Victory in Futurity Earns Music Merci a Trip to Breeders’ Cup

A horse who had three owners before he ran a race, Music Merci is likely to stay put for a while after his two-length victory over Bruho Wednesday in the $346,300 Del Mar Futurity, the richest race ever run at this seaside track.

In the walking ring before the Futurity, trainer Craig Lewis was talking about his Breeders’ Cup plans for Cutlass Reality, who is scheduled to run in the $3-million Classic at Churchill Downs Nov. 5. Minutes later, after the Futurity, Lewis said that Music Merci would also be on the plane for Kentucky, where he’ll run in the $1-million Juvenile the same day.

Under jockey Chris McCarron, who won his 10th stake race on the 43-day meeting’s closing day, Music Merci reached the far turn in third place, outside the leader, Bruho, and not far behind Texian, who was second next to the fence.

As the three horses straightened out for the stretch run, Texian began to drop back and Music Merci had a vulturous bead on Bruho. Midway through the lane, McCarron hit Music Merci twice with the whip from the right side and he scooted by Bruho. McCarron switched hands and hit his 2-year-old gray gelding twice more from the left side to keep Music Merci from drifting toward the fence.

Bruho, wearing blinkers after he dumped his rider, Gary Stevens, when they appeared to be en route to victory in the stretch of the Balboa on Aug. 31, finished 3 1/2 lengths ahead of Texian, and it was another 1 3/4 lengths back to Hawkster in fourth place. Crown Collection, undefeated in two sprints and sent off the even-money favorite with his stablemate, Texian, by the crowd of 19,554, was ahead of only one horse after a half-mile and finished 9th in the 11-horse field.

Lewis said that he laughed at Music Merci’s 6-1 closing odds. Music Merci had won three of four starts and Lewis felt that his seventh-place finish in the Hollywood Juvenile was a throw-out race. Music Merci drew the No. 1 post position and stood in the gate for five minutes, by Lewis’ estimate, while the rest of the field was loaded.

Music Merci’s time of 1:35 2/5 was one of the fastest for the Futurity since it was changed to a mile race in 1974, and it was the fastest clocking since Althea, a filly, was timed in 1:34 4/5 and tied Flying Paster’s stakes record in 1983.

Music Merci, earning $229,300--another Del Mar record--for his owners, Lawrence Pendleton of Newport Beach and Harvey and Thea Cohen of Encino, paid $14.80, $5.60 and $3. Bruho paid $4.20 and $3 and Texian paid $2.40.

Music Merci was bred in Canada by George Strawbridge Jr., via a mating of Stop the Music, a multiple stakes winner, and Merci Croquet, a Jacinto mare who didn’t win any of her five races and earned only $1,250.

First sold at a Canadian yearling auction for $6,068, Music Merci attracted the attention of his current owners when he was consigned to a sale of unraced 2-year-olds at Hollywood Park last March. It was known before the sale that one of Music Merci’s testicles was lodged in his stomach and that enabled Pendleton and the Cohens to buy him for only $51,000.

“We liked him from the first time we saw him,” Lewis said. “We thought he might go for about $50,000, but we were willing to go higher, as long as the figure remained reasonable.”

The next day, Music Merci was castrated. He made his first start at Hollywood Park on May 20 and won by four lengths at 16-1, running five furlongs in a blazing :57 4/5. He ran another fast race going an extra eighth of a mile on July 6, beating Bruho and Mountain Ghost in a three-horse photo finish.

Then came the Hollywood Juvenile. “We think he left his race in the gate,” Lewis said. “He went to sleep. Considering the way he ran today (Wednesday), you’d have to say that the start was a major factor in the way he ran.”

Three weeks later, Lewis ran Music Merci in the six-furlong De Anza here and he won by 2 1/2 lengths. McCarron rode him for the first time that day.

“I thought I messed him up by working him so slow the other day,” McCarron said Wednesday. “But I guess Craig had him ready.

“I was shocked he left so relaxed. I didn’t want to send him, but he got outrun to the first turn and was about five deep.

“I honestly didn’t think that he was that good. I didn’t think he could lose that much ground and still win. I just sat on him and made one run. He jumped something in midstretch. It wasn’t the tire tracks (from the gate), I don’t know what it was.”

McCarron hadn’t won a Futurity since he clicked with The Carpenter in 1979.

Stevens felt that Bruho ran a creditable race. “The two hole kind of compromised his chances,” the jockey said. “I couldn’t take him back. But it was a game race for him and he didn’t try to bolt, so the blinkers didn’t hurt.”

Laffit Pincay, who rode Texian, made his first Del Mar appearance since being injured here on Aug. 1 and won with his first mount, another Wayne Lukas trainee named Solid Eight, in the race before the Futurity.

“My horse (Texian) started getting a little tired at the top of the stretch,” Pincay said.

Ridden by Russell Baze, Crown Collection was never a factor. “Besides the fact that he didn’t run fast enough, no trouble,” Baze said. “He didn’t fire at all.”

Before the Futurity, Gene Klein, who paid $575,000 for Crown Collection as a yearling, was talking with Joe Harper, Del Mar’s general manager, in the paddock.

“I’ll save you some money,” Klein said, pointing to the statue of the jockey in the walking ring. “I’ll win the race again and you won’t have to pay to have it re-painted.”

The statue was painted in Klein gold, with a blue lightning bolt on the jockey’s back, because Klein’s Lost Kitty won the Futurity last year. Those are the same colors that Klein rooted for when he owned the San Diego Chargers.

Harper will have to spring for the paint job. The plaster of Paris jockey will have Music Merci’s orange and white colors on his back in the next day or two.

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Craig Lewis said that Music Merci would run in one more race before the Breeders’ Cup--either the seven-furlong Desert Wine Sales Stakes on Oct. 5 or the 1 1/16-mile Norfolk at Santa Anita. . . . Winning with 19% of his mounts, Gary Stevens rode 55 winners, 13 more than co-runners-up Russell Baze and Eddie Delahoussaye, to win the season’s title for the second straight year. Stevens also was the leading rider at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park and with two meets to go--Oak Tree and the fall Hollywood season--could become the first jockey to sweep all five since Chris McCarron in 1983.

Wayne Lukas won 22 races, the most for a Del Mar trainer since Gary Jones won 23 in 1979, to earn the training title for the second straight year. John Gosden was second in the standings with 16 wins. . . . Operating with 10 off-track betting centers, including Hollywood Park and Santa Anita, offering its races for the first time, Del Mar’s on-track averages were 15,872 in attendance and $2.8 million in handle, respective drops of 19% and 26%. Counting off-track business, however, attendance was up 67% with a daily average of 32,901 and the $6.7 million handle was up almost 75%. . . . There were $165.9 million bet off-track and $122.7 million bet at Del Mar for the 43 days. . . . Santa Anita’s off-track averages were 6,179 and $1,465,447, Hollywood Park’s were 6,167 and $1,458,795.