San Juan Capistrano Handicap : Great Communicator Beats Fiction by Neck

Trainer Thad Ackel was happy with the victory, but those were not tears of joy that reddened his face in the winner’s circle Sunday after his 5-year-old gelding, Great Communicator, wore down Fiction in the last few jumps to win the $400,000 San Juan Capistrano Handicap by a neck at Santa Anita.

George Ackel, Thad’s 66-year-old father and one of the owners of Great Communicator, died after suffering a heart attack on Tuesday in New Orleans.

“We dedicated this race to my dad,” Ackel said. “If it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

George Ackel, orphaned when he was 13, was a retired insurance and real-estate man who was a commissioner of Public Service in Louisiana.

“He was a self-made man,” his son said. “He was in politics for 28 years and he was a great communicator. There couldn’t be a horse with a better name to win a race in his honor.”

The burial was on Thursday, and Ackel was asked if any thought had been given to not running Great Communicator in the Capistrano.

“None at all,” he said. “He would have turned over in his grave if we didn’t run the horse.”

Ackel, who also owns a small interest in Great Communicator, along with the other principal owner, Rosalie Dufrene of Cutoff, La., brought Great Communicator to California last fall along with a few other horses, sacrificing a prosperous stable of about 40 horses back in Louisiana. After running 12th in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Hollywood Park and finishing 4th in the Hollywood Turf Cup, Great Communicator won the San Marcos Handicap at Santa Anita in January, and Ackel established the San Juan Capistrano as the goal.

There was another win in February in the San Luis Obispo Handicap, then a second to Rivlia a month ago in the San Luis Rey. With Wolsey scratched, Rivlia went off the second choice Sunday to Putting, the 5-2 favorite, but they finished fifth and sixth, respectively, as the come-from-behind horses had trouble making up ground on a grass course labeled good.

The failure of Rivlia, second-place Fiction and fourth-place Swink to win the Capistrano snapped trainer Charlie Whittingham’s five-year domination of the race, and prevented him from winning the stake for the 14th time.

For the longest time, Fiction and Bill Shoemaker, who had grabbed the lead at the start, looked as though they were going to survive the stretch drive, but Great Communicator and Ray Sibille made up a 1 1/2-length deficit at the eighth pole and nailed them in the final yards.

Carotene, trying to become the third female to win the 49-year-old race, was third, only a neck behind Fiction, and then there was 4 1/2 lengths back to Swink. Great Communicator carried 119 pounds, 3 more than Fiction and 4 less than Rivlia, who was the high weight.

A $42,000 yearling by Key to the Kingdom out of Blaheen, Great Communicator earned $220,000, hiking his total to almost $900,000, and paid $14.20, $6.20 and $4.20. His time of 2:51 3/5 was more than 6 seconds off the stakes record for the distance of about 1 3/4 miles. Fiction paid $9 and $5, and Carotene returned $4.20.

Sibille, who won the richest race of his career, earlier Sunday learned that he had received a five-day suspension, starting Friday, from the Golden Gate stewards for an incident in the stretch run of Saturday’s California Derby. The days will also prohibit Sibille from riding at Hollywood Park, which opens Wednesday.

Sibille’s Golden Gate mount, Bel Air Dancer, tripped up Ruhlmann, causing that colt to go down, and he also bumped another horse. Bel Air Dancer was disqualified from second and placed last; Ruhlmann suffered a chipped knee and will be sidelined for the rest of the year.

“Nothing compensates for days, but after what happened up there, I was sure I was going to get ‘em,” Sibille said. “I did something you do a thousand times, getting a horse who’s trying to get in to move out by hitting him left-handed, and then it happened. I thought I was (ahead of) the other horse when it happened. The horse that went down was tired and had pretty much quit running. I didn’t know what happened behind me until I got back to the jockeys’ room and saw the rerun.”

While several of the jockeys watched the rerun of the San Juan Capistrano, Chris McCarron, who rode Rivlia, turned to Sibille and said: “Hey, Ray, I thought you told me two months ago that your horse couldn’t go a mile and three-quarters.”

Sibille answered: “I was just fooling.”

Horse Racing Notes

Thad Ackel’s brother, George Ackel Jr., attended Sunday’s race, using the airline ticket of their late father. . . . Olivia Ackel, Thad’s daughter, celebrated her third birthday Sunday and it was also the birthday of George Jr.’s son. . . . Talking about Fiction, Bill Shoemaker said: “On the last turn, he seemed to have a lot of run left in him, but then he tired in the last 16th. He’s a funny horse. He runs better by himself.” . . . Putting, second to Fiction after a half-mile, dropped back to fourth and then never moved up. The only horse he beat was Dahleen, the French colt who arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday. . . . The attendance was 47,435, with Chris McCarron riding three winners on the next-to-last day of the season. Today’s windup includes the San Jacinto Handicap. . . . Two Kentucky Derby preps on Saturday took their toll. Cherokee Colony, third in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct despite a horrible trip, will miss the Derby because of an undetermined injury to his left foreleg. Besides Ruhlmann, All Thee Power and Flying Victor were Kentucky Derby casualties as a result of the California Derby. All Thee Power won the California Derby but fractured his right knee and will have a surgical screw inserted this week. Flying Victor will undergo surgery on his left foreleg Tuesday, and his racing days are over. . . . Lac Ouimet won Sunday’s $200,000 Excelsior Handicap at Aqueduct by a head over Personal Flag, with Talinum third, another 1 lengths back.