Weekend Racing at Hollywood Park : Cutlass Reality, Looking Toward 1989, Faces Retiring Precisionist

The Chinese might have called 1988 the year of the dragon, but for racing it was truly the year of the horse--the exciting horses who provided more thrills than the sport has seen in some time.

Racing must pay a price for these riches, however, because many of the equine stars of ’88 will soon be galloping off to the breeding farms of Kentucky and elsewhere. The names of Alysheba, Risen Star, Forty Niner, Waquoit, Lost Code, Bet Twice, Ferdinand and Precisionist make up only a partial list of box-office beauties who will not race in 1989.

One horse who will be back next year, though, is Cutlass Reality, and the reasons are clear. This is a 6-year-old who didn’t get good until this year, when he won 4 stakes and more than $750,000. In 4 previous years on the track, Cutlass Reality won only 7 races and earned about $500,000.

Cutlass Reality will also still be running in 1989 because the winning should be easier. Alysheba, whose election as horse of the year appears to be only a formality, is gone, which automatically dilutes the handicap division, and with the year’s top 3-year-olds--Risen Star and Forty Niner--also retired, the survivors of the sophomore crop would have to improve as Cutlass Reality did in order to be formidable.

But before Cutlass Reality’s handlers start planning 1989, they still have one more assignment for their horse this year. He’s running today at Hollywood Park in the $100,000 Native Diver Handicap, and although there is reason to salivate over next year’s prospects, the stake at hand is no giveaway. Also in the 7-horse field is Precisionist, who will be running on a fast track again, and at his optimum distance of 1 1/8 miles.

Neither Cutlass Reality nor Precisionist was at his best on a rain-soaked track at Churchill Downs on Breeders’ Cup day a month ago. Cutlass Reality, whose owners paid a $360,000 penalty to make him eligible for the $3-million Classic, came up empty in the stretch and finished seventh. Earlier in the day, Precisionist, trying to win the $1-million Sprint for the second time, was unable to rally and finished fifth.

Precisionist has run once since then, making a rare turf appearance on Nov. 20 and losing by a neck to Forlitano in the Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park.

Precisionist, a 7-year-old who has earned $3.4 million, will be making his 44th and probably final start of a career marred by sore feet, injuries and an unsuccessful interlude at stud. In 1987, Precisionist’s breeder and owner, Fred Hooper, sold half of the lifetime breeding rights to Arthur Appleton for $4 million, then had to give his partner a refund when Precisionist was able to impregnate only one mare.

Tests have revealed no biological reasons for Precisionist’s fertility problem, so Hooper plans to try Precisionist as a stud again next year.

Although Precisionist’s purses are almost triple what Cutlass Reality has earned, Cutlass Reality has a far better stakes record this year. He will carry high weight of 124 pounds, with Precisionist running at 123. Craig Lewis, Cutlass Reality’s trainer, was hesitant to enter his horse, because a pound might be a factor if there’s a bang-bang finish.

The other stake at Hollywood Park this weekend is the $200,000 Matriarch, at 1 1/8 miles on grass for fillies and mares on Sunday. The 10-horse field is headed by Annoconnor and Goodbye Halo.

The lineup, in post-position order, with jockeys and weights:

Goodbye Halo (Eddie Delahoussaye), 120 pounds; Nastique (Bill Shoemaker), 123; Annoconnor (Corey Black), 123; Vearia (Eric Saint-Martin), 120; Short Sleeves (Laffit Pincay), 123; Angelina Ballerina (Fernando Toro), 120; How I Wish (Ray Sibille), 123; Chapel of Dreams (Chris McCarron), 123; White Mischief (Russell Baze), 123, and Ladanum (Gary Stevens), 123.

Horse Racing Notes

Jockey Russell Baze became the latest jockey to reach the 3,000-win plateau with his victory aboard Hagley’s L. in the ninth race Friday at Hollywood Park. . . . Vearia, one of the entrants in the Matriarch, is a French horse who just left quarantine Friday. . . . Eric Saint-Martin, who rode briefly in California, is back to ride here after resuming his career in his native France. . . . Is It True, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, won’t run in the $1-million Hollywood Futurity a week from Sunday, but Houston is still a possibility from trainer Wayne Lukas’ barn.

Lost Code, once headed for California, will start his stud career at Ben Walden’s farm in Midway, Ky. . . . Trainer John Russell figured that he made a mistake in advising jockey Chris McCarron to stay close to the early pace in the Breeders’ Cup with Precisionist. “That and the off track didn’t help us,” Russell said.