SANTA ANITA HANDICAP : It’s Always Been the Big One in California

The Kentucky Derby is America’s race. It has Stephen Foster, mint juleps, bluegrass, the Run for the Roses, Col. Matt Winn and David Harum, an entry that’s pretty hard to beat.

Tied for second would be the Preakness and the Belmont.

But the Santa Anita Handicap is California’s race. It always has been and always will be. The run for the geraniums.

It was the audacious idea of Dr. Charles Henry Strub in the bleak Depression year of 1935. He boldly posted an unheard-of prize of $100,000 for the winner at a time when the bank from which he borrowed the money sent along its armed guards to make sure it got the money back. You have to realize that the Kentucky Derby paid $28,175 to its winner the year before, and it was freely predicted that Doc Strub and his track, like all horseplayers, would die broke.

Instead, he put Southern California more firmly on the sports map. It used to be said that the USC football team was the only big-time sports story west of the Mississippi. The ’32 Los Angeles Olympics played a role, but a $100,000 horse race at a time when one-third of the nation was out of work and on the dole was a tremendous bet on the future, a vote of confidence that caught the admiration of the whole country.

As the shrewd doctor had gambled, the networks--radio in those days--came running to put this show in prime time in the East. The best horses in the country took the next train west, and the fields assembled for those early Santa Anita Handicaps probably have never been matched on a race track since.

Equipoise, the famed “Chocolate Soldier” of Eastern Establishment racing was in the gate, as were the great Twenty Grand, Top Row, Time Supply and the winner, Azucar. It was Equipoise’s last race.

The next year, the great Discovery joined the lists, but Eastern invaders never had conspicuous luck against the local crop and their home-court advantage. Discovery finished the same seventh as Equipoise had.

But the race never lost its appeal for racing interests the world over. The greats of the turf ran here--Citation, Hill Prince, Seabiscuit, Affirmed, Native Diver, Spectacular Bid. The race attracted the biggest non-Kentucky Derby crowds in the history of racing. A crowd of 83,768 showed up in 1947, and just as racing seemed to be waning in its attraction for the modern fan, 85,527 showed up in 1985.

The race this year will pit past Kentucky Derby winners against one another for the 40th time in racing history, but only the 11th since 1930. Ferdinand and Alysheba are great race horses, but the Santa Anita Handicap has always been a tough race to figure for bettor or owner. And there are some caveats. Such as:

(1) Don’t always bet the most famous horse or horses in the field. Discovery and Equipoise not only lost here at even money, but so did Citation, Native Diver, Dahlia, one of the great race mares of all time, and Time Supply, who tried three times. Seabiscuit tried three times before he won it. The great gelding, Armed, finished fifth.

(2) Don’t throw out the high weight in here. Seabiscuit, Thumbs Up, Mark-Ye-Well, Round Table, Ack Ack, Spectacular Bid and John Henry won toting 130 pounds. But don’t bet the house. Citation lost under 132, Seabiscuit lost under 130. So did Equipoise, Discovery, Gun Bow--twice--and Nodouble and King Pellinore.

(3) Don’t throw out the low weight. Stagehand beat Seabiscuit carrying 100 pounds to the Biscuit’s 130 in 1938. A hedge-jumper named Cornhusker won in 1957 with 105. Noor beat Citation carrying 110 to Big Cy’s 132. Bay View carried 108 in 1941 and paid $118.40, biggest price in the race’s history. Linmold got 110 in 1960 and needed all of it. He won in a blanket finish in which four noses were on the wire.

(4) Don’t run to bet the Kentucky Derby winner even when there are two of them in here as there are this year. The last time this happened, 1950, neither of the Kentucky Derby winners, Citation nor Ponder, won. Noor did. This year, Alysheba, last year’s Derby winner, and Ferdinand, the 1986 winner, tackle the task. But Twenty Grand, 1930 Kentucky Derby winner, ran 10th here. Determine lost here. So did Decidedly. Of course, Lucky Debonair, 1965 Kentucky Derby winner, won here. So did Affirmed, Derby winner in ‘78, and Spectacular Bid, the 1979 Derby champion.

(5) Don’t hope for a foul. The winner’s number has come down only twice in 50 runnings. Intent was taken down for bumping Miche in 1952 and Perrault was moved to second for bumping John Henry in 1982.

(6) Don’t bet any horse who has won this thing before. John Henry is the only horse ever to have won it twice and even he needed a claim of foul (see above). Azucar, the first winner, faded to fourth the next year. Rejected won in 1954 and was seventh in 1955. Prove It, first in 1961, was ninth in 1962. Physician won it in ‘62, then took eighth in ’63. On the other hand, check the horses who have been close before. Seabiscuit was second twice before he won. So was Cougar II. Top Row moved from third to first. Some horses kept trying till they got it right. Quicken Tree was seventh in 1967, fourth in 1968, and third in 1969 before he won it in 1970. Presumably, he thought they were going to keep him there forever or until he got the hang of it.

(7) Don’t be afraid to bet the jockey. Bill Shoemaker has won 11 of these things. Laffit Pincay has won five, Johnny Longden and Donald Pierce four each. You want to talk trainers, Charlie Whittingham has won seven. No one else has won three, and only three have won twice.

(8) Bring your heart medicine. The biggest winning margin was six lengths--Bobby Brocato in 1956. Broad Brush won by a nostril last year, and 14 races have been won by a head, neck or nose.

(9) Don’t bet the exacta, if available. Only 12 times in the 40 they have met have past Kentucky Derby winners run 1-2. And 21 times neither one of them won.