Horse Racing : Fast Shuffle, New Deal in Florida

The $500,000 Florida Derby, which will be run Saturday at Gulfstream Park, has turned into a game of jockey roulette for many of the trainers with horses in the race. The fans here might know the horses, but they won’t be able to tell the jockeys without a program.

There are 10 probable starters--the handlers of Evening Kris and Twice Too Many indicated Wednesday that they will join the field--and at least five of the 3-year-olds will run with rider changes. They include:

--Laffit Pincay replacing Randy Romero on Notebook.

--Craig Perret, instead of Doug Valiente, riding Frosty the Snowman.

--Earlie Fires taking over for Keith Allen on Buoy.

--Jose Santos riding Sorry About That in place of Jean Cruguet.

--Romero winding up on Brian’s Time, with Jerry Bailey being dropped.

Santos, the leading jockey in the country last year based on purse money, was the catalyst for most of the changes.

Before the Fountain of Youth, a prep race here Feb. 15, Santos told trainer Wayne Lukas that he was available to ride Notebook that day but had a commitment aboard Sorry About That for the Florida Derby. So Lukas replaced Santos with Randy Romero, who lost a photo finish to Forty Niner. When Pincay became available for Saturday, Romero lost the mount.

Pincay has won the Florida Derby twice, with Swale in 1984 and Judger in 1974. There is speculation on the Gulfstream backstretch that Pincay will take Notebook back Saturday, instead of forcing the pace as the colt did in the Fountain of Youth and most of his other races. Santos rode Notebook in his first six starts.

Sorry About That won his first two starts with Santos, then added a third win with Cruguet. His undefeated record was ended, however, with a second-place finish to Cherokee Colony in the Flamingo at Hialeah, which because of racing-date changes among feuding Florida tracks was forced to run the stake on Jan. 2. With Cruguet, Sorry About That was trapped on the rail on the far turn and couldn’t get outside until late in the stretch.

Pincay, Romero and Perret will be riding their Florida Derby horses for the first time. Valiente, who has been Gulfstream’s leading jockey in a season that ends Saturday, lost the mount to Perret after winning with Frosty the Snowman in his first three starts and then running next to last in the Fountain of Youth.

In that last race, Frosty the Snowman was squeezed into the rail at the top of the stretch, and Valiente tore his boot and suffered a bruised leg that sidelined him for two days.

Ferdinand, winding up his preparations for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap Sunday, worked 5 furlongs in a swift :58 3/5 Wednesday morning. The track was listed as muddy, but times indicated that there was a solid bottom beneath the surface.

Judge Angelucci, Ferdinand’s stablemate who will also run in the Big ‘Cap, worked in :59 1/5 for Eddie Delahoussaye. Super Diamond, another Big ‘Cap starter, was timed in :59 3/5. Corey Black was aboard, but Laffit Pincay, hurrying back from Saturday’s Florida Derby, has the mount.

Only Ferdinand, Judge Angelucci, Super Diamond and Alysheba are definite for Sunday, with Temperate Sil, Sebrof and Master Advocate tentative.

Lew Figone, one of Temperate Sil’s owners, said the horse acts as though he wants to run. Temperate Sil worked five furlongs Wednesday in 1:00.

“The horse hasn’t run with only 117 pounds in a long time,” Figone said. “And you get $75,000 just for running fourth.”

Horse Racing Notes

Kent Desormeaux, who won the Eclipse Award as the country’s leading apprentice last year, suffered a separated shoulder in a spill at Laurel last week and is expected to be out for at least three weeks. . . . Thistledown, the track in Cleveland, paid ESPN $50,000 to carry the telecast of the Ohio Derby last year. Some tracks, such as Santa Anita, believe they should be paid rights fees instead of subsidizing racing telecasts. . . . Carotene, who won the Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita last fall, was a $57.60 winner against colts in Sunday’s Pan American Handicap at Gulfstream Park. . . . Angel Cordero will be at Gulfstream Friday to ride Lockton in a division of the Fort Lauderdale Handicap and has the mount on Cougarized Saturday in the Lucky Draw at Aqueduct. . . . Doug Don, president of Gulfstream, estimates that the newly begun Florida lottery has had a negative effect of between 3% and 5% on attendance and betting at the track. . . . Trainer Mel Stute is giving Very Subtle a month off. . . . Evening Kris, one of the starters in the Florida Derby, is trained by Buddy Mayberry, whose son, Brian, is a conditioner at Santa Anita.