When Big ‘Cap Going Gets Tough, Alysheba Is the One on the Go

It wasn’t the money. Chris McCarron and Willie Shoemaker have made enough money between them to buy Arcadia and have it remodeled. Their mounts have won more than $200 million. Or is it $200 trillion?

When McCarron and Shoemaker photo-finished in the Breeder’s Cup, on Alysheba and Ferdinand, they made a friendly wager as they galloped their mounts--$10,000 to the photo loser. Just for laughs.

McCarron lost the photo, winning the $10,000, which Shoe donated to a fund for needy jockeys.

Sunday the two old buddies went at it again, same horses, in another big race, the 51st Santa Anita Handicap.

It wasn’t for the money. It was for pride. McCarron in particular knew the pressure was on. He was on the best horse he has ever ridden, so there would be no excuses.

McCarron and Alysheba had finished fourth at the Belmont, going for the Triple Crown, and McCarron was criticized for laying too far back. He lost the Haskell at Monmouth Park by a neck when he was outridden.

When they saddled up for Sunday’s Big Cap, McCarron knew he would have to ride like a genius.

“I’ve been thinking about it (strategy) pretty much all week,” McCarron said. “I honestly didn’t know how the race would unfold, and I didn’t want to clutter up my mind. But I felt strongly I was on the best horse and I was hoping and praying I had a clear mind, that I could put him in a postion to do his best.”

Exactly how would he do that?

“I’ve always been chasing horses with this horse,” McCarron said. “You hate to be experimenting in a million-dollar race, but if you watch all of Ferdinand’s races, he’ll stalk, stalk, stalk, and only have to run an eighth.

“We almost caught him in the Breeder’s Cup, and I thought if I could have Alysheba in front this time, from the far turn on. . . .

“Alysheba can run full-tilt five-eighths, he has tremendous stamina. Most horses, the most you can get out of them is maybe three-eighths of a mile (at full speed).

“Ferdinand’s won races extremely easy. Even in the Breeder’s Cup it was stalk-stalk-stalk, pounce--and only run one-eighth.

“I knew Shoe would settle early, get in contention at a half mile, then stalk, stalk, pounce. I wanted to have Ferdinand in a position where he had to chase me down. I wanted to see if he had the same kind of fight if he had to come and get a horse.”

Alysheba’s trainer, Jack Van Berg, had roughly the same idea.

“I told Chris to slap him one time leaving the gate, because I didn’t want anyone to steal the race, and we wanted to be closer,” Van Berg said. “I told Chris to make his run from the 6 1/2-furlong pole, and I told him not to worry about (Alysheba) stopping if he did that.”

In the four-horse field, McCarron and Shoemaker held back, with Super Diamond and Judge Angelucci in the lead.

“I wasn’t too crazy about that but I had a feeling it was going to have an effect on them at the end,” McCarron said.

And it did. As Judge’s jockey Eddie Delahoussaye said, referring to trainer Charles Whittingham, “As Charlie says, ‘Sometimes the strawberries sour quick.’ ”

I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds colorful.

So McCarron and Shoemaker stalked the two leaders, and then the two old pals made their move at the far turn.

Watching the replay of that moment on the TV monitor in the jockey’s room, Delahoussaye said to Shoemaker, “When you guys moved by us, geez! You moved fast .”

McCarron and Alysheba moved first, throwing down the gauntlet to Shoemaker and Ferdinand. It was a moment that brought even hardened old horseplayers to their feet.

“Alysheba has been asked, and he’s responding!” shouted track announcer Trevor Denman.

“I was hoping I could get the jump on him but he saw me coming,” Shoemaker said.

It’s more like McCarron felt Shoemaker coming, knew the Shoe would have Ferdinand breathing down McCarron’s neck. When you hit the lane in the lead, chased by history’s greatest jockey on the horse of the year, you can be pretty sure they’ll be closer to you than your wallet.

McCarron’s strategy worked perfectly. Alysheba enjoyed this frontrunner business. He held on to win by a half-length.

Shoe, as always, was unemotional. Another day at the office. Shoemaker would make a lousy figure skater. Win or lose he would never shed a tear.

“It was a great race, I couldn’t get by him,” Shoemaker said evenly, as the Beatles sang “Let It Be” on the radio at his locker. Shoemaker has ridden in 34 Big ‘Caps and won 11, but not today. “Ferdinand, he kept trying, he really did. He ran as hard as he could, he was tryin’.”

It wasn’t enough.

“Today (Alysheba) beat Ferdinand, he beat the horse of the year,” McCarron said, proudly, “and he did it with authority.”

And he did it with a little help from his friend.