Alysheba Just Changes Places : Colt Holds Off Ferdinand in Stirring Big ‘Cap Race

After a million-dollar horse race that was worth every penny to the 70,432 who watched it, Charlie Whittingham was in the center of the track, trying to catch the elbow of his conqueror and fellow trainer, Jack Van Berg.

Van Berg had a right to be inattentive. He had both eyes on his $3.6-million colt and in one of his ears was Clarence Scharbauer, whose wife and daughter race the gifted Alysheba.

Van Berg didn’t immediately see Whittingham, but Scharbauer did. “We’re even now, Charlie,” Scharbauer chortled, shaking Whittingham’s hand.

Fourteen weeks before, in the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Hollywood Park, Alysheba had tried to come from behind in the stretch and overtake Ferdinand at the wire. His nose wasn’t long enough.

But on Sunday, in the 51st Santa Anita Handicap, the roles were reversed. It was Alysheba who held the lead charging for home, and this time the pursuer once again wasn’t good enough. Alysheba reached the line a half-length before Ferdinand, squaring a rivalry that isn’t over but can hardly be more fierce.

“A horse race is what you got,” Whittingham said to a circle of reporters after he had finally found Van Berg’s hand.

Van Berg was asked if Sunday’s win compensated for the heart-wrenching loss in the Breeders’ Cup.

“It’s $2 million short,” said Van Berg, who studied a little mathematics before he dropped out of the University of Nebraska more than 30 years ago.

One of the visitors in the winner’s circle was George Allen, the football coach, and Van Berg sounded as though Allen had written the script.

“The difference between the Breeders’ Cup and today is that this horse has matured,” Van Berg said. “He had a ton of talent, but he couldn’t get his stuff together. He was like a football or basketball player before they went on to the pros. But when Ferdinand got up to my horse’s saddle towel, he took off on his own. He’s an all-pro.”

Scharbauer was even more effusive. “He’s the best in the world, and he might be the best of all time before he’s through,” he said. “I’d say he’s worth between $20 and $25 million right now.”

Chris McCarron, who has been criticized for some suspect rides on Alysheba, was a study in perfection Sunday. With Super Diamond on the lead and Judge Angelucci second--there were only four starters after Whittingham scratched Temperate Sil--going into the far turn, McCarron moved Alysheba into high gear, and Bill Shoemaker, who had been farther back with Ferdinand in the run down the backstretch, also got his mount rolling.

It was obvious then that the race was going to turn out as expected, a test to the wire for the winners of the last two Kentucky Derbys.

Alysheba, last year’s Derby winner, extended his lead to almost a length in upper stretch. McCarron used his whip twice from there, with Shoemaker just motioning with his, and there was no catching Alysheba.

“He might have waited a little at the quarter pole, when his ears went up, but not in the lane,” McCarron said. “I spanked him hard at the sixteenth pole, and grabbed him because the other horse was right there and I didn’t want to bump him. Ferdinand got to my saddle towel, and that’s all.”

Shoemaker was trying to win his 12th Big ‘Cap, and give Whittingham his eighth win in the race.

“I couldn’t get by Alysheba,” Shoemaker said. “I saw him warming up pretty good, so I thought he’d be laying up pretty close. I was hoping I’d get the jump on him, but I didn’t. Down the lane at the sixteenth pole, Alysheba pinned his ears and I thought he was going to pull up. But Chris straightened him out, and he didn’t.”

Ferdinand finished 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Super Diamond, and it was another 2 lengths back to Judge Angelucci, who was also saddled by Whittingham.

With no show betting, favored Alysheba paid $4 and $2.60 and Ferdinand paid $2.80. The time for 1 miles was 1:59 4/5, which was 1 1/5 off Affirmed’s Big ‘Cap record in 1979, but the fastest running of the race since Bates Motel’s 1:59 3/5 in 1983.

By earning $550,000, Alysheba increased his career purses to almost $3.7 million, which moved him past Creme Fraiche, Slew o’Gold, Snow Chief and Ferdinand on the money list. Heading the list are two retired horses, two-time Big ‘Cap winner John Henry with $6.5 million and Spend a Buck, who reached $4.2 million with the help of a $2-million bonus that came with winning the Kentucky Derby and a series of races at Garden State Park in 1985.

Whittingham would like to have another shot at Alysheba, who was carrying 126 pounds Sunday, one less than Ferdinand. The rematch may not come soon, however, since Ferdinand is expected to remain in California while Van Berg indicated that Alysheba may travel, possibly to Oaklawn Park.

“My horse had to come around today, but I don’t know if it made any difference,” Whittingham said. “The pound difference in weights may have meant something. What do they say, three pounds are worth a length going a mile and a quarter?

“I don’t think being a little closer would have helped. But being three wide could have hurt.”

When Van Berg saw the early fractions set by Judge Angelucci and Super Diamond--:23 1/5 for the first quarter-mile and :46 3/5 for a half-mile, he liked his chances even more than before the horses left the gate.

“My horse is all business,” Van Berg said. “He don’t lie.”

But the 51-year-old trainer knows there are more races to prepare for. Asked how he was going to celebrate Sunday night, Van Berg said:

“By going to bed. I had enough Saturday night. The Scharbauers kept me up till midnight.”

Horse Racing Notes

After almost getting blocked on the first turn, Super Diamond and Laffit Pincay took the lead away from Judge Angelucci and Eddie Delahoussaye. “The pace was slow, and my horse wanted to go on,” Pincay said. “You don’t like to be head to head, but we weren’t going that fast. I was really surprised how those other two (Alysheba and Ferdinand) caught us so quickly and came by us. My horse tried to come back through the stretch, but he gave up at the sixteenth pole.” . . . The Santa Anita Handicap was devalued with the scratch of Temperate Sil and was actually only worth $975,000, because fifth-place money didn’t have to be paid. . . . The on-track betting of $12.7 million was exceeded at Santa Anita only by the $15.4 million bet on Breeders’ Cup Day in 1986. . . . After the Big ‘Cap, two fans paraded around the infield with a white sheet that said: “Alysheba’s No. 1, Kankakee, Ill.” Clarence Scharbauer and his wife, Dorothy, receive about 10 fan letters a week that are only addressed: “Alysheba, Midland, Tex.” . . . Honor Medal, a Santa Anita shipper trained by Neil Drysdale and ridden by Pat Day, won Sunday’s New Orleans Handicap at the Fair Grounds. . . . Faro won the Phoenix Gold Cup at Turf Paradise and King’s Swan, carrying 130 pounds, captured the Grey Lag Handicap at Aqueduct. . . . Gary Stevens, the leading rider at Santa Anita, won four races Sunday, giving him 73 winners for the first 55 days. Delahoussaye is next with 62. . . . One of Stevens’ winners was High Brite, by 1 lengths in the $60,775 Viking Spirit Stakes.