Caros Love broke Citation’s 38-year-old Golden Gate record by three-fifths of a second in running the fastest two-turn mile ever and the seventh-fastest mile in the history of American racing.

Still safe is the world record of 1:32 1/5 set by Dr. Fager, while carrying 134 pounds, at Arlington Park in 1968. Buckpasser ran a 1:32 3/5 mile at Arlington in 1966, and Greinton matched that time at Hollywood Park in 1985. Miles in 1:32 4/5 have been recorded by Bold Bidder at Arlington Park in 1966, by Precisionist at Hollywood Park in 1985 and by the filly Melair at Hollywood in 1986.

Caros Love, ridden by Marco Castaneda, carried 117 pounds Saturday. Castaneda also rode Charlie’s Notes to a six-furlong win Monday in 1:07 4/5, which tied the Golden Gate record.

“We had a lot of rain in January,” said Scott Dorn, the plant superintendent at Golden Gate. “That’s given the track a good base, and when the tractors go over it, the ground rises. But the track’s not hard, and it’s kind to the horses. If it was hard, I think Caros Love would have stopped at the quarter pole.”

Castaneda didn’t think that Caros Love was moving that quickly. “He was going easy for me on the front end, although that other horse, Speedy Shannon, was pushing us until the eighth pole. My horse won with plenty left.”

Caros Love was claimed from Hector Palma by part owner and trainer Wally Dollase out of a Santa Anita race early last year for $50,000. Caros Love ran sixth as the favorite that day, and when he came back with a leg problem, Dollase first felt that he had bought $50,000 worth of trouble.

But after three months off, the gray 4-year-old came back to win minor stakes at Louisiana Downs and Hollywood Park.

“I first noticed this horse when I ran another one of my horses, Bold Jade, in a prep leading up to the Caliente Futurity in 1986,” Dollase said. “Bold Jade ran second, but Caros Love beat him handily enough that I didn’t run him back in the Futurity.

“Caros Love is well-bred. He’s by Caro, and his dam (Lady Jove) once sold for $450,000 while she was in foal to Caro another time.”

Caros Love’s next start is expected to be the $100,000 Arcadia Handicap at Santa Anita on Feb. 28. He’ll be going from the dirt to grass, but the distance will remain the same.

Horse Racing Notes

Damage estimated in excess of $100,000 was caused by high winds at Santa Anita late Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Workout time for horses was reduced about 75 minutes Wednesday morning. Damage was done to numerous barns and the track’s roof, a plaster wall was ripped off at the western end of the grandstand and a tent used for corporate parties not far from the paddock was ruined. . . . Frosty the Snowman, the previously undefeated 3-year-old who finished next to last Monday in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, had two excuses. He stumbled leaving the gate and was forced into the rail by another horse at the quarter pole. Frosty the Snowman’s jockey, Doug Valiente, missed a day of riding with a sore foot after bouncing off the rail. Valiente, a 28-year-old Venezuelan who came to the United States last spring, is the leading jockey at Gulfstream. Forty Niner and Notebook, who ran 1-2, just a nod of the head at the wire of the Fountain of Youth, will return in the Florida Derby on March 5.

At a cost of $600 apiece, 380 3-year-olds have been nominated for the Triple Crown races. Other horses can be made eligible for the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont with a $3,000 payment by March 17. Perfect Spy, who upset Forty Niner in the Hutcheson on Feb. 3, probably won’t be a late nominee; his handlers realistically consider the 3-year-old Canadian-bred gelding to be nothing more than a sprinter. . . . Pat Valenzuela, who hasn’t ridden since Feb. 4, has been named to ride horses Friday at Santa Anita. . . . Few horses are expected to challenge undefeated Winning Colors and Goodbye Halo, the runner-up to Epitome in the voting for best 2-year-old filly last year, in Saturday’s $100,000 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita. On Sunday, a field of 10 is probable for the $300,000 Santa Margarita Handicap. Three trainers are likely to start two horses apiece, with Mausie and Hollywood Glitter coming from Gary Jones’ barn, Top Corsage and Miss Alto representing Jerry Fanning and Timely Assertion and Rose’s Cantina running for Henry Moreno.