Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Lukas Not Upset by Winning Colors’ Loss

It seemed unusual that Winning Colors’ workout before the Spinster Stakes would have been at Churchill Downs instead of Keeneland, where the race was going to be run.

The tracks are 70 miles apart, but not even close in terms of running surfaces. Keeneland’s track is so deep that trainers have nightmares about their horse stepping onto it and disappearing.

“We don’t care for the strip at Keeneland,” said Wayne Lukas, Winning Colors’ trainer. “And we’re stabled at Churchill, so it wouldn’t have made any sense to van her over there for the workout.”

So Winning Colors, whose last appearance in Kentucky had been a victory in the Kentucky Derby in May, returned to Bluegrass Country and was humiliated in last Saturday’s Spinster.

Sent off as the 3-10 favorite against a field of fillies and mares not nearly as talented as the colts she beat in the Derby, Winning Colors ran fourth, beaten by 15 lengths. It was anything but an encouraging prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5, when she’ll try for the second time to beat undefeated Personal Ensign. The day after the Spinster, Personal Ensign swept to her 12th straight victory, easily winning the Beldame at Belmont Park.

“Winning Colors will run a stronger race at Churchill Downs,” said Jeff Lukas, Wayne’s son and the trainer most responsible for the 3-year-old filly’s success. “We know she likes the surface over there.”

Because a sloppy track forced the Lukases to scratch Winning Colors from a stake at Belmont the week before, they were running out of time with the filly and the Spinster was practically the only place left to run her before the Breeders’ Cup. Unless, of course, they would have challenged Personal Ensign again in the Beldame. The only time the fillies have met was on Sept. 10, when Personal Ensign won by three-quarters of a length in one of the most gritty stretch drives in New York this year.

“We’re not discouraged by the way our filly ran at Keeneland,” said Wayne Lukas, who would have told Custer that he still had a chance. “Some pretty good horses have gone down the drain when Keeneland’s playing the way it is now.”

Lukas remembered another of his 3-year-old fillies, Lucky Lucky Lucky, losing at Keeneland by about 20 lengths in the spring of 1984. Two weeks later, she won the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

He also recalled Swale, the Kentucky Derby winner that year, getting trounced at Keeneland 4 days before Lucky Lucky Lucky. Swale lost by 8 lengths in the Lexington Stakes. He was 1-10, and probably the most heavily bet beaten favorite there until Winning Colors’ debacle last Saturday.

Wayne Lukas, who saddled 14 horses in 4 of the 7 Breeders’ Cup races last year--winning 2--could break that record with 18 starters next month. Here is the tentative lineup for the Lukas outfit:

JUVENILE--Is It True and one other 2-year-old colt.

JUVENILE FILLIES--Some Romance, One of a Klein, Wonders Delight, Open Mind, Lea Lucinda.

SPRINT--Gulch, High Brite, Synastry.

DISTAFF--Winning Colors, Classic Crown, Sacahuista.

MILE--Steinlen.

TURF--Merce Cunningham, Miracle Horse.

CLASSIC--Slew City Slew, Talinum.

In the 5 weeks that Laffit Pincay has been back since a spill at Del Mar punctured a lung and broke seven ribs, he has not only rejoined the leaders on the national money list, but also has had an informal tour of the race tracks of North America.

By the end of this weekend, Pincay will have ridden at least 10 tracks since returning to action on Sept. 14. The list includes Del Mar, Santa Anita, Bay Meadows, Belmont, the Meadowlands, Keeneland, Woodbine, Canterbury Downs, Laurel and Louisiana Downs. Last Friday, Pincay rode at Keeneland in Kentucky in the afternoon and the Meadowlands in New Jersey at night.

Pincay, who had fallen off the top-10 list compiled by the Daily Racing Form, has ridden horses that have earned close to $1 million during this 5-week stretch and is in 10th place with $5.6 million for the year.

The death of jockey Mike Venezia, who was trampled by a horse at Belmont last week, shocked everyone in racing, but it especially hit home for John Giovanni and Winifred Meiser. Giovanni, a former rider, is managing director of the Jockeys’ Guild, and Meiser is the mother of Vicky Aragon, one of the leading female riders in the country.

Giovanni, speaking to a racing conclave at Cypress last Thursday, had just finished an address on jockey safety when he was taken away from the group for a phone call from his New York office. When Giovanni returned to the meeting, ashen-faced, he announced that Venezia had just died and the group observed a moment of silence in memory of the jockey.

Aragon, in a spill that resembled Venezia’s, suffered injured vertebrae this month at Bay Meadows and is expected to resume riding next month. She was kicked by a trailing horse, her protective helmet was knocked off, and a physician at the track said she was lucky that she hadn’t broken her neck.

After learning of Venezia’s death, Meiser said: “It was hard to talk about it with Vicky. At least not openly. And at this stage you sure can’t tell her that she shouldn’t ride.”

Horse Racing Notes

The career of Gold Coast Express, the world-champion (horse of the year) quarter horse in 1986, may be over. The 5-year-old gelding has been last and next to last in his most recent races. He has sore back muscles and will be rested for 3 or 4 months. If he doesn’t improve, he’ll be retired. . . . Changes are imminent on the board of directors at Hollywood Park. Resigning are Arthur Kelly, Howard Koch, Robert Hamilton and Don Klosterman. Among the replacements are expected to be Marvin Davis, Harry Ornest and Dan Lufkin. Davis is a billionaire, and Ornest is a former owner of the St. Louis Blues’ hockey team. ... Nat Wess, former publicity director at Hollywood Park, has been named general manager of the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Assn., replacing the retired Bob Sweeney. Wess’ group and Oak Tree will hold a 3-day racing symposium next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel. . . . Keeneland has never had a track announcer, its management having smugly said that Keeneland’s fans are so sophisticated they don’t need to be told where their horses are running. This season, however, Keeneland is paying Mike Battaglia to call the races, although he can’t be heard at the track. Battaglia’s calls are necessary for betting on the telecasts of the races to nearby Turfway Park, where apparently the horseplayers are not that sophisticated.