John Henry Handicap at Hollywood Park : Deputy Governor Doesn’t Need Coaxing

When Eddie Delahoussaye won the Del Mar Derby aboard Deputy Governor last August, he did so despite losing his whip midway through the race.

On Sunday, Delahoussaye didn’t drop his stick, he just decided not to use it, but the result was the same.

Deputy Governor, sent off as the 5-to-2 favorite by the crowd of 27,548, won the $150,000-added John Henry Handicap in stakes-record time, catching front-running Steinlen in the stretch and beating him by two lengths at the wire. Stop the Fighting was third, another half-length behind.

Trained by Neil Drysdale, the 4-year-old chestnut colt by Master Willie out of Regent Miss covered the 1 1/8 miles on a firm turf course in 1:46 to earn $96,700 for his English-based owner, Ahmed Salman of Universal Stable. Deputy Governor has career earnings of $381,306.

The time bettered the 1:47 record set by The Bart in 1982 on the old turf course and equalled by Al Mamoon last year. Delahoussaye was also the rider on The Bart.

“I didn’t hit him at all,” Delahoussaye said of Deputy Governor. “I left him alone because, like I told Neil after the race, the last time we won with him I blew my stick, so today I figured he was running and there was no use hitting him.”

Steinlen, ridden by Gary Stevens, broke smartly, as expected, and held the lead for about a mile, with Deputy Governor stalking him. The two were clear of the pack when they entered the stretch, but the Wayne Lukas-trained Steinlen could not hold off Deputy Governor’s challenge and had to settle for second.

Stop the Fighting, with Ray Sibille aboard, closed well to earn third, half a length ahead of Bill Shoemaker on Forlitano.

“We knew Steinlen has legitimate speed,” Drysdale said. “I just told Eddie to let him (Deputy Governor) settle and go from there.”

The Grade I John Henry was Deputy Governor’s second race after a layoff of nearly six months. After finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Hollywood Park on Nov. 21, he did not race again until May 1, when he was sixth in the Premiere Handicap.

“He’d had a hard campaign in England last year before he came over to the United States, so we raced him lightly,” Drysdale said.

Delahoussaye said the Premiere set his horse up perfectly for Sunday’s race.

“Last time we ran him he was awful fresh,” Delahoussaye said. “He broke running and, boy, he wanted to go. Today, he broke good and he was wanting to run but I took a hold of him. I got him back and he relaxed real well.

“I was a little concerned about that horse on the lead, though. He looked like he was going fairly easy. I started riding a little sooner than I usually ride; I started at about the 5/16th pole getting him to try to catch up, and he really accelerated well.”

Even without the whip.

The British-bred Steinlen, a 5-year-old bay horse by Habitat out of Southern Seas put together a record of 7 wins in 16 career starts, including 3 victories in a row, coming into Sunday’s race.

An allowance win at Santa Anita on March 26 was followed by victory in the El Rincon Handicap at the same track on April 10 and a win in the Premiere Handicap at Hollywood Park on May 1. But those successes were not sufficient to make Steinlen the betting favorite on Sunday, and the reason was simple.

Each of those earlier three races was run at a mile, while the John Henry was set for a 1 1/8 miles. On the two occasions in which Steinlen ran more than a mile this year, he finished third and seventh.

Last Thursday, looking ahead to the race, Lukas said his horse might be tested Sunday by the extra distance.

“He’s getting his act together and is developing into a top-class horse,” Lukas said. “This will be a little bit of a test because it’ll be stretched to a degree. But I don’t think there’s any problem.”

The only problem, as it turned out, was Deputy Governor.

Horse Racing Notes

Deputy Governor paid $7.80, $4.60 and $3.60 in winning for the fourth time in 17 starts. Steinlen paid $4.80 and $3.60 and Stop the Fighting paid $6.60. . . . The field for the John Henry was reduced to eight when trainer Bobby Frankel scratched Roi Normand, winner in two of his three American starts. The French-raced 5-year-old has been nominated to next Sunday’s $200,000-added Mervyn LeRoy Handicap.

“This is definitely a week I’ll never forget,” said jockey Gary Stevens of his remarkable eight-day run of success. On May 7, Stevens won the Kentucky Derby aboard Winning Colors. On May 8, he won the Wilshire Handicap on Chapel of Dreams. During the week he scored two triples, then capped that with five victories on Saturday, including one aboard Integra in the A Gleam Handicap. Stevens leads the Hollywood Park jockey standings with 21 winners. Laffit Pincay is second with 16 and Martin Pedroza third with 14. Among the trainers, Mike Mitchell leads the pack with seven wins, two more than Henry Moreno and three ahead of John Gosden.

After nominating Judge Angelucci to Sunday’s John Henry, trainer Charlie Whittingham elected to save the 5-year-old for next Sunday’s Mervyn LeRoy Handicap. Judge Angelucci worked a mile in a fast 1:37.3 under Eddie Delahoussaye on Saturday morning in preparation for the Mervyn LeRoy.