A Strained Knee Hampers King Glorious : Futurity Winner Will Miss His Scheduled Debut as a 3-Year-Old

King Glorious, the leading California contender for the 1989 Kentucky Derby, is suffering from a strained right front knee and will miss his next race.

King Glorious, who won the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 18 to extend his undefeated streak to five races, had been expected to make his debut as a 3-year-old in the $300,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows on Jan. 15. But trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday that King Glorious will miss that race and his condition will be re-evaluated in 30 days.

“This is a minor injury, and I want to emphasize that the horse has never taken a bad step and he is not lame,” Hollendorfer said. “He will not be taken out of training and will get light training for a month. By that I mean an alternate program of jogging and walking every day.

“We won’t run him again unless he’s 100%. When he got a fever last summer, we took it easy with him and missed the Breeders’ Cup, and we’ll use the same approach this time. If he’s not ready to go on in a month, then we’ll take another month.”

After King Glorious worked a half-mile last Saturday at Bay Meadows, there was a swelling in his right leg. Two veterinarians--Dennis Mulhern of UC Davis and Jack Robbins of Los Angeles--examined him and determined that the colt should be withheld from heavy training for a month.

Asked about the Kentucky Derby, which will be run at Churchill Downs on May 6, Hollendorfer said: “We’ve been downplaying the Derby even before this happened. We haven’t set our goals too far ahead with this horse. Our year- end goal was the $1-million race at Hollywood Park (the Futurity) and we reached that. Then our next goal was the El Camino Real, and we’re disappointed about missing that. The Kentucky Derby is too far down the road to speculate about it.”

Although King Glorious won the Hollywood Futurity by 2 3/4 lengths, he lugged out through the stretch and he and his jockey, Chris McCarron, had to survive a foul claim for interference by Gary Stevens, the rider of Music Merci, the second-place finisher. Horses sometimes lug out when they are favoring a leg.

McCarron, who was whipping right-handed and trying hard to keep King Glorious from drifting out, said the horse had a tendency to do the same thing before, but not as seriously as this time. Hollendorfer felt that the sloppy, slick track might have contributed to the horse’s erratic stretch run.

“We examined him from top to bottom after the race and could find nothing wrong,” Hollendorfer said Friday. “But when a horse lugs out like that, it can sometimes mean that he’s not feeling right, and perhaps this was the case this time.

“He’s had a filling in that knee before, but it’s always subsided before he ran a race. This time, we decided to give him some rest and not let the problem continue.”

Four of King Glorious’ wins have been in stakes and he’s earned $646,100.

After King Glorious, the California crop of Kentucky Derby prospects is a mixed bag. Easy Goer, who is now training in Florida, is expected to be named next week as the winner of the Eclipse Award for best 2-year-old colt. He convincingly won two major stakes in New York before finishing second after a bad start on a muddy track at Churchill Downs in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Is It True, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery for a bone chip a few weeks after the race and probably won’t return to action until February. Another Wayne Lukas-trained colt, Houston, is undefeated in his only two starts. Lukas said that Houston wasn’t ready to run in the Hollywood Futurity and more recently said that the $2.9-million yearling won’t make his first start as a 3-year-old until some time in February.

Music Merci, winner of the Del Mar Futurity, has been unable to beat King Glorious twice, in the Hollywood Juvenile and the Futurity, and he was a distant fourth in the Breeders’ Cup. Hawkster, winner over Music Merci and others in the Norfolk at Santa Anita in October, is a green colt who looks like he will benefit from longer distances.

At Bay Meadows, the handlers of Rob an Plunder had been debating whether to run in the El Camino Real or in the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes at Santa Anita a week from Sunday. Now, with King Glorious out, Rob an Plunder will stay at Bay Meadows, where he’s won two stakes against marginal competition this month.

Counting one victory because of a disqualification, Rob an Plunder has won six straight. Last June at Golden Gate Fields, he met King Glorious in the first stake race for both horses and finished second, beaten by 10 lengths.

On Friday at Bay Meadows, a shipment of 16,000 baseball caps arrived, with the wording “Will the King Reign?” printed on the front. The caps were going to be given to fans attending the El Camino Real.

“We’re still going to give them away even though we don’t have the horse,” said a track spokesman.

Horse Racing Notes

On the Line tied the Santa Anita track record for 6 furlongs Friday by running the distance in 1:07 3/5 to win the $100,000 Palos Verdes Handicap by 2 1/2 lengths over Claim. Chinook Pass, carrying 120 pounds, set the record in the same stake in 1982. On the Line, under 124 pounds, was ridden by Gary Stevens, who won the Palos Verdes for the third straight year. On the Line paid $3.40 to win.

Chris McCarron, who finished third in the Palos Verdes aboard Basic Rate, is not likely to catch Jose Santos, the New York jockey, in their battle for the national money title. McCarron, who trails Santos by more than $100,000 in purses, rides Raykour today in the $100,000 San Gabriel Handicap at Santa Anita. . . . Simply Majestic and Mohamed Abdu, who finished third and fifth, respectively, in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Mile, will each carry 120 pounds today in the San Gabriel, which is 1 1/8 miles on grass.

T.V. of Crystal and Variety Baby head a 10-horse field entered in Sunday’s $75,000 La Brea Stakes for 4-year-old fillies going 7 furlongs. On Monday, Santa Anita offers the $75,000 Las Flores Handicap at 6 furlongs for fillies and mares. Very Subtle, who’s expected to run, hasn’t won a race since her victory last Jan. 2 in the La Brea. Laffit Pincay will ride Very Subtle. Her regular jockey, Pat Valenzuela, underwent facial surgery Friday and was reported to be resting comfortably. Valenzuela was kicked by a horse after he was dumped by his mount in a race Wednesday and suffered two broken cheekbones.