Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Rob an Plunder’s 7-Race Streak Is Misleading

When a 2-year-old wins 7 straight races, there’s usually a coast-to-coast clamor about his prospects as a Kentucky Derby candidate.

Rob an Plunder, a high-strung colt, began winning in a maiden race at Hollywood Park last July and hasn’t lost since, but his streak has made nary a ripple, in California or elsewhere. In the recent Eclipse Awards voting, he wasn’t even considered. In Las Vegas, you can get 40-1 odds on Rob an Plunder to win the Kentucky Derby. There are about 2 dozen horses with shorter prices in the future book.

The only reason Rob an Plunder will be favored Sunday in the $300,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows is that undefeated King Glorious, California’s pre-eminent Kentucky Derby prospect and currently 10-1 in Las Vegas, is on the sidelines with a strained knee.

Had King Glorious been ready to run Sunday, Rob an Plunder’s trainer, Jim Benedict, would have skipped the El Camino Real and run in a stake for California-breds at Santa Anita last weekend.

Rob an Plunder’s winning streak, which includes 6 stakes races, has been put together for the most part against third-rate opposition. The only significant race on the list was the Balboa at Del Mar in August. And that day, Bruho was the best horse, but he zig-zagged at the top of the stretch and dumped his rider, Gary Stevens, enabling Rob an Plunder to romp home.

Another of Rob an Plunder’s wins, at Bay Meadows, was the result of Big Conviction’s disqualification for interference. Big Conviction had finished first by a nose.

Since Rob an Plunder cost only $6,000 as a yearling and has earned $224,800, his owners know they have a bargain, but they are not deluding themselves about their horse being in King Glorious’ class. The second and last time Rob an Plunder lost, at Golden Gate Fields in June, he finished 10 lengths behind King Glorious.

Since then, the strategy for Rob an Plunder has been simple.

“Unlike your daughter, you want your horse to keep the worst possible company,” is the way Don Eidson, one of the colt’s owners, explains it.

Besides Rob an Plunder, the small field for the El Camino Real Derby is also expected to include Hawkster and Stephen’s Sooner, who couldn’t beat King Glorious in the Hollywood Futurity last month. Other probables are Double Quick, Base Camp and Harmony Creek, who will run only if the track is dry. This is unlikely, since Bay Meadows has been muddy and more rain is forecast for the Bay Area for the weekend.

Approved To Fly, the filly who has been unsuccessful in 4 starts since winning the Del Mar Debutante in September and then being disqualified for interference, has an outside chance to run, but she probably will go instead in the $100,000 Bay Meadows Oaks on Saturday.

All the early 3-year-old racing in Florida has proved is that there’s no apparent quality in depth behind Easy Goer, the champion 2-year-colt for 1988.

Big Stanley, the winner of Sunday’s Tropical Park Derby, has won 4 of his last 5 starts, but all of his races have been run at Calder, where the top horses seldom run.

Winners Laugh, who ran second twice to Easy Goer last fall, and Mercedes Won, who won the Sanford and Hopeful at Saratoga in August, were both beaten by Halrose, a lightly regarded Canadian import, on opening day at Gulfstream Park last Monday.

Easy Goer, who hasn’t run since finishing second to Is It True in the Breeders’ Cup, isn’t likely to run in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream on March 4, but will probably race in the Swale, a 7-furlong race there the same day. After that, Easy Goer is expected to take a New York route to the Kentucky Derby.

Super Diamond, the 9-year-old gelding who has run only 34 times because of physical problems, will make his first start since finishing third in last year’s Santa Anita Handicap when he runs Saturday in the $100,000 San Carlos Handicap at Santa Anita.

Super Diamond, who has earned $1.3 million with 15 wins, has been assigned 123 pounds. The high weight at 126 pounds in the 7-furlong San Carlos is On the Line, who has won 3 straight since an ankle crack was repaired with a pin.

On Sunday at Santa Anita, a large field will run in the $200,000, 1 1/8-mile San Fernando, which is the second leg of the Strub series for 4-year-olds and the first major stake at the track this season. Among the starters is Oraibi, who won the Malibu, the first race in the threesome that concludes with the Strub on Feb. 5.

Horse Racing Notes

Very Subtle, a possibility for the $100,000 Santa Monica Handicap on Monday at Santa Anita, has earned $1.5 million, more than any filly or mare in training. Lady’s Secret holds the filly-mare record for earnings with $3 million. . . . Although Alex Solis has been suspended 5 days by the Santa Anita stewards, through Sunday, he will be able to ride in the weekend stakes at Bay Meadows because of California’s designated-race rule. Solis has calls on Bright Asset in the Bay Meadows Oaks Saturday and on Double Quick in the El Camino Real Derby Sunday. Last month, under similar circumstances, Solis rode Stocks Up to victory in the Hollywood Starlet.

Ruhlmann, who won last year’s El Camino Real, is now in the hands of trainer Charlie Whittingham. Jerry Moss, who owns Ruhlmann, has transferred most of his horses from Bobby Frankel to other trainers. Frankel gave no explanation for losing the horses. On the incoming side of the ledger, Frankel is now training Saratoga Passage, who as a 2-year-old won the Norfolk in 1987 and then developed physical problems.

Because he was out of action for a few months last year with a broken wrist, Fernando Valenzuela, California’s top apprentice, will be able to ride with a 5-pound allowance through April 21. . . . The decision isn’t due until February, but the Del Mar Turf Club is expected to receive a 20-year renewal, over 2 competing bids, to run racing at the Del Mar track. . . . In total votes for the Eclipse Award, Jose Santos received 105 to Chris McCarron’s 88 1/2, with 25 1/2 votes going to other jockeys. In the total that counted, Santos was favored by 2 of the 3 voting groups, with the Daily Racing Racing Form giving him the biggest edge over McCarron, 42-27. Turf reporters and track racing secretaries also voted.